Writing, marketing and technology
I’m just writing a report and I typed the heading “Executive summary” and realised what a ridiculous phrase it is. What does it mean? For executives only? No. It’s just a plain old regular summary with airs and graces. So, it’s just a ‘Summary’ from now on! Together we will stop word inflation.
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Matthew Stibbe is CEO of Articulate Marketing and Turbine, the easy, online way to deal with office paperwork. He edits Golf Hotel Whiskey and writes the Forbes Aviator column.
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{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Mmm…not sure that I am with you on this one, Matthew. I venture to suggest that a summary tends to be narrative, whereas an executive summary tends to be bullet point-like. However, the boundaries have been blurred.
Thanks a million! You can’t figure out how many times I have had to translate into French this silly “Executive summary” and had to explain to my customers that it’s just a regular summary (synthèse or résumé). I probably had to translate some of your writing so thanks for that
Way to go, Matthew, let’s all do our part! Now, about that Executive Washroom…
Twoderful.
Yeah, but we’re writers. Word inflation is what we do.
And are you suggesting I take “Absolutely, Positively the World’s Most Bestest Copywriter Ever” off my business cards?
Oh, the humanity…
Yes, and I get paid by the word. Fewer words means better copy but writing more means more money. Which is known in insurance circles as moral hazard!
Or in the words of Homer Simpson: D’oh the humanity!
But I’m a lawyer by training. Surely there is an exception that permits my continued word inflation.
If I don’t get to inflate words, translate them into Latin, and then cite 200 year old precedent backing it all up . . . I won’t have anything to say.
It’s going to get very quiet over at my blog.
Amen! I hate exec summaries that are about as long as the rest of the report/plan/etc.
Not being an executive, I don’t know what that section is. I figure it’s not meant for me, so I skip it.
Right on. The less corporatese the better, in my opinion. Great site that gives the language of the workplace a well-deserved sock in the eye: http://www.corporatehack.com
I usually put “Summary” at the top. Have done for years.
I then leave it to the client to change it.
If they do, and many don’t, I then ask why.
Executive Summary is exactly that: A simple summary written for executives who are too busy, too lazy, or too dumb (the largest category) to comprehend anything else in the document.
One must spoon feed information in small, easy to digest chunks to executives.