GUEST POST: Why Be a Writer?

By Elizabeth Bovair
Guest Writer

I must start this blog by stating a bit of a disclaimer. I have no Master of Fine Arts of any kind, from any school. In fact I never have even taken a creative writing course. I do, however, consider myself a writer.  Feedback from employers and professors alike over the years has helped me develop a writing style that I feel adequately balances my own personality with business-like succinctness.

The thoughts I am about to put on paper have been stewing in my mind since last fall, when I was struck by an article in The Michigan Daily about their Masters of Fine Arts programs. It dictates that even in our tough economic times, there should still be an emphasis on the power of writing in our society. The article details not only the basic curriculum of the program (the emphasis on peer review, creative thinking, etc.), but also highlights the recent accolades that alumni of the program have received in notable book awards throughout the world (including Whiting Writer’s Award winner Patrick O’Keefe and Rona Jaffe winner Vievee Francis, as well as Nami Mun, Randa Jarrer, and many others). In addition, BusinessWeek recently published an article that details how the downfall in the economy is hurting enrollment in humanities and fine arts programs, and that once liberal arts colleges and programs are adding more ‘skills-focused’ classes and jobs. This threat against humanities-based programs or similar programs focusing on “soft” skills is dangerous for a multitude of reasons. 

In our economy today, it is often said that the skills offered by fine arts or liberal arts programs, like an MFA, or a humanities even some social science degrees, are not at all what we need to promote in order to gain success in the global marketplace. Proponents of a skill-based economy believe students should be studying specific disciplines that will enable them to take their places in the “knowledge economy” of the future. I believe this new emphasis on “training for skills” versus learning for enrichment is highly dangerous, and ultimately destructive to our social intelligence. In particular, higher education degrees that focus on developing critical thinking abilities and the communications skills to share your way of thinking are far more valuable to any employer and to society in general.

The Importance of Writing as a Method of Communication

To the writing question in particular, I recognized in the business world nothing is more important than the ability to clearly communicate ideas to multiple groups of people. I have been in the consulting business for over three years now, and the one skill I have always relied upon was my ability to write well. As a research analyst at what is referred to in the industry as a “Best Practice Research” firm, my main job was to research inquiries for senior human resource officers in the Fortune 500. To do that, I scoured the web for information from human resource journals, organizations, and news clippings, and then consolidated the information I found into little “sound bites” (a business term for easily digestible language). 

In my current job at one of the “Big Four” consulting firms, I take research equivalent to the items I created in my first job, and translate those ideas into action plans. The process involves a lot of brainstorming, creative skills, and ultimately writing in a succinct, clear, and easy-to-understand manner to present our ideas to our clients. Part of the challenge of this writing is finding simple ways to convey complex ideas.   During my time in consulting, a quote I’ve often heard is that the average level for business writing is the tenth grade. So think about your level of writing in the tenth grade, and that is about the level of complexity of today’s business writers (sad and scary, I know!).

 

 

A recent posting on the New York Times (“We Have Met the Enemy and He is PowerPoint”) discusses the use of PowerPoint as a medium for conveying information to military commanders in the US Armed Forces. As one who has had to prepare plenty of PowerPoint presentations, this article was almost humorous if it did not have a more serious undertone--and that is the overall tendency of business writing to break down the human language to an “easily digestible” format. It does pose a unique challenge of finding very simple and easy ways to express complex ideas (i.e. how does one summarize the U.S.’ strategy on the Afghan war in bullet points?), but it also, I think, puts us at risk for losing some of our cultural, written record. When historians one hundred years from now access our computer records to gain insights into the nuances of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, they will not see the detailed accounts and journals of leaders but rather a four point SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis of the war summarized in parallel formatted bullets, complete with Venn diagrams! I don’t know about you, but the thought of that lack of information, the lack of details included in such report scares me!

 

However scary the rule of PowerPoint may be in business, writing complex ideas in a simple manner is almost like an exercise in creative writing. How do you describe a journal article in three points? What are the main ideas you are struggling to convey? How do you make simple ideas compelling—and have the graphics to support it? These are all activities that anyone can do, but few can do well. Regardless of one’s views on PowerPoint (it is the necessary evil of my livelihood—I am working on a PowerPoint presentation in my other computer window), the basic fact of the matter is that I would be nowhere in the business world if I didn’t know how to write. And programs like the University of Michigan’s MFA does exactly that, it teaches people to write. Okay, so writing bullets in a PowerPoint deck is a far cry from the subtleties of creating and developing a fictional character in a novel, but it uses the same part of the brain. Even in writing simple bullets, I have to go through the same exercises I had when writing essays: “I see X occurring in my world. How do I represent it in a way that is new and unique?” Fiction writers use characters and plots to convey their thoughts, business writers rely on those sound bites (as mentioned above). But it is the same idea. 

The Dumbing Down of Society

The second issue raised by both the Michigan Daily article, and the Newsweek one, gets at the deeper issue of how do we make our society more competitive in the global economy. There is a continuing battle between those who believe that programs focusing in the arts and humanities give us an appreciation for culture and our history, which ultimately give us insights into the mistakes we can potentially make in the future. The other side of the story is one where you need skilled professionals (mostly white collar workers), who can perform highly skilled analysis in a particular area, such as green engineering, international finance, banking, acquisition contracting, and so on and so forth. 

While I am not decrying the need for people with specified skill sets, I believe that the desire for schools and organizations to cater to this type of person is ill-advised. Someone who has a broader experience, who can think critically and can process ideas stands a better chance of success in our world today. The ability to communicate, I believe, is firmly coming under pressure as the mediums for communication multiply like rabbits! The ‘dumbing down’ of business writing, too, I think is a by-product of this type of thinking that grew from an honest desire to share information that anyone can understand.   

However, this whole idea of raising people with only particular skill sets (and focusing on the technical experience) concerns me. In 2004, I had the opportunity to travel to Tibet. While there, I remember visiting a number of schools. We were taken on tours by the local principal, who told us about the school’s and student’s rankings in their performance in mathematics, science, grammar, etc.  When we prodded about whether or not they taught history or leadership, their answer was always something to the effect of, “Oh we don’t really do that. We only share a little bit about the poems of Mao, or the achievements of the PRC.” In other words, they were taught technical skills (and may I say, they often excel at them), but were not taught any subjects that required them to think critically, examine the evidence, challenge the status quo, and then communicate those thoughts. And I think that is part of the reason the CCP has been able to maintain its control within China. 

This is just one example, but again, I understand our impetus to push students towards the maths and sciences—and I agree with the Administration’s emphasis on training people to be innovative thinkers in science. But you cannot be innovative if you are not trained to be—you cannot invent something new if you don’t understand the colored history of how Madam Curie discovered polonium and radium, or how Albert Einstein came up with his theory of relativity. Nor can you understand how a breakthrough in the scientific world has impacts on society unless you read about Oppenheimer’s reaction to the creation of the atom bomb, when he quoted from the Bhagavad Gita, “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of world.” His very deep reflection was due in part to the study of a major piece of religious literature! 

In short—all academic programs have their place in the education of society. And education is crucially important to our country, and to our world. Let’s just not get caught up in what the current business or global world think is the “it” solution to the current skills shortage. Writing, critical thinking, the ability to express oneself through creative mediums is essential to the continuation of our world. Whether we encourage artistic expression through the creation of any medium of art, or we encourage young minds to create power points to explain problems of Fortune 500 companies, the basis for all that thought is in the written word. 

Beth Bovair lives in Arlington, Virginia, where she is an avid reader. She works as a consultant win Washington, D.C, and is a graduate of the University of Michigan and Cambridge University. She also contributed a piece to Isak on "Who's In, Who's Out?"

 

Image Credits: Flickr Creative Commons, via Caitlinator; Illustration by Anthony Russo; Illustration of early typewriter by unknown artist.

Comments

[Monet]

As a young woman about to embark on an MFA program this Fall, I was encouraged by your thoughtful article. While more and more schools are pushing students away from the humanities, our world is becoming increasingly complex and in greater need of critical thinking and analysis. Although I don't know where my MFA will lead me, I know my experience will broaden my understanding of human relations, history and the power of the written word. To me, this increased understanding will be worth every month spent.

[Anna Clark]

I agree -- it bothers me that the humanities is so often regarded as extracurricular.