Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business worked with its English department to bring more writing instruction into the business school and has started sending out examples of student work to alums in the working world for critique.
While there is a sense in the business world that obtuse language impresses people (yes, we know this is true in other fields, too), students should know that clear writing is a sign of good thinking, said Frank Linnehan, LeBow’s associate dean of undergraduate and graduate studies.
“Being able to describe a complex concept clearly and succinctly is really an indication of how well you know that subject,” he said.
Some of the most puffed up, buzzword-laden writing is, of course, meant to dress up unremarkable ideas. It survives because of what Linnehan calls “emperor’s-new-clothes syndrome.”