Like all work, the work of electronic communications contains an inherent poetry, perhaps several inherent "poetries."

I was part of an interview team, talking individually with four candidates for a communication research job. Human Resources had provided us with a set of “behavioral interview” questions, which meant we would be asking things like “What’s the biggest failure you’ve ever experienced?” and “Where do you see yourself in 10 years?” We followed [...]

A random selection of people in an airport security line becomes the occasion for two strangers to create a poem of chance, understanding, and meaning.

A daily commute to work is filled with the poetry of Dickinson, Eliot, Homer, the Romantics, and the 18th century Age of Reason, in one short six-mile ride.

I’m likely to date myself here, but when I first worked for a large organization, one of the most important documents one could be given was the organization chart. The chart made sense of the organization, in this case a large corporation. It demonstrated order, logic, rationality, and control. It provided a compass or map, [...]

Poetry at work? Yes, look for it especially in a crisis. Finding the poetry will suggest the path forward.

A poet was asked to create a celebration for a company that was to be spun off as a separate organization.

Poetry can be used for creativity at work in three ways: to restore, to clarify, to organize.

A curious combination of television and poetry helped change an industry. I was having trouble finishing a speech. And it wasn’t just any speech but a rather significant departure for the company. It would have one of two outcomes. Either the company executive giving it would “elect to pursue career opportunities elsewhere” (companies rarely “fire” [...]

A secretary at work once stopped me outside my office. “People are worried about you,” she said. “Me?” I asked. “Why?” “You’re walking the hallways, mumbling to yourself. People are noticing.” I stared for a moment, and then I understood. “I’m writing a speech,” I said. “It’s a restless activity for me. I have to [...]

Few associate our work with beauty. It’s one of the reasons, perhaps the primary reason, we fail to see poetry at work. No beauty, no poetry.

Poetry has considerable practical value for the business of speechwriting: using language differently, the power of poetic techniques, thinking differently.

The conventional American wisdom is that poets “must be people out of the ordinary; they must be strong, even eccentric individuals.” In other words, Walt Whitman fits our preconceived notions; Wallace Stevens, corporate lawyer, does not.

In his 1991 Atlantic essay 'Can Poetry Matter,' Dana Gioia argued that poetry had been captured by academia and disconnected from its reading public.

Most PowerPoint presentations try to eliminate all white space with words. Presenters should approach PowerPoint like poetry, using as few words as possible.