The New Rules of Business Correspondence

2021-02-27

Madame Toastmaster, fellow Toastmasters, honoured guests.

I remember a time when I did not receive mail every day. When I was in the Navy, onboard my
warship at sea - mail was delivered to us in the middle of the ocean by helicopter. We didn’t have
smart phones, or email or even personal computers. We received mail maybe once in a week - or in
two weeks. And when it did come - there wasn’t very much. Maybe one or two letters. We had time
to read, re-read and savour each letter we received.

In the business world things were also much di erent. Managers had secretaries who would
receive the mail, review it and hand it o to the appropriate person to follow it up. Managers would
o en handwrite replies for Secretaries to type up.

But times have now changed, and ever day we receive tens or even hundreds of messages,
personally and professionally, which we have to handle on our own. And here in Russia, it is not
just the technology that has changed, but the whole social system itself changed.

The game here has changed so much that it requires new rules. Recently I was recommended to
read book, the “New Rules of Business Correspondence”, written by two Moscow authors some of
you may have heard of, Ilyakov and Saricheva. By profession they are marketing copywriters and
so they write from a business perspective. This book, their second, is not about beautiful prose,
rather it is about how to communicate with customers and colleagues. They argue for a new style
of “O icial Business” communication in Russian, one that is respectful, sincere and clear. They are
the new standard bearers in a crusade to eliminate what they call “Chancellorism”. Chancellerism
refers to a ponderous, impersonal, passive style of writing o en found in o icial communication in
Russia.

But while I found this timely and interesting, I was fascinated to discover that they are not the first
such crusaders!

If we step back in time, back in 1972, deep in the Brezhnev era, Nora Gal’ published a book called
“Words Living and Dead”. Nora was a professional translator of poetry and prose, who had a fine
sense of the Russian language, and she argued in her book against Chancellorism. She advocated
writing more clearly, less being more, “po chelovechosky”, more human. But she wasn’t the first,
because she mentioned that back in sixties, Kornei Chukovsky, perhaps Russia’s most beloved
children’s author, had coined the phrase “Chancellorism”.

In 1961 Chukovsky published a book “Alive as Life” in which he argued the time was ripe for a
reform of public education, to teach children (and adults) how to communicate more clearly,
without the use of rubber stamped phrases that were being used mindlessly in print, on the radio,
in the classrooms. He called this “chancelloritis” like a verbal disease. He felt it was a burden and
waste.

So the mission to communicate more clearly is not new, but what has changed, is the pace of
change has become so much more intense. What advice do the authors give to help us cope with
this new reality? I identified 3 essential takeaways from this book:
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 A. Respect your Counterpart - Make it Easy for them.

How? You must put in the e ort. Specifically:

1. One message - one topic. Don’t combine di erent issues together.

2. Write a clear subject line - to help the recipient read your message now, and to retrieve it in the
future.

3. Get to the point - quickly. Ideally within the first paragraph. Don’t make her wade through
several paragraphs before she understands what you want.

4. Break down complex matters - use sub-headers, white space, bullet points, to help the reader
easily get through the whole message.

5. Attach the supporting materials - if there are any. Don’t force the reader to go hunting for them.
And even better if you extract the key points from them and place inline into your message. To save
time, and in case the reader has problems with the attachments.

6. Make it easy for her to reply by giving clear options to choose from, or o ering a solution (for a
yes/no decision). And be specific about the timing. Don’t say “ASAP”, instead say “by Tuesday
morning”.

B. The second key point is that you should Make your Reader Comfortable.

1. Be sincerely and polite, not with empty words, but in deed. Do not top and tail your message
with “Dear Randy” or “Sincerely yours” - and then in the body try to deceive or manipulate your
counterpart.

2. Get his or her name write. This can be a challenge in Russia, and it can be a challenge
internationally. But pay attention to this because nothing is more noticeable or even o ensive than
getting her name wrong.

3. Ensure your name is clear and appropriate so your counterpart doesn’t waste time or is
uncomfortable replying to you. Are you Mike or Michael? Randy or Randal? Natalya, Natalia, or
Natalia? This is even more complex in Russia when your name is written in latin characters - and
sometimes your whatsapp/email/telegram accounts spell your name di erently.

And in business correspondence it is best to avoid cute names like “SexyLady888”…

4. If your reader is more traditional and prefers the respectful “Вы” then write “Вы” to put her at
ease.

C. Third key point is that Sometimes it is Better NOT to Write.

1. If you are emotional - don’t write and don’t send that message. Sleep on it.

2. If a matter is very complex - schedule a meeting instead.

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3. And if a matter requires input from more than a few people - schedule a quick face to face
meeting instead.

In conclusion, this book was published only 3 years ago, but I find its messages are even more
compelling in 2021 in the COVID era, and so I strongly recommend that you read it, and put into
practice some of the advice of its authors, Ilyakov and Saricheva.