This should help a bit if you are having trouble creating breakthrough letters to influence your CEO and headhunter prospects. (If you are not having trouble--If you already know everything you need to know about letter writing, for example--you are already a professional copywriter and I cannot teach you anything about wordsmithing. But, wait a minute--I AM a copywriter. I've written hundreds of these letters over the past thirty years and they give ME plenty of trouble. PLENTY. Maybe we should trade places. Or, you should teach me. Or, maybe I don't know what I'm writing about).

(Why should you believe me about any of this? This is not an abstraction for me--Hundreds of executives have paid me several $millions over the past thirty years to write breakthrough letters for them. Want to see some of those letters and what worked? Keep reading and I'll have a suggestion on how you can do that).
Readability vs. content. Think of these as qualities at opposite ends of a scale--As letter content goes up, readability goes down. As letter readability goes up, content goes down. This very simple point defeats a large number of very smart executives. Complicated letters (high in content) might seem to highlight your intellect, but simple letters (more readable) work better. Complicated letters are not read or acted upon. Simple is better. It took me a long time to learn this; maybe this column will shorten the time for you.

Here are the whys:

The person reading your letter is as likely as not to have less IQ points than you. Let's stipulate that any senior executive needs to be pretty smart to capture the position; I'm OK with that. But, you're smart, too. Reflect across your career to the number of people senior to you whose intellects you have questioned--There are certainly plenty like that on your target list. At least a goodly number are even smarter than you (believe it or not). Smart/less smart doesn't make that much difference--All can have a position for you. You need to be able to break through to all of them. This leads to the trump card/suit--

However intelligent your reader might be (the same as you, smarter, or less), he or she will employ much less cognitive ability reading the letter than you spent writing it. Or, he or she will not bother to read yet one more complicated letter from yet one more job hunter.

Now, let's take a little side trip for another military tale you might find entertaining and useful (many of you have told me you like the flying stories--This one goes back to when I started as a draftee and before I was an army helicopter pilot). In 1967, I found myself as a Private E-1 at Ft. Polk, LA after the SMU Dean of Students dutifully notified my draft board (#39; Fairfax, VA) he had placed me on academic probation. This was of course before the Viet Nam War started winding down and Sam switched to the draft lottery system--"Acky-Pro" meant instant draft notice, if you had a pulse. This was nearly instant for me; it took only a couple of weeks to get the notice and send me winging (on the old TTA/Trans-Texas Airlines--SWA's grandfather--DC-3) from Love Field to Ft. Polk.

My BCT (basic combat training) company was the flower of American youth--mostly other draftees from the South Dallas " 'hood," a big group from Puerto Rico (about half of our drill sergeants spoke Spanish), a few members of the Minnesota National Guard (politicians' sons?), and yours truly (I recall zero collegiately-challenged kindred spirits, so I stuck out). We all learned to shoot, move, and communicate, as they say.

For the uninitiated, a big part of army basic training is learning how to fight with the bayonet--you know, the knife that attaches to the end of a rifle. We spent part of the day for several weeks on this--slashes, thrusts, butt strokes, parries, and so forth. Bayonet fighting really hasn't changed much for several thousand years--before there were rifles, there were sticks (pikes, spears) with sharp points--so the army (and the Marine Corps, too) has gotten pretty good at it (training soldiers/marines how to swing them and fight in hand-to-hand combat).

"Pugil stick" training is the climax of bayonet training. You might have seen the pictures. This is where--in a non-lethal way--the trainee gets to apply all the bayonet training. Two trainees--protected by football helmet, chest protector, and so forth--square off in the middle of a ring and try to "kill" the other person. The pugil stick has a big boxing glove thing at either end, so (theoretically) no trainee can be killed literally.

There are plenty of knockouts, however. I came close--to being knocked out, not disposing of my adversary. I can say truthfully that this experience assisted me in selecting helicopter flying as my career field (although I did make it through Infantry OCS, stories for another day). I was pretty well pounded by South Dallas.

At the conclusion of the very intense exercise (whew!), Drill Sergeant Harrigan (never learned his first name, sorry) assembled his platoon of about thirty trainees for a little pep talk. If you don't know much about the military, the institutional strength comes from the NCOs. (Listen to what they say; you might need it). We were about to get a lesson--call it NCO "Wisdom of the Ages"--that has stuck with me to this day.

"If you ever find yourself in a hand-to-hand combat situation, I want you to forget everything I have taught you about bayonet training these past few weeks," SSG Harrigan said to his platoon.

Where is he going with this?, I wondered. What have we been doing, anyway?

"Before you start swinging that bayonet at the NVA, North Korean, or Russian, I want you to reach down to the ground, pick up a handful of dirt, and throw it in his face."

There you have it--NCO Wisdom of the Ages--

1. It's very difficult to fight with the bayonet when you cannot see.
2. That other guy just might be better at it than you are (unless he cannot see; then you're much better).
3. There are no "rules" in bayonet fighting. Winning is what matters.

Now, let's apply that NCO wisdom (and this little shaggy dog story) to your CEO letter writing.

1. Let's create a breakthrough advantage in your letters that works for you, not the other guy (who just might be a better fighter than you).
2. Is the hand-to-hand combat example appropriate here? (If you say "no," in my opinion, you have not yet grasped just how difficult a situation you are really in--I believe it is the competitive struggle of your life).
3. There are no "rules" in letter-writing, either. The breakthrough is what matters.

I know there are enough executives reading this who want to see what I'm talking about, so I'm offering up an opportunity to show you some of my work--some amazing letters, if I say so myself--that have broken through the gatekeepers and delivered interviews with major-company CEOs. Here's the offer--

Saturday, December 18. I will rent a conference room (Delta SkyClub) at ATL and bring with me a portfolio of the letters (to use in class, not to leave the room). We'll have a little course in hand-to-hand letter-writing bayonet training--basic combat letter writing. I'll teach you some copywriting techniques you won't forget. These just might be handy in your job campaign.

There is no risk to you (other than burning up some of those hoarded ff miles and missing a couple of minor bowl games). Bring a $250 check with you. I will close my eyes and pass the hat at the end of the session and see how many thought the session was worth the expense. Take your check home with you if the session wasn't worth a lot more than that to you. Bring your best letter along with you and we will go to work on it, too.

This should be fun. I think about a dozen will be the limit. Please reply to this note if you will be there.

Best regards. I might have another column or two before Christmas, but if this is it, please have a blessed holiday with your family.

Ken