Writing More, Saying Less: The Link Between Words and Worth
To pose a frequently asked question: Does size matter? Document length, that is. Do more details lead to more definitive answers? That question was debated about the healthcare bill and is now being batted around regarding the new financial regulatory legislation.
What’s the link between words and worth? Take, for example, the new financial reform bill. Here’s how Becky Quick, anchor of CNBC’s Squak Box put it in the Opinion column of Fortune magazine (August 16, 2010):
The legislation weighs in at 848 pages (at least the electronic version does). Compare that with, say, the Constitution of the United States, which founded the legal principles of our nation nearly 223 years ago. That original document (handwritten naturally) clocked in at just four pages. Granted, the Founding Fathers wrote in small print. But come one. Four pages to run a country vs. 848 pages to run a bank? Really? And in its 800-plus pages, the Fin Reg bill manages to create even more questions than it answers. Like what defines “risky” behavior for the banks, when an institituion is too big to fail, and what the competetive field will look like in the new financial world.
So I repeat my basic question: What is the link between word count and worth? Very little.
In our business writing and technical writing workshops, we hear comments and protests such as these: “My boss insists that I ‘put it on a page’–do you agree with that?” Or, “It’s department policy that these monthly reports can’t be longer than 3 pages.” Or, “Our proposal has to be uploaded to a website template, and we’re limited to 4,000 characters. How can I possibly list all the benefits in those few words?”
Do more details lead to more definitive answers? Not necessarily. Words can be used to illuminiate or obscure—your choice.
Abraham Lincoln said it best: “He can compress the most words into the smallest idea of any man I ever met.”
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