The writer trilogy

Okay, I’ll admit it from the outset – this review is biased.

Not in a ‘cash for comments’ sense, but because I am a convert to the cause espoused in John Simmons’ great trilogy of books. More on that in a minute.

If, like me, the idea of reading yet another business book has all the appeal of the American electoral system, then read on.

Many business books (with a few notable exceptions), and much of the content in them, are a source of the pompous language that plagues marketing.

When did we decide that business language is different from, well, real language? We didn’t. But as marketers, ever keen to be taken seriously, we have parroted the language of those we seek to impress, and evolved it into our own dialect. An impenetrable ‘in crowd’ dialect that ironically attracts scorn from many of those we sought to impress.

Eventually, as with all extremes, someone decides that enough is enough.

So back when we were all busy ‘reaching out’ to people, building brand pyramids, framing (sodding) mission statements, and psychographically segmenting our markets, a quiet and considered chap called John Simmons did just that – he said ‘enough’, by way of his topic defining book, We, Me, Them and It. In it he artfully shone a light on the beauty and power of the written word – at a time when our mass adoption of email and text was fast extinguishing it. Simmons also pointed out that brands are intended to appeal to real people, to speak to them and engender trust and loyalty – whether they’re products, services or companies. Most importantly, he was an early exponent of the power of storytelling for brands.

And not by coincidence, Simmons used storytelling to get this message across.

Marketers started to listen, and to change.

Innocent Drinks boldly pioneered this ‘new’ use of language and became the poster child for ‘on brand’ language. Man. Simmons rolled his eyes to the many requests he received from me-too banks, insurers and gas companies, keen for him to help them ‘be like Innocent’.

So while We, Me, Them and It deftly illuminated the ‘what’, Simmons’ next book, The Invisible Grail necessarily set about answering ‘how and why’. But rather than achieving ‘Business Writing for Dummies’, Simmons playfully used language and mythology to help the proverbial penny drop. Seldom do non-fiction writers impart so much knowledge, without the reader feeling a distinct sense of being taught.

Pressure built on marketing departments to use language more creatively. Great, but Simmons clearly felt people were missing the point. For language, and the authentic, creative use of language, he argued, is not only the responsibility of marketers, it is the responsibility of everyone in an organisation.

The technology we use to communicate may have evolved over the past decade, but the frequency and speed of our communications has disproportionately ballooned. And Simmons makes clear that every one of these communications is an opportunity for our true inner voice, our ‘Dark Angel’, to speak - unburdened by the layers of corporate mumbo-jumbo we have collected along our career paths. Recognising and nurturing this inner voice, and freeing it in the workplace is the premise of Simmons’ third book in the trilogy, Dark Angels. Indeed, so resonant was this idea, that it formed the basis (and name) of Simmons’ writing retreat business, which has recently celebrated its tenth birthday.

Dark Angels neatly rounds out the ‘what, how and why’ established earlier by Simmons, and challenges not just marketers, or even professional people – but all of us, in answer to ‘who’.

And so it is that these books neatly sidestep the typecasting of business books. In truth they could sit on shelves marked ‘humour’, ‘popular culture’ or even ‘self-help’.

For Simmons makes clear that language is a gift, afforded to us all, of power and joy. One that we can take to work.

So if you’ve never thought about your own use of this most powerful of tools, or how it can be used for the better, this trilogy of books is for you.