Stanford GSB's Course on Professional Writing
The essential frameworks from every session, distilled into visual learnings you can reference anytime.
There are two kinds of critics in life: those who criticize you because they want you to fail, and those who criticize you because they want you to succeed. And people can smell the difference a mile away.
Know your audience. Kill jargon. Use strong verbs. B.L.U.F. — Bottom Line Up Front. The word "currently" is forbidden.
Foundation11 rules to be 1 in a million, not 1 of a million. Lead with what they don't know. Use "Like you." The Nardwuar Method.
OutreachWarmth + Competence. Be cinematic. Use dialog. The Abercrombie sweatshirt story. Start with the most dramatic scene.
NarrativeJosh Constantine's 3-part formula: Problem, Solution, Why You. Target the specific reporter. Offer an exclusive.
Guest: Josh ConstantineBuild relationships with journalists before you need them. The tennis match analogy. Never say "no comment" or "it won't happen again."
Guest: Andrew Ross SorkinSteve Jobs' iPhone launch: simplicity, humor, no jargon. Oprah's cinematic details. The 3 S's: Story + Statistics + Solutions.
StageSelf-deprecating wins. George Carlin on airport language. Corporate Bro jargon parodies. "Vinnie from the Bronx."
ComedySay what you like, then what you'd like. Be cinematic in gratitude notes. Show, don't tell, why someone mattered.
LeadershipChoose an argument, not a topic. "What makes me mad?" Nick Kristof from South Sudan. Your unique angle matters most.
InfluenceRachel Conrad: Your "About Me" is the single most high-value paragraph in your career. Kill: leverage, synergize, drive, deliverables.
Guest: Rachel ConradI'm a professional weight lifter, but my weights are words.
Four fundamental rules that apply to every piece of writing you'll ever do — plus the forbidden words Glenn will punish you for.
What result do I want? How can I persuade the reader to help me achieve it? Write for the "intelligent generalist" — the least knowledgeable member of your audience. If your grandma wouldn't understand it, rewrite it.
If you boiled it down to one phrase, sentence, or paragraph — what would it say? The shorter, the better.
Avoid jargon. Say it to a friend, then write it as you said it. George Carlin nailed it: airports say "the boarding process" — it's just "boarding." They say "pre-board" — which means getting on before you get on.
Bottom Line Up Front. Glenn critiqued the Stanford president's email about a hiring freeze — the announcement was buried at the bottom. It should have been the first sentence.
Glenn enforces escalating punishments for using the word "currently" — from warnings to double-secret probation to watching a scary movie. Other forbidden phrases include:
Why "going forward" is banned: future tense already implies forward. "We will improve security going forward" = "We will improve security." The last two words are dead weight.
Glenn's favorite strong verbs: amplify, batter, cower, mimic, sparkle, yank
Jog, walk, hike. Physical movement unlocks creative thinking.
Write when the world is quiet and your mind is fresh.
A new environment sparks new perspectives.
Can't write a memo? Pretend you're writing an email to a friend explaining the same thing.
Don't get stuck on the opening. Write the part you know, then backfill.
If you stumble reading it, your reader will too. Your ear catches what your eye misses.
Use the Miniskirt (or Speedo) Rule: Make it long enough to cover the basics, but short enough to keep it interesting.
Show you're special — 1 in a million, not 1 of a million. 11 rules with real examples from class.
Glenn's father got a job during the Depression by saying to the interviewer: "I can't imagine how hard it must be to interview starving, desperate men all day." Empathy made him 1 in 100.
Research them deeply. React to something they've written. Glenn showed a video of rapper interviewer Nardwuar, who knows obscure facts about artists who are initially hostile — then completely wins them over. That's the gold standard of "know your audience."
If you're not, you're fooling yourself as well as the recruiter. The "money slide" for any interaction is the combination of warmth + competence. You need both.
Don't begin with flattery about how they've "transformed the industry." They know that. Begin with what YOU can do for THEM.
Mention someone you both know and respect. Better yet, have that someone introduce you.
Draw a parallel between yourself and the recipient. These two words create an instant bond.
Tell a story that will make them laugh. Even one sentence of humor puts you in the top 1%.
Don't cover everything on your resume. Give one compelling example. Pick a motif and carry it through the entire email.
Sweet spot between humility and overconfidence. If in doubt, have a friend read it first.
Make your ask as small and specific as possible. Make it easy to say yes. Under 200 words.
Maybe you know something, or someone, they don't. Create reciprocity.
If you write to "Mark Andreesen at Sequoia" instead of the right name and firm, don't expect an answer.
Pants puns woven throughout. Used ChatGPT for brainstorming + personal journals for voice. Glenn called it a model of how to use AI.
A student congratulated Anthropic on launching Claude using Claude itself to brainstorm ideas — delightfully meta.
CreativeConcise, warm, referenced her specific work. Mentioned having 1 million followers — offered something in return.
Concise"Like you, I'm from Rajasthan and made my way to Silicon Valley." Perfect use of Rule 5.
Rule 5 Mastery"A decade of delayed courage." Perfect PS with a dog joke. Glenn said it was one of the best he'd seen.
CourageJulia Kapoor at Slack sent multiple emails to a prospect — no response. She then paid for a Cameo video from a telenovela star the prospect loved. He replied within minutes. Sometimes you need to go beyond email.
Make your ask as easy to do as possible. Read it through from the eyes of the recipient.
Your goal: Make someone want to have a beer with you — AND hire you. That's warmth + competence.
Two choices for your story: (1) your messiest situation and what you learned, or (2) your most satisfying accomplishment and the lesson. Either way, you need both warmth and competence.
FrameworkUse dialog, describe the scene, use short sentences for tension. "Picture your favorite movie scene. Describe it in words. That's what you want."
TechniqueCredit the team for wins. Take personal responsibility for errors. CEOs value humility and team players.
Adam BryantDon't start chronologically. The Zuckerberg red-lining story: start with the drama, then backfill context.
StructureMake complex ideas click instantly with a comparison everyone understands.
No jargon. Use yourself and people you know as characters. If the least knowledgeable person in the room wouldn't understand it, simplify.
Audience"On December 24, Abercrombie sells one sweatshirt every two seconds. 45,000 in 24 hours. It was my job to get these sweatshirts sewn, shipped and delivered."
The crisis: "I had zero sweatshirts made."
The dialog: "I'm in trouble... We can't get the order out."
The decision: "Lose the pockets." (Cutting pockets saved enough time to make the deadline.)
The result: "On Christmas day, there were only two left in all of North America."
Why it works: Cinematic, uses dialog, shows teamwork ("we"), has a crisis + resolution, and a satisfying ending. Glenn called this a masterclass in storytelling.
Saw a man sitting on a roof dreaming of working with computers. Discovered 300 unfilled tech positions inside the building below. Founded PowerTech, trained 4,000+ "Donovans." Won a CNN award.
Originally told chronologically. Glenn restructured it to lead with the most exciting element:
A cinematic story about real estate investment class. Glenn used it to show how vivid, surprising characters make any topic interesting.
Session 4Don't believe everything you think.
From elevator pitches to journalist pitches to VC decks — frameworks from Josh Constantine (Signal Fire, ex-TechCrunch) and Glenn Kramon.
What's broken? Make the pain vivid and specific. The audience should nod and think "yes, I've felt that."
What do you do? In plain English. No jargon. Show, don't tell. Include a real example user.
Why are you uniquely qualified? Superhero origin story. Endorsements. Momentum. Customer numbers.
You stand on the sidewalk. You call a taxi phone number. You hope they show up. The driver takes the wrong route. You need cash. You don't know how much to tip. Then: one tap and a car comes to you.
The problem is so vivid, the solution almost announces itself.
Extreme simplicity. No jargon. Just the compelling fact:
Linked to a bigger trend of DIY estate planning. The news hook unlocked NYT coverage.
News Hook"Applies AI to X-ray machines. 99% accuracy vs 5% for human screeners." Vivid stat, clear problem, simple explanation. Got CNBC coverage.
Stat PunchA vivid problem-solving narrative that showed the company's resourcefulness and culture.
StorytellingThink of it like Paul McCartney. He plays "Yesterday" and "Hey Jude" every single show. He plays them like it's his first time, every time. That's what a great pitch does.
How to work with journalists — from building relationships to surviving hostile interviews. Featuring Andrew Ross Sorkin (NYT, CNBC).
Establish relationships with journalists you respect BEFORE you have news. Andrew's #1 piece of advice. Find them early in your career, become a source.
Key InsightFirst: figure out who they are and what they want. Look up their work. Don't immediately forward to PR — your company "may not always have your own interests at heart."
Self-ProtectionA good interview is like a tennis match: "The audience wants to see a rally, not you acing them over and over." Let the journalist have their turns — it makes for a better story.
SorkinYou can now respond directly. If a mistake is published, you can go back to the journalist or go public yourself. You have more power than you think.
Modern ToolsFrom the class case study: your company just got hacked and a reporter is calling with tough questions.
Overpromising. You can't guarantee this. A journalist will hold you to it.
Lawsuit fodder. Acknowledge the situation without accepting legal liability.
Sounds annoyed and condescending. Every answer should feel fresh.
Glenn showed the Ed Miliband clip: repeating the exact same answer word-for-word to every question destroyed his credibility instantly.
Andrew walked through a blizzard to attend the funeral of Glenn's 96-year-old father, whom he'd never met. "You want to be that kind of person." That's what building real relationships looks like.
What makes Steve Jobs, Oprah, and Lauren Weinstein unforgettable on stage — and how to structure your own.
Open with a personal, vivid narrative. Draw them in before making your point.
Back up the story with data. Make the stat surprising.
Don't just identify problems. Give the audience something to do.
Glenn did a deep analysis of the iPhone keynote and identified what made it work:
Glenn highlighted the specific sensory details that made Oprah's speech unforgettable:
The lesson: don't say "she worked hard" — show us what hard looked like. Don't say "there was racial tension" — describe the tie and the skin.
The Honey Badger Rule: "Why should I care?" If you can't answer this for every paragraph, cut it.
Self-deprecating. Win them over before the substance. Jobs' "Yuck!" about styluses disarmed the audience immediately.
Summarize early. Repeat it. Use it as your guide. Jobs: "Today, Apple reinvents the phone."
The Gettysburg Address: under 300 words, two minutes. If Lincoln can do it in 300 words, so can you.
The end is more important than the beginning. Lauren Weinstein's TED talk ended with: "Don't believe everything you think."
People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
Humor can be dangerous. But when it works, you become one in a million. Glenn's class is packed with examples.
"This will make you laugh" kills the joke before you make it.
Make fun of yourself, not others. Emily's dog Olive who "contributes nothing to sustainability beyond trying to eat my recycling."
Make sure the target can take it. Humor should build bonds, not burn them.
Two like ideas, then a third incongruent one. Setup, setup, punchline.
Carson's Rule: three jokes max on a topic before they get restless.
Just exaggerate a little. Reality is often funnier than anything you can make up.
"Can you tell me where the library's at?" → "Never end a sentence with a preposition." → "Can you tell me where the library's at, a**hole?"
Classic"They say 'the boarding process.' It's just 'boarding.' And 'pre-board' — how do you get on a plane before you get on a plane?"
Jargon KillerNatalie & Corporate Bro apply business jargon to dating: "You've been an action item on my list." "I don't have the bandwidth." "Let's circle back." "Let's drill down." Delightfully terrible.
ParodyHelping parents with technology: "Have you Googled it?" A gentle reminder that humor doesn't need to be elaborate.
RelatableCalled Starbucks live on stage during the iPhone keynote: "I'd like to order 4,000 lattes to go... just kidding, wrong number." The audience erupted.
Live Demo93% of communication is non-verbal — and texting strips it all away. Glenn and students explored how text symbols carry unintended meaning:
The most important chapter for future leaders — plus how to write gratitude notes people keep forever.
If they sense you want them to succeed, they'll take any criticism. Tom Friedman's line: "People can smell the difference a mile away."
Never say what you dislike — say how to make it better. "I liked X. I'd like to see more of Y."
The single biggest weakness in feedback is the absence of specific examples. Don't say "good job" — say exactly what was good and why.
Conversational letter, not third-person report. "You did X beautifully" not "The employee demonstrated competence in X."
Review performance, not personality. Avoid psychoanalyzing. Stick to observable actions and outcomes.
Tough news face-to-face first. The review should be a precious souvenir — something they keep.
From Session 3: Glenn taught that gratitude notes should be cinematic — describe the specific scene where this person impacted you.
A student wrote about a swim coach who held them accountable — not with generic praise, but by describing the specific 5:30 AM poolside scene, the exact words said, the moment of breakthrough.
CinematicA student described arriving in Nigeria — the specific sights, sounds, and feelings — and how a particular person made that transition bearable. Vivid detail > vague appreciation.
SensoryA letter to a difficult boss at Microsoft. Instead of generic thanks, the student described the specific moments of tough-love mentorship that shaped their career.
HonestAI can write a gratitude note. But it can't write about the potato vending machine on that one street in Poland that changed your life. Only you can write the vivid, personal details that make someone cry.
Tips from Glenn Kramon and a video message from Nick Kristof in South Sudan.
Start with something contentious — that others might disagree with. "AI in education" is a topic. "MBA programs should require AI courses" is an argument.
They'll read the headline and half a paragraph. Don't clear your throat. Don't "set the stage." Just begin.
One or two stories + persuasive stats. Not five stories. The reader needs someone to root for.
Connect to something timely. Show your unique angle. Why are YOU the person to write this?
Acknowledge the counterargument. Show you've considered it. Then explain why you're still right.
Give a model of where what you want is already happening. Don't just diagnose — prescribe.
A student used their unique perspective growing up between China and America to write about AI regulation.
Unique AngleShould MBA curricula include spirituality? A contentious argument that provoked classroom debate.
ProvocativeAn argument that gaming teaches leadership, strategy, and teamwork better than case studies.
SurprisingPersonal experience + data. A deeply felt argument backed by numbers.
Personal + DataIf you're struggling to find a topic, ask yourself: "What makes me mad?"
Rachel Conrad on writing your "About Me" — the single most high-value paragraph in your career — and why jargon is killing your writing.
Your LinkedIn About Me section is the single most high-value paragraph in your entire career. It's the first thing investors, recruiters, journalists, and partners read. Make it count.
Leads with a specific, impressive metric. No jargon. Shows both competence and the scale of impact.
Gold StandardUnexpected metaphor. Memorable. Warm. Makes you want to know more.
MetaphorMixing mission with personality. The anime detail makes you real.
Mission + PersonalityHumor + range. The "large meals" detail is human and warm.
HumorPersonal interests make the professional story human.
Interests"Thought partner" — Glenn flagged this for a Singapore policy maker. It's meaningless jargon. Replace it with what you actually DO.
Rachel Conrad's most despised words — and what to say instead. Glenn reinforces: "Show, don't tell. If you say 'proven leader,' give the specific example that proves it."
| 🚫 Kill | ✅ Say Instead |
|---|---|
| leverage | use |
| incentivize | motivate |
| mitigate | reduce |
| iterate | improve upon |
| pain point | problem |
| deliverables | tasks / goals / results |
| synergize | (just delete it) |
| productize | (describe what you actually built) |
| strategize | plan |
| empower / enable | help |
| innovate | (show what you created) |
| disrupt | (show what you changed) |
| drive | (most overused word in business — be specific) |
| remediate | fix |
If your About Me could belong to anyone else in your industry, it's not specific enough. Your potato-vending-machine-in-Poland moment is what makes you unforgettable.
Glenn Kramon's parting wisdom, inspired by Jacob Marley.
Never begin a cold-call with "I hope you are well." Corporate Bro's reaction video says it all.
"What other people think is none of your damn business."
Some balls are plastic, some glass. Don't drop the glass ones.
Stay open to opportunities and experiences. Walk through blizzards for people.
"It's not having what you want. It's wanting what you have."
Don't become too dependent on someone else for your identity.
Share the load. Don't bet your life on someone else.
Get to know people of all ages and backgrounds.
Your life will be enriched and you will be happier.
"Do not lose your enthusiasm." — Ken Burns
Remember what both parties accomplished together in 1965.
Act with generosity toward those less privileged. Joe Barreto saw a man on a roof and built a training empire.
Think positively. Don't dwell on the past. Don't believe everything you think.
Replace 4-5 toxic relationships with 50 uplifting ones.
"Once you land on the shore, you'll realize how far you've gone."
"The wish to scatter joy and not pain around us." — Emerson
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