December 5, 2022

Introduction

When you think of Amazon, what comes to mind? Most likely, it’s the amazing success story of founder Jeff Bezos. But have you ever considered that part of his success may be due to his communication skills? In this article, we’ll explore how we can learn from Jeff Bezos’s writing style and apply these principles to our own lives in order to make progress in both life and business.

Why We Should Value Jeff Bezos’s Writing Style

Author Carmine Gallo’s new book The Bezos Blueprint takes an interesting approach to examining the success of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Rather than focusing on his business acumen, Gallo looks at Jeff Bezos’s communication skills. He posits that by studying (and emulating) these skills, we can achieve our own success in life and in business.

How to Apply the Principles of Good Communication in Your Own Life and Business

By reading Jeff Bezos’s annual shareholder letters, we can learn how to craft effective communication that is easy to read. Using the Flesch-Kincaid scale, we see that Jeff Bezos’s writing was written at a level an 11th-grader could understand. He later whittled his writing down to shorter sentences which had a readability score fit for an eighth-grader.

In case you are not aware, the Flesch-Kincaid scale is a method of measuring readability that was created in the 1940s. It takes into account everything from sentence length to the sophistication of the words being used. The easier a passage is to read—and the more likely it is to be understood by the greatness number of people—then the higher the score on the scale.

Is it a coincidence that a business guru like Jeff Bezos uses such simple writing in his business communications? I don’t think so.

For more information on the Flesch-Kincaid scale, check out my free ebook How to Improve Website Readability For Western Audiences. I dedicate an entire chapter to it. You can download it for free by clicking here, scrolling to the bottom of the page, and dropping your best email in the form. It’ll arrive in your inbox instantly.

How Does This Apply to Business Owners?

As a business owner, writing and communication might be far from the first thing on your mind. And it makes sense—when you own your own business, there are many important things making demands on your time and attention.

But what many entrepreneurs forget is that communication is an invaluable asset. Good communication can help you create a better work culture among your employees, build stronger relationships with customers and partners, and even increase sales. By studying Jeff Bezos’s communication style, business owners can learn how to craft effective communication that resonates with their audiences.

This is particularly valuable to consider if you speak English as a second language, but often find yourself using English to participate in the business world. Although it’s reasonable for someone who speaks English as a second language to make some mistakes here and there, the unfortunate reality is that the business world can be quite unforgiving sometimes, and potential clients and customers might be put off by communication with too many errors.

Conclusion

Jeff Bezos’s success has been attributed to many things, but his writing style is often overlooked. We can all benefit from studying the principles of good communication and applying them in our own businesses.

And while your own business might not resemble Amazon at all—whether that be in size or the product or service you’re offering—it still helps to pause for a minute and take a tip from one the most successful entrepreneurs in the world right now.

One of the absolute best ways to enhance and improve the written communication in your business is the outsource it to professionals. Here at English Outsourced, we work with businesses like yours to polish their messaging and communication to prospective clients and customers. We specialize in helping business owners who speak English as a second language but would like to attract more western prospects and clients. To learn more about how we can help you and your business, click here.