How to Write Memos

You will soon learn that the heart, the very lifeblood of modern business is the interoffice memo. If you're a good man with a memo you have small cause to worry.

The memo, like the meeting, is concerned only incidentally with its apparent subject. The main object of the memo is to impress the people who read it.

Never come Straight to the Point

The neophyte can be spotted quickly. He comes right out and states his business. Since very few problems can't be covered in a paragraph or two, the reader is finished with it rapidly, and the whole point of the memo is lost.

A good man can expand the simplest subject into three or four closely written pages, during the course of which he can inject sympathetic understanding, wit, and a few well-chosen anecdotes. Those who read it will see that he not only has a complete grasp of the subject, and of the entire industry, but that he is a capital fellow, and is somehow slightly above the whole thing.

How to Get People to Read Memos

Memos are like seeds in the forest or the eggs of a salmon. The waste is staggering. One authority feels that if one in ten falls on target, or is at least partly read, the mission is accomplished. Another feels that one in twenty-five is a fair average. This is defeatist thinking! Make sure your memos are read. Address them to the highest officer who might be even remotely connected with the subject, especially the man who is in charge of those you are trying to impress. This name is usually referred to as "nominal sendee," or "reader guarantee."

Address it:

To: Mr. Biggley,

From: Pierrepont Finch cc.

Under "cc.," or "carbon copy," list all those you're trying to impress.

This will make some of the carbon copy people read it on the chance that Biggley might read it and refer to it.

It is, of course, unnecessary to send out Biggley's copy.

The Secondary Target

The secondary target is the person who really has to do something about the memo, if he can find the right paragraph. This fellow, probably in some menial job, will receive the ninth carbon, which is not readable, except in a general way. It is sufficient to call him up:

"Say, don't know whether my memo got there yet."

"Oh, yessir, it did, Mr. Finch. Little trouble reading it."

"Well, don't bother. I can tell you in a nutshell. J. B. called from the agency and wanted to make sure you (continued on page 28) Write Memos(continued from page 25) ship out a case to Akron."

"Oh, yes, I will."

"Fine."

The subtleties, the sly humor, and the gentle wisdom of your five closely written pages will have been lost upon this dolt, but no matter. Your purpose has been achieved.

Don't pin People Down

It is not considered cricket to pin people down to specific details in a memo. If you ask a colleague if he has "seen" your memo and he answers "yes," accept the statement. Those who ask what he thought of paragraph three will soon have few friends.

What to do with other People's Memos

There are two schools of thought on this. One holds that it's enough to place a bold red check on the upper right-hand corner. This shows your secretary you have "seen" it. She will then place it in a neat pile until you "have time to read it." This, of course, will never be necessary. Instruct her to throw away all memos six inches below the top of the pile.

The other procedure is to take freshly received memos, and, before reading, return to sender with a penciled note at the top. "Mighty clear exposition!" is always good, or "See you've really thought this through!" This way is more trouble, but it will make you friends.

If there is anything you really have to do about a memo, have no fear! The sender will phone you, as noted above.

Sample Memo

Excerpts from a sample memo are printed here, almost exactly as they appeared in our friend Finch's personal file. No need to add that names -- and an occasional fact--have been changed.

Study this carefully. It is a fine example of the memowright's art, coming as it does in the middle of Finch's early, or bold, period. But do not try to imitate it too slavishly. Remember that a memo is you, and one that may express another's personality will do you scant justice.

Memo

To: Mr. J.B. Biggley Date:

The copy to J.B. Biggley, the "nominal sendee," was not sent, as explained above.

cc. Messrs

Axel

E. Biggley

Cottery

Fribble

Lightly

D. Osterly

Sprockett

Taffle

Womper

The above names are "impressees," or those the sender was trying to impress. They are always listed in alphabetical order--no use offending anyone! The "executor," or the one who was supposed to do something about the memo, was a lad named Bud Frump of the shipping department. His name was never actually included in the typed version, but was written in red pencil on the tenth carbon. See "Secondary Target," above.

From: Pierrepont Finch

Some authorities favor "Mr. Finch' in this position, but there is a certain disarming modesty and easy familiarity about plain "Pierrepont Finch." In fact, some of Finch's better-known memos were signed simply "Pont Finch."

Subject: the wicket situation

Never neglect a resounding title! This memo could have been titled "Put Plenty of Excelsior in Future Wicket Shipments," since that was the real, or secondary, purpose. A clod would have done so, but not Finch!

Few of us are aware of the alarming situation that confronts us with regard to our current wicket shipments.

This is good! It alerts the reader, puts him on his guard against real danger, and keeps him going through the meaty, or impressive passages. The surefooted memowright knows the value of the word "alarming" in the first sentence. It is a particularly wellchosen word because it indicates that even though there is a real threat, you are on top of it.

I think first we should all be brought up to date on the background.

"Background," too, is good. All memos should have plenty of "background." It promises rich rewards for those who follow you through the ensuing paragraphs.

And because--though I hesitate to say it--the wicket background has become more or less inseparable from my own, I may have to sketch in a few personal details.

You are losing readers here, face it! But plunge on. This is the real treasure, or pay dirt, that you are bringing to your carefully chosen group of readers.

My intimate connection with the wicket situation dates back to its very inception.

At this point the memo becomes technical, and will be of small value to the lay, or non-wicket reader. Suffice it to say that two or three closely written pages follow. One who threads his way through this treasure-trove will discover that--lo!--Finch not only has a firm grasp on wickets, but on the entire industry as well. The branches are fairly groaning with such ripe fruit as this:

--Furthermore, my long research into the matter led me to the conclusion that--

And:

Though this is only my personal belief, it is one that few, at this stage can dispute!

Perhaps the following anecdote will help to illustrate my point. Wander with me back through the years to the old Maple Street plant.

For a page and a half one wellturned phrase follows another. The story, charming as it is, has little to do with the wicket situation. Its purpose is finer, higher, and broader. Rare indeed is the reader who does not emerge with the conviction that Finch is a capital fellow, stouthearted, clearheaded, brave, and reverent.

"Take your money," I said. "A Biggley boy I began and a Biggley boy I'll stay, damn you!"

After a few more scattered bon mots, Finch concludes thus:

There are a number of major steps that we can surely take in the future, but for the moment, aside from packing more excelsior in the wicket cases, we find ouselves in somewhat of a culde-sac. However, time will tell.

Small reason to remind the critical reader that this is true artistry, and in the Finch tradition. Finch has disposed of his real, or secondary, subject with a rapier thrust, piercing it concisely in one parenthetical phrase: "aside from packing more excelsior in the wicket cases." A fine example to follow!

(Signed), Ponty

Though actually all copies--except the one to Bud Frump--had "Ponty" written in longhand at the end, the impression conveyed was that the other were signed "P.F." and that only your own was signed "Ponty," personally, in a spirit of brotherly affection. Finch's secretary had long since become expert at writing "Ponty" so that it was indistinguishable from the real thing.

Next month: Be an idea Man!

From "How to Succeed in Business without really trying," Copyright, 1952, by Shepherd Mead, Published by Simon & Schuster.