In the video “The Importance of Authentic Communication”, Sheryl Sandberg makes two spectacular points about taking full responsibility and giving others partners a voice in decision making. I agree with her opinions and believe they offer important characteristics of effective business communication.

To give other workers a voice in decisions, it was explained by Sandberg that you should never take a position of what you believe and ignore what others think. I agree with this statement and believe it is important to give others your thoughts and opinions but also be open to what they have to say about it as well. Sandberg explained that by saying “I believe for this reason. What do you believe?”, you can give other people room to communicate authentically. This is a great way to communicate because you are displaying your point of view while also showing your co-worker that you are interested in what they have to say as well. It takes more than one person to make big decisions for a firm, so it is important to gather everyone’s thought and ideas before making a collection decision. Everyone’s voice should be heard, and this demonstrates unselfish leadership qualities.

Taking full responsibility is essential to being successful as well. I agree with Sandberg’s ideas, specifically when she mentions “It’s your fault that you didn’t get the group together to meet and discuss everyone’s roles”. You can’t blame other people when you don’t do as well on a project. Instead of insulting them, it is important to take accountability. I agree that you should instead say “why didn’t I meet with them to make it clearer to them what exactly they had to do.” When a group doesn’t do a good job, it’s the whole groups fault and everybody should think about what they could have done better instead of blaming each other.

I completely agree with the 5 things Steve Jobs can teach us about writing emails: have one purpose, keep the design simple, remove filler words, use the active voice, and close with your request.

1) Having one purpose is so important when trying to convey a message, especially when that message is going to an employer who has hundreds of other emails to read. I like how they explained in the article how people aren’t going to want to read a long email with so many different points; it would take too much time to get to the real point the writer is trying to make, and you probably wouldn’t want to answer him. https://walton.uark.edu/insights/posts/writing-with-purpose.php#:~:text=Writing%20with%20Purpose%201%201.%20Save%20Time%20and,Build%20trust%20…%204%204.%20Provide%20direction%20

2) Sometimes I think every time I write I have to put as many ideas down as I can; however, as explained in the article, it really is all about keeping it simple and clear. I believe making it easy for the reader to understand is the real goal when writing an email and that’s how you will get responses.

3) Removing filler words makes a lot of sense; it will help you get to the point quicker with less words. It will make it easier to understand your email. https://hbr.org/2018/08/how-to-stop-saying-um-ah-and-you-know

4) Sometimes I don’t use an active voice in my writing so I can relate to this; I will definitely take Steve Jobs’ advice. A passive voice lacks clarity, as explained in the article. In order to make my writing clearer (make it simpler) I will practice writing more peaceful and forceful, described in the article. https://writing.wisc.edu/handbook/style/ccs_activevoice/

5) I agree that closing your request is really important in making a reader understand your ideas and points of view in your email. Just in case he gets confused in the middle of the email he can come back to the end and easily summarize what the writer was trying to convey.

I will definitely include these 5 elements into my writing moving forward and totally agree with Steve Jobs’ Points!