Send: Think Before You Click

April 18, 2007
David Shipley | Op-Ed editor of The New York Times

With email we can send a message to nearly anyone, anytime, from anywhere…but that doesn’t always mean that we should. In fact, email communication presents new challenges-both in terms of writing skills and strategy-that should prompt us to ask ourselves a series of questions every time we compose an electronic memo, note, report, or reply. For example, when should you email and when should you call or show up? What is the best strategy when you send (in anger or in error) a potentially career-ending bombshell? While each company has its own email protocol, there are some basic dos and don’ts that are now being accepted throughout the corporate community, and it is important to learn them to communicate most effectively.

Speaker Details

David Shipley is currently the Op-Ed editor of The New York Times, and has been on the editorial staff there since 1998. From 1995 until 1997 he served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Speechwriter, and prior to this was the executive editor of The New Republic Magazine from 1993-1995. David Shipley holds a degree in English from Williams College.