One of my favorite pieces of business writing ever, which has a lot of stylistic choices I wouldn't make but which gets the point across, is this internal memo about Citi's mortgage business from someone who had been trying to ring the arm bell.
cybercemetery.unt.edu/archive/fcic/2…
cybercemetery.unt.edu/archive/fcic/2…
> The reason for this urgent email concerns breakdowns of internal controls and and resulting significant but possibly unrecognized financial losses existing within our organization.
An accountant wrote that. That is accountant-speak for "Get to the emergency room immediately"
An accountant wrote that. That is accountant-speak for "Get to the emergency room immediately"
If I had written it, and I have the benefit of hindsight, rewrite that and make it the first sentence:
"Internal controls have broken down in residential mortgage underwriting. We face an unrecognized financial loss which may be large enough to imperil the firm."
"Internal controls have broken down in residential mortgage underwriting. We face an unrecognized financial loss which may be large enough to imperil the firm."
"But Patrick, there's a lot of legal risk there."
That is not Dangerous Professional thinking. Dangerous Professional is *way* past worried about legal risk: if he's wrong he's fired and if he's right then legal risk is so far down on the priority stack that it needs no cycles.
That is not Dangerous Professional thinking. Dangerous Professional is *way* past worried about legal risk: if he's wrong he's fired and if he's right then legal risk is so far down on the priority stack that it needs no cycles.
