Writing is the Right Thing to Do

Back at the end of 2008 I was asked to give a talk at a Singaporean university about the likely impact of President Obama’s election on international relations. A couple days before, one of the organizer’s assistants wrote and asked me for a bio. She wrote, “I was going to pull something from online, but even though you’re supposed to be an expert in international relations, I couldn’t find you when I Googled you.”

Ouch.

Now, in all fairness to me, I have a pretty common name, and I share it with a loud-mouthed former politician who has been involved in international relations, so if you tried Googling me (unless you got kind of specific) it could be tough to find the real me. Still, it illustrated the importance of being out there on the web. One way to do that is by professional writing.

Writing allows you to enhance your own personal brand by demonstrating that, first, you have some expertise and, second, you can communicate it. Either of those is a useful trait; both of them together are pretty powerful. Writing — whether it be traditional books, e-books, articles and columns, a blog — allows you to show people what you know, and gives you a professional presence. It’s one thing to tell people you’re an expert. It’s a better thing to let them find out on their own.

Of course, writing does more than help you advertise your abilities. It helps develop those abilities, too. As you start writing about your field you’re going to learn more about it; trust me, you cannot help but learn more when you are writing. Researching for your articles forces you to immerse yourself in aspects of your field you didn’t know about. Even if you are only planning to write about stuff you know, you are going to be exposed to some stuff that you don’t, and that adds to your professional knowledge.

Of course, practicing your communication helps develop your those skills too, and you would be amazed how important that is. I guess I was lucky in terms of the experiences I had in high school and at university, because I just assumed everyone knew how to speak in public and write coherently, and that really is not the case. A university professor once told me that if you can write you will always stand out, and he was correct — so many people can’t, and as a result if you get yourself identified as an effective communicator either in front of a crowd or on a page (or preferably both) it will open a lot of doors for you.

You could also demonstrate your speaking talents by doing podcasts and YouTube videos. But you will constantly be compared to Amy and Sheldon.