By Stuart Goldstein
Guest Opinion Author
Opinions expressed by the author are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Signal or its staff, as per the Guest Opinion policy.
These insights may help you climb the corporate ladder because you’re an effective writer and communicator. Getting the corner office is not an accident. It is mastering skills required in a world where the quantity, quality and speed of information flow can shape corporate reputation and brand image in minutes.
If good writing feels like a passion often unrewarded, don’t be deterred. I went to college as a math major — lol. My motivation to write came when I realized words could influence the world. Reading The New York Times op-ed page became a daily ritual. I circled unfamiliar words to build vocabulary and studied Safire, Wicker, Reston, and Rosenthal to learn phrasing and the art of persuasion.
The best book on writing wasn’t a grammar guide but S.I. Hayakawa’s Language in Thought and Action. It taught me about semantics: symbolism, inference, the ladder of abstraction, and how we know what we know. Hayakawa revealed the value of the gray areas that help writers craft complex characters and compelling stories — and, just as importantly, the power of simplicity and clarity.
These lessons shaped my success writing for CEOs and the C-Suite, bylined newspaper opinion pieces on public policy, and now, both fiction and nonfiction books. Choosing a storyline and creating messages is only half the challenge.
There’s a wonderful scene in A Beautiful Mind where John Nash sees numbers leaping off the page to explain his theories. Writing sometimes feels like that — figuring out how ideas should fit together. As a young part-time reporter at The Trenton Times, I learned the Inverted Pyramid. I’d type ten paragraphs, spread the pages across my desk, and soon the hierarchy or best order began to “jump off the page.”
Today, most corporate writing follows that Inverted Pyramid model. CEOs won’t wait until page 25 for your conclusion. Over time, I saw that clear, accessible writing could differentiate my career. Too little attention is given by executives to their writing as an increasingly critical factor in whether they reach senior management. I still lay out pages across my desk to examine structure before polishing language.
Some of us are great original writers, but weak at editing, others the reverse. A few excel at both. A writer’s job isn’t to prove vocabulary mastery — it’s to manage a process that leads to a compelling result.
Two final thoughts that may seem at odds: you must be willing to solicit and accept critique of your writing, yet at the same time you must also decide what’s value-added and stay true to your vision.
Last point: Like any skill, writing improves with regular practice. Factual writing is the starting point, but persuasive writing — whether opinion journalism or as a book author — operates on a higher plane. It’s what makes you — and the writing — a catalyst for change.
Author’s bio: Stuart Goldstein was one of the longest-servicing public relations/corporate communications spokespersons on Wall Street at The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation. While the average tenure in financial services for the head of corporate communications is three to five years (tied to a CEO change), he lasted three CEO changes over a 20 year period.
DTCC supports almost all trading exchanges (50) in the United States, to process and settle $2 trillion a day in equity trades, $3 trillion in government security trades and to centrally hold for the industry $100 trillion in physical securities/electronic records. Prior, he was a spokesperson at American Express, and a vice president and director of national public affairs at Citicorp.
Since retiring in 2011, he has authored two books: “Moe Fields: The Special Bond Between Fathers and Sons,” and “The Vault” about employees who attempt to steal $100 million in bearer bonds — just as Hurricane Sandy slams New York, flooding the vault.
At the College, Goldstein in 1968 through 1970 lobbied in the state legislature to lower the voting age to 18. He wrote regularly in The Signal, and served as managing editor from 1970 through 1972. He also was a part time reporter for the Trenton Times.
