'It's the foundation for success'

 

“Good writing … is especially important in a subject such as economics. It is not enough to explain. The images that are in the mind of the writer must be made to reappear in the mind of the reader, and it is the absence of this ability that causes much economic writing to be condemned, quite properly, as abstract.” – John Kenneth Galbraith

 

Galbraith, one of the great Economics’ minds of the 20^th Century, was born in Canada in October, 1908 and said that he often would hear the following lament from students in his Economics classes:  “Why do I have to take a writing class when I’m planning for a career in business (or mathematics, economics or computing, etc.)?”

 

His answer was simple: Good writing can be the foundation for success in ANY career choice.  The ability to clearly express an idea, as he states above, not only can lead to its success but the success of the person sharing that idea.

 

Galbraith also was a fan of sharing the life stories of great leaders, regardless of their background, with writing that “entertained” as much as it “conveyed” their stories.

 

“We have escapist fiction,” he said, “so why not escapist biography?”