A second set of eyes can be invaluable when we are writing, and it's especially important when it comes to communicating about our business. Getting out of our own heads enough to write clearly about our work is tough! Whether you're making assumptions or just forgetting a word somewhere, it is always—and I do mean always—helpful to have someone else in your corner when you're writing.

You can agree with the idea that you need to know your goal and still be bad at figuring out what the goal is for any given piece of communication. I'm sure of this because I see people communicate with each other in absence of a clear goal all the time, in business and in life.

The best work of my career has often involved a whole network of people working together to make things happen.  It's also taught me that all aspects of our life include relationships with other people. When we shift our perspective to one focused on relationship, it shifts the way we communicate and interact with people.

Words have power, and we have a responsibility to wield them carefully. It's been nearly 200 years since Edward Bulwer-Lytton coined the phrase "The pen is mightier than the sword," but it remains painfully true. From our most intimate relationships to international diplomacy, our word choices can be the difference between peace and war.