The Corporate Voice

I had big plans a few months ago to transition from a corporate job into a social media hired gun. Big plans. Here’s the big problem with that plan – I can’t stand to do corporate speak.

Let’s face it - most of Corporate America is stuck on a sound-alike loop, where everything from memos to marketing copy, sounds the same – from company to company and from employee to employee. Good luck finding someone in a corporate environment whose email can be distinguished from everyone else’s based on “voice” alone.

Interestingly enough, I’ve had bosses and friends who have asked me to punch up a communication, only to cross out and change everything that was unique and made it attention-catching.  These people like the way I sound as long as it’s me sounding that way. They are uncomfortable being distinctive and noticeable themselves.

I had lunch with a friend recently and during our discussion she mentioned that there is a whole world out there with social media needs that ISN’T corporate and asked why I didn’t pursue artists and writers who could use some help. I was floored. Duh! Here I am a writer and I hadn’t realized that I could easily find other creatives who need a little help in the social media world. I no longer need to use my “corporate voice.” Thank you Universe.

I think any creative writer is deeply harmed by trying to float between these two worlds – corporate and artistic.  In my humble opinion, the most common results of corporate speak is canned, boxed and soul stealing. So, today, I’m officially abandoning my long association with my Corporate Voice.

It took me what felt like forever to find my writing voice, partly because it was buried beneath its evil step-sibling, so that today feels a bit like my personal Independence Day.  I just marked it on my calendar.

No kidding.