Rules for Success in Business Column Writing

When I started writing a business column 15 years ago, I knew I'd found the perfect job for myself. As a columnist I could pick my own topic, do my own analysis, say what I wanted to say and attribute it to myself. Best of all, I could write in my own voice. Which leans heavily toward Brooklynese, joking around and sentence fragments. You can see that, right?

The column's worked out great for me. I've gotten a ton of ego satisfaction, had a lot of fun, won a batch of prizes and occasionally done some public good. And I've managed to feed my family well ? something that's enormously important unless you're born to money or have taken a vow of poverty. Neither of which applies to me.

Because the column's been successful, the always-hopeful Andrew Leckey thinks that a few ideas from me might help you. So here goes. But before we start, remember one thing. To be a successful columnist ? or a successful reporter, for that matter ? you've got to be you. Don't try to be me. Adapt what I do, if you like, the way I've adapted techniques from Forbes, The Wall Street Journal and the Washington Monthly, among others. But be yourself.

Now, my three rules. One: Don't commit to being a columnist unless you're willing to do it right. Two: Report your behind off, so you have something original and useful to say. Three: Say it in a way that will interest someone other than you, your family and your sources.

WANTING TO DO IT

When Newsweek hired me as a columnist in 1989, I'd been a business writer for more than 20 years. I had won two Gerald Loeb Awards for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism. I had what were then revolutionary ideas: tackling heavy topics in a light, conversational style; being open about my sources and my conflicts; giving subjects of negative columns a chance to defend themselves even if I didn't believe a word they said. Finally, I wanted to publish an annual mea culpa column. (Newsweek won't print it, alas, but The Washington Post, my other outlet, does.)

I wanted to be a columnist so badly that I took a huge pay cut to leave Forbes, which wouldn't give me a column, and join Newsday, which wanted my column for its Sunday business section. This was two years before our oldest child was going to go to college. I've more than made up for the money I left behind ? but you can see that that I really, really, really wanted to be a columnist.

Writing a column ? more accurately, writing a goodcolumn ? is a job that never ends. If you're aiming high, as you should be, you're either coming down from writing or gearing up to write. It doesn't matter whether you've got a high-profile platform like my Newsweek- Washington Post gig or you're at a tiny trade book. It's the same job, just a different audience.

REPORT, REPORT, REPORT

The world is full of what I call navel columns ? you gaze into your navel because you have nothing new to say. Even worse are lint columns ? you write about what you found in your navel. You can be forgiven the occasional navel column ? but please, no lint.

Report, report, report. Dig, dig, dig. Think, think, think. Don't stop being a reporter because you've become a columnist. Find original facts or discern new truths underlying old facts. If you're working at a place big enough to double-team stories, work with the beat reporters, make them your friends and allies. Teamwork is better than isolation, especially for a columnist.

It's easy to write a good column if you've got good information. It's hard if you have to depend on style alone. I suppose there are people who can get away with styling on a regular basis. I'm not one of them. You're probably not, either.

TELL YOUR STORY

I try to write my column the way I'd tell a story to someone who's smart and interested in the topic, but not knowledgeable. (I leave out the obscenities and run-on sentences, though.) I grew up in an environment of jokes and sarcasm and puns. I talk that way, so I write that way. If the subject matter isn't inherently interesting ? accounting comes to mind ? I've got to make it amusing, if only to keep myself awake. But the humor has to come naturally ? you can't write funny if you don't think funny.

Humor in business columns was almost unheard of when I started at Newsday. I bonded instantly with my editor, Rick Green ? now Newsday's business editor ? and we decided to have some good laughs until someone stopped us. No one did. Rick, backed up by our boss, Debra Whitefield, wrote punny headlines ("The Fall of an Ottoman Empire " for a failed furniture company) and used amusing art (a still from "Night of the Living Dead" for a column about zombie corporations). If you're going for funny, pray that you've got a Rick and a Debbie and bosses who will back you up.

If a column is crying out for a good line and I can't come up with it, I troll for help. Communal humor is good, especially if you involve your boss.

Yes, I have time to tuck jokes into my columns because I generally write only once a week. You probably write more often ? but you can find time by doing triage. If you write two columns a week, knock out an adequate one quickly and spend time on the second one. If you write three or four a week, good luck. Reconcile yourself to typing some of your columns rather than writing them, and try to write one really good one a week without embarrassing yourself with the others. Go for the gold: better one great column and some undistinguished ones than constant mediocrity.

The bottom line: Aim high and have fun. If you're enjoying yourself, your audience will enjoy you. And the rest will take care of itself.