Communication Style Guide

Voice and tone

Direct, confident, and plain-spoken. No corporate jargon. No filler. Every word earns its place. The tone is authoritative without being academic, and human without being casual.

Sentence structure

Short sentences are preferred. Long sentences are broken up. Parallelism is used deliberately — three-part structures work well when each part carries equal weight. Fragments are acceptable when they land a point cleanly.

Word choices

Prefer concrete over abstract
Prefer active over passive
Prefer simple over sophisticated
"Effective" over "impactful"
"Enables" over "empowers"
"Adapt" and "adaptive" over "dynamic" or "agile"
Avoid: "leverage", "synergy", "holistic", "seamless", "robust"

What to avoid

Negative framing — state what good looks like, not what bad looks like
Accusatory or confrontational language — invite people to something better rather than criticising what they do now
Over-explanation — trust the reader
Hedging — commit to the statement
Bullet points where prose works better

Manifesto-style writing specifically

Value statements follow the "X over Y" format — both sides should name real things people recognise
The right-hand side is not villainised — it has value, it just comes second
Principles are short, declarative, and standalone — each one a truth that can be read in isolation
Forward-leaning and positive — declare what good looks like
Aphoristic where possible — aim for sentences that could be quoted

The reader

The audience is entrepreneurs and business managers implementing ISO 27001 themselves. They are intelligent, pragmatic, and time-poor. They are put off by complexity and consultant-speak. They respond to clarity, honesty, and respect for their intelligence.

Editing instincts

If two sentences say the same thing, cut one
If a word is ambiguous, replace it
If a sentence trails off, find a stronger closing beat
If something sounds like it came from a brochure, rewrite it

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