This post is mainly a reminder to myself of the links to these articles about some of my favourite ‘principles’ / ‘rules’ that I quote a lot and then fail to find when I need to – they are about writing and leadership (because really what else do I do at this point but write and inconsistently ‘lead’) mainly and I’ll add more over time.

I don’t always follow the advice herein but I always want to.

Lessons from Stephen King’s ‘On Writing’

Write for yourself first and be yourself

Write every day*

Good writers read

Don’t be pretentious or stretch your vocabulary

Don’t get overly caught up in grammar

*well I try!

Lessons from Phil Jackson’s Eleven Principles

Lead from the inside out.

Bench the ego.

The key to success is compassion.

Keep your eye on the spirit, not on the scoreboard.

Sometimes you have to pull out the big stick.

Lessons from David Ogilvy on ‘How to write’

Write the way you talk. Naturally.

Use short words, short sentences and short paragraphs.

Never use jargon words like reconceptualize, demassification, attitudinally, judgmentally. They are hallmarks of pretense.

Never write more than two pages on any subject.

If it is something important, get a colleague to improve it.**

**I’m terrible at this

Lessons from the Eleven Laws of Showrunning by Javier Grillo-Marxuach

It’s all about you stop making it all about you

Know your show and tell everyone what it is

Make decisions early and often

Do not demand a final product at the idea stage

Write and rewrite quickly

Deliver good and bad news early and often

Share credit for success to a fault