ClearTips: Powerful paragraphs

Getting off to a good start: Address your readers

Use the imperative to involve your readers personally.

Imagine it is late 1986 and you are managing a consumer electronics factory in Japan. Your business is in trouble. The deal struck at the Plaza Hotel the year before has doubled the value of the yen—the currency your manufacturing costs are based in—against the dollar, the currency of your biggest export market. Your workers are expensive and it is hard to find anyone to do jobs that involve the three ks—kitamai, kiken, kitsui (dirty, dangerous, or tough). The currencies of your most aggressive competitors, the Taiwanese and Koreans, have risen only slightly against the dollar and they are snatching market share away from you. What do you do?

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