Sponsor (1964)

in; I the MEMO— accents advancement Putting it in writing" can make a timebuyer's time more effect bient. thereby enhancing advancement opportunities, says DCS&S n •>ook, carries with K the implication hat your primary motivation is not playing it safe." I'm guessing, too. your personal huosoph) is somewhat akin to sour fellow young executives, re .. ;cntl\ cited in fortune ;is follows IIk young executive knows th.it la here are tribulations ami tests of ... fire to pass through. But in the end, o rims his belief, the system will CWard the men who merit it. and those who don't — no matter what temporal y gains the\ m.i\ enjoy — will soon level off." I'm assuming you're this kind of j young executive. If you are. memos will help you. Here's how First, as suggested earlier, they make things elearer: second, the) establish a record; last, the) contribute to more effective business relationships. I can remember one da) when m\ boss was writing a memo to someone we'll call George, whose office was next door. I his was a special situation requesting a project from George, and. rather than just step next door and communicate it verbally, my boss wanted to be Bbsohltel) sure that the request and due date were as clear as possible. You will note something important, too. implicit in his actions: two ingredients o\ zood memo us. are judgment and discrimination. \1\ boss obviousl) talked to George more often than he sent him memos; but this case was spe-o cial, both in project and due date, -j and the memo was used to avoid . lengthy, time-consuming conversations by clearly stating the facts in advance. If George had questions, he could come back I he purpose of a good memo, however, is to preclude questions through careful thinking in the first pla« Most of the time, if you follow true to form in your job as a time buyer, you are probabl) engaged in fulfilling information requests from account groups "t clients 01 your boss, ami probabl) you're fulfilling them much too frequently, all at the same time I ither that or you're taking action OQ requests from either or all ot these sectors — again, with the demands frequently at the same time. Assuming you are like the rest ol us. this means your mind is a splintered number of areas ol concentration How are you going to gel all these things done' Precision is one answer Knowing precisel) what is required of yOU, yOU can nunc SV/iftl) and effectively to fulfill the demand. \ memo frequently helps you know precise]) what is re quired ol you it the acoounl group has not been as elear in its request as you would like, ask them to please put that request in a memo It's sometimes surprising how the number ot requests seem to decrease when this technique is used S 'iid. as a record on an account, memos ean be es|vciall\ valuable \s I've suggested, memos should be used with discrimination, so they shall doubtless ciuer essential things | his is particularly hand) when a new timcbuycr comes on the account, or when a new account man. or even a new client, comes on. Here is a read) record which quick!) brings the new person up-to-date with a good perspective on the account and how S*m B Vrtl lr) drtcutMi pljm with DCStS vie* pr*iid*n»i DicW OI»»n I tnd Sim Tjrr.conr July 6, 1964