What Mark Carney’s Davos Speech Can Teach You About Powerful Writing

A photograph of a smartly-dressed, white male giving a speech in front of a crowd

I got excited when I heard Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s special address at The World Economic Forum in Davos[1] .

It was his reference to Havel’s greengrocer sign that caught my attention.

I wasn’t familiar with the original parable, but I noticed Carney used it as a metaphor throughout his speech, which gave me the idea for this post.

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What Does It Mean To “Kill Your Darlings,” (And When Should You Fight to Keep Them)?

a red pen is on a typed piece of paper with corrections in red ink

Picture the scene. You’ve taken the admiral step of writing a book. Now here you are, staring at ‘that’ passage, wondering for the umpteenth time, “Should it stay, or should it go?”

The prose sings. The research is impeccable. Yet someone — a trusted friend, colleague, beta reader, editor — has ‘suggested’ you delete it because apparently, they think “it has nothing to do with the main argument.”

Sound familiar?

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