Why unvarnished humanity beats corporate polish
The human heart behind the Vegas neon
Elvis is alive and well and moving to Pittsburg to take care of his aging mother. At least that’s what he told me under the “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada” sign in Vegas.
I was in town to help Veterans Business Guide communicators write more memorable messages. In a city engineered to make you feel everything at maximum volume, meeting Elvis was the quietest — and most unforgettable — moment of my trip.
Here are three writing tips I took away from my interaction with the man in the white jumpsuit:
1. Find the heartbeat.
Vegas is overwhelming. Too big. Too shiny. Too polished. I found myself aching for humanity.
Corporate communications are overwhelming, too: Sweeping visions. Global impact. Robotic prose. But the bigger the statement, the less readers feel it. So find the heartbeat — the human who stands for your point. That’s what gets through.
2. Embrace the glue spots.
Most of the rhinestones had popped off Elvis’s faded white jumpsuit, leaving behind little spots of glue. That vulnerability was magnetic.
Flawless corporate boilerplate bores readers. Don’t edit out the authentic, imperfect human details — the real struggles, the forced pivots, the raw emotion that make your brand relatable.
3. Shrink your scale.
That massive Welcome to Las Vegas sign you’ve seen in all those movies and postcards? It’s barely two stories tall.
To connect with humans, shrink your scale, too. Stop writing 30,000-foot organizational overviews. Focus instead on the small, micro-narratives of individual humans.
What’s louder than noise?
In a world of spectacle, go quiet. Go human. That’s what your readers crave. And it’s what they’ll remember.
👉 Let’s help your team members write human messages that connect.
