“Sent from my iPad so please excuse typos.”

I received an email in response to a question I asked. At the bottom of the email it said:

I have seen these messages before from people with Blackberry’s and I found it curious for someone to publicize they might not have taken the time to proofread and correct any typos.

Should it be acceptable to have typos in email? Has society moved to a place where correct spelling and grammar are no longer considered important? What does it say about each of us?

I, for one, think this is an excuse for laziness. As I entered the business world, I was taught, by many people, that how you present yourself, whether through the spoken or written word, was a direct reflection on you. If you want to make a good impression, then you must speak and write clearly. Listeners and readers should not have to work to understand you.

For the first few years of my career I resented having my internal memos (written on a WangWriter word processor) corrected with a red pencil and having people correct my presentations. I kept thinking the content was more important than the delivery. It wasn’t until many years later when one of the Managing Partner’s at the firm sat me down and had me walk through one of my presentations. She noted every place where I used a technical acronym and places where I used poor grammar. She corrected punctuation and rearranged the flow of my document.

She then asked me to sit down and she presented the material to me! I was shocked when she was able to sell me on the ideas within my presentation. She did it without using any technical terms and by simply building her case, slide by slide. Gone were the typos, the three letter acronyms, and the grammatical mistakes. She had 100% of my attention on the message. She was right. It worked.

So, I beg the BlackBerry, iPhone, Android, and iPad users of the world to take the time and make sure your messages are spelled correctly. Please don’t make me waste my time trying to figure out what you want me to hear. My time is too valuable for that.