To write the perfect business profile,
go for the heart
By Keisha Stewart
Free-lance Writer
Posted: Aug. 1, 2003
I found it, of course, buried deep in my portfolio.
And trust me; I had hoped that my first profile, written in 1997, would stay
buried there.
The piece about a student sorority leader at University of Maryland was awful.
It was the equivalent of a glowing resume, something the subject could have
submitted as she went on job interviews.
I remember the piece because, after writing about the student’s job, her duties
and how she got to where she was, I neglected to mention the real stuff. What
made her tick? Granted, I was a student journalist, but I failed. Just why did
she push so hard? It would have been interesting to know. But I failed to answer
that. I failed to capture her.
Since then, I have grappled with writing business profiles. How do you capture
the essence of a person? How do you show that to readers?
I found out at the annual conference of the Society of American Business
Editors and Writers in Spring 2003 in Boston. One panel talked about the
puff profile and how to go beyond it. I knew the panel was for me.
The line-up of speakers was a who's who of great profile writing: Washington
Post reporter Mark Leibovich; St. Petersburg Times reporter Jeff
Harrington; and Wall Street Journal reporter Anne Marie Squeo. They talked
about their efforts to avoid the empty prose in stories that tend to deify their
subjects.
Moderator Andrew Leckey, syndicated “Successful Investing” columnist for the
Chicago Tribune Co. and visiting professor at Boston University, pointed out
that profiles tend to be puffy because of time constraints and the prevailing
attitude in business news that profiles are more filler than they are story.
Also, reporters can find themselves in awe of the subject, a sure way to turn
a story into a puff piece.
Leckey reminded us that potent profiles are important for newspapers in light
of recent scandals starring executives who got rich at company, employee and
shareholder expense. “It's time for CEO profiles to come of age,” Leckey said.
Here are some tips from the experts:
- Remember that the subject never will be your friend.
- If an over-protective public-relations person is sitting in on the interview,
make him part of the story. (Did he try to block a particularly probing question?
Report that.)
- Read inflammatory statements back to the subject -- not only for accuracy’s
sake, but to get a reaction.
- Give your story the natural gestation period, allowing information to bubble
up from working a beat. (Squeo wrote one profile after three years of working
her beat and gathering information about the subject.)
- Find out about your subject's life outside the office. Harrington suggested
checking community organizations, court records, vendors and fellow employees
-- all of which help paint the full picture.
- While the typical profile brims with sugar that can be hard to swallow,
find ways to add spice.
- Go for the foible as well as for the fortune. Toss out the glowing resume.
Go for the heart.
Keisha Stewart was a 1999 Scholar at The Roanoke (Va.)
Times. Reach her at mizzkeish@yahoo.com.
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