One of the biggest challenges with writing emails is getting to the point without offending someone. I dare to guess that millions of times a day somebody is misinterpreting the tone of an email and taking what is "said" personally. We all know that emails lack inflection and visual acuity so it is easy for someone to perceive what was intended in the wrong way. Without the benefit of hearing a person's voice inflection and seeing their facial expressions, words can often come across harsh and insensitive when written in haste or without much context to support the message. This is probably one of the most widely known pitfalls about emails but the least considered when a person receives an email they don't like. We don't often say, "Maybe the sender didn't mean it this way so I shouldn't take it personal." We're more likely to take the message at face value and balk at its tone. There are three things ...
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