Plain talk will not be easily achieved in corporate America. Too much vanity is on the line. Managers at every level are prisoners of the notion that a simple style reflects a simple mind. Actually, a simple style is the result of hard work and hard thinking; a muddled style reflects a muddled thinker or a person too arrogant, or too dumb, or too lazy to organize his thoughts. Remember that what you write is often the only chance you'll get to present yourself to someone whose business or money or good will you need. If what you write is ornate, or pompous, or fuzzy, that's how you'll be perceived. The reader has no other choice. William Zinsser (page 174)

the 2009 Berkshire Hathaway annual report is an example of plain talk in a business setting.
it's effective—to my surprise, I read the whole thing.

internal communications don't get enough attention from the writer either; the only reason it should be easier to write to your coworkers is because you don't have to worry about disclosure. while public-facing corporate writing tends to be pompous, impersonal, and verbose, messages on internal mailing lists tend to be filled with mistakes in spelling and grammar, incomplete thoughts, and ambiguous language.

this doesn't have to be the case. it's not difficult to write a few lines with a simple style and then use the spelling and grammar tool in your email client¹.

as part of my quest to maximise my life's SNR, I've been thinking about email. I don't think any other form of textual communication has so much verbiage.

let's start with an example of a great email:

Subject: Re: Avia Wildflower Triathlons News
From: Joe
To: Keith
Cc: Ken, Cindy, Scott

Oh, don't worry about the beer - that was more an offhand remark than
anything else. If y'all weren't planning to bring any, don't bring one
just on my account.

clean, simple, concise. what's missing? the signature.