Select the audience for your email thoughtfully

- Before starting a new message, you should ask yourself some fundamental questions. Why am I writing this email, and who needs to read it? When you open a new message, the first line you're asked to fill in is the recipient. This is usually followed by the carbon copy or CC line. Let's take a minute to talk about both. The To line is for whomever you're directly in conversation with in your message. To help you visualize this, pretend you're sitting at a table with a group of people. You might be in conversation with just one person, but if you're speaking in a conversational tone, others at the table will hear what you say too. The people you list in the To line are those you're expecting to respond to your message because the purpose for writing the email involves them. Those you carbon copy are the people you want to be aware of what you're sharing but don't need to join into the conversation. Back to our example, you wouldn't share something with someone sitting across the table from you that you weren't comfortable with others around the table hearing. It would also be rude to carry on with someone one-on-one while others at the table have no reason to engage in the discussion. The same is true for an email message. Strategically select the people you carbon copy on your emails. The people in this line should have a clear business purpose for being included in the email, even though they're not expected to respond to the message. You're including them for visibility because they have something pertinent they may want to add to the conversation. But the carbon copy function can be tricky. I'll admit, it can be tempting to send someone a reminder, and carbon copy their boss, but this comes across as passive aggressive or sometimes, even blatantly aggressive. Check your intentions before you copy someone on your email. This strategy can backfire, especially if it looks like you're trying to cover for yourself or tattle on someone else. It may get you the results you need in that moment, but it could hurt your reputation in the long run. Including the right people in your email communication is critical. Take a few moments to think through your distribution list to ensure you're speaking to the right people for the purpose behind each message.