Message Strategies: Refusing Requests for Recommendations

[LO-5] You’re delighted to get a message from an old friend and colleague, Heather Lang. You’re delighted right up to the moment you read her request that you write a recommendation about her web design and programming skills for your LinkedIn profile. You would do just about anything for Lang—anything except recommend her web design skills. She is a master programmer whose technical wizardry saved many client projects, but when it comes to artistic design, Lang simply doesn’t have “it.” From gaudy color schemes to unreadable type treatment to confusing layouts, her design sense is as weak as her technical acumen is strong.

Your task: First, write a brief email to Lang, explaining that you would be most comfortable highlighting her technical skills because that is where you believe her true strengths lie. Second, write a two-sentence recommendation that you could include in your LinkedIn profile, recommending Lang’s technical skills.

Make up or research any details you need.