Should you try to hold the reader's interest when writing reports that are written for business executives?

I write and edit a great many business reports - I am a
freelance writer as well as teacher. While the language of business writing has a
professional tone, it is still important to catch the reader's attention. The method is
a bit different, however. You may have been taught to have a "hook" to grab the reader's
attention in the first paragraph of your writing, but usually in business writing, the
hook consists of a concise sentence or two that indicates what the report is about. In
the first paragraph, you should give a good introduction to the report so the reader
will be motivated to read it and not skim it, as many business people try to do.
Business people are busy, so it is extremely important to be concise and direct. Do not
use a lot of flowery language, unnecessary words. Adjectives and adverbs should only be
used when necessary. Sentences should be strong and brief. Mix them up. Do not use a lot
of complex, compound or complex/compound sentences, one after the other. Usually,
cleverness and humor are not appropriate, but this depends on the
industry.

There are many examples of business writing
available online if you want to see some concrete illustrations. In the work that I edit
(the writing of others), I find that many business executives do not know how to
properly construct a sentence. Their writing is disorganized, more like
stream-of-conscious, and the ideas are not orderly. I do a lot of rearranging. Each new
paragraph should have something interesting, or important. Also, by using headings,
subheadings, italics, bold and other editing tools, you can capture peoples' attention.
Much of my writing is transferred to Powerpoint slides, so again, it must be
concise.