Here’s the hard reality: For an increasing number of people these days, reading is an obligation, not an avocation. For proof, peruse the 2004 study from The National Endowment for the Arts, Reading At Risk, and consider these facts:

• The percentage of adult Americans reading literature has dropped dramatically—by 19%—over the past 20 years.
• Today, less than half of adult Americans read literature (46.7% or 96 million people).
• Literary reading is declining among all age groups (including a 12.3% drop for those 35 –44) with the steepest decline among those 18-24. (-28%)

Contrast this with the rapid rise of NASCAR (The National Association for Stock Car Racing):

• In 2004, 75 million Americans—one-third of the U.S. adult population—were NASCAR fans, up 19% from 1995.
  
• NASCAR is the #1 spectator sport, with 17 of the top 20 attended events in the U.S. (attendance increased 28% over the past decade).
  
• The Daytona 500 Race, NASCAR’s biggest, was got a 10.9 rating (percentage of the 109.6 million TV homes in the U.S.) when it was broadcast on the Fox network in 2005 (a 40% rise since 1995). That means about one out of every nine Americans was watching.

Although literature still has the lead, at this rate NASCAR will overtake novels on the next lap.

But I know what you’re thinking: Don’t people who watch NASCAR also read novels? And vice-versa? Sure, but you can imagine the Friday night conversations across America:

“Wow, it’s been a long week. Let’s do something fun this weekend—you know, kick back, relax, let loose.”

“Great idea, honey. What do you have in mind?”

“I know: Let’s get really crazy and tackle Anna Karenina.”

Not likely. My point is simple: Your employees are the same people who are rejecting reading literature as a leisure-time activity. Instead, they’re loading the kids into the RV, putting on their Jeff Gordon caps and driving out to the speedway.

Until your communication vehicle is a race car, better put the brakes on the word count.