In collecting endorsements for the cover of my upcoming book, The Power of Clarity, I’ve noticed an interesting phenomenon. While the endorsements have been glowing, often my favorite words of praise are the informal comments at the beginning of the email. That’s also where I am most likely to find exclamation marks.

For example, when Marshall Goldsmith provided an endorsement, he began his email with “First, our warmest congratulations on this great book!”

Other examples include “Awesome book!”, “Liked it a lot. Theory only where necessary, highly practical, applicable.” and “industrial-strength thinking tools.” Luckily I got smart after the first few and asked permission to add some of those wonderful informal comments to the endorsements. All were happy to do so.

Maybe it’s just me and my tendency toward unabashed enthusiasm, but don’t you think the world could use more affirmative outbursts? More positive exclamation marks? Are we too guarded in our praise of others? What do you think?