To write a general or microcosm profile, that is the question

Last week we discussed The 3 keys to writing 3-dimensional profiles as a means to producing fully-developed characters in our writing.

There’s another choice that needs to be made when writing profiles: Are we better served by writing the general profile or the microcosm profile?

Let’s understand the basic differences.

The general profile is usually longer and, by its very nature, much wider ranging in the content it contains. The microcosm profile focuses on just one aspect of a person’s life or career. The general profile is far more difficult to write because continuity and flow must be created between many different topics and pieces of information. The microcosm profile, because of its limited focus, is far easier to report and write.

Example: A general profile of Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz might encompass his entire career, from buying his first Starbucks store and his rise to global success to his ownership of professional sports franchises and his writing bestselling books.

By contrast, a microcosm profile of Ted Turner might focus solely on his battle with bipolar disorder. A microcosm profile about Bill Gates might limit its scope to his passion for philanthropy, or perhaps even a particular category of philanthropy that he’s especially devoted to.

The differences between the two are easily underscored by showing just the start of each type.

Let’s begin with the microcosm profile. Here’s one written by Fortune magazine reporter Cora Daniels back in 2004. Her subject is Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad. The two-headed focus is that the Swedish business tycoon might be the world’s richest man and is notoriously cheap.

Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad insists on flying coach, takes the subway to work, drives a ten-year-old Volvo, and avoids suits of any kind. It has long been rumored in Sweden that when his self-discipline fails and he drinks an overpriced Coke out of a hotel minibar, he will go to a grocery store to buy a replacement. It’s clear that this is a frugal man. But is he the richest man in the world? That’s a matter of some debate.

Kamprad made headlines in early April, when the leading Swedish business weekly, Veckans Affarer, reported that he was worth $52.5 billion, which would top Bill Gates’ $46.6 billion.

A good example of the general profile appeared in the American Journalism Review and featured unsung journalism star Frank McCulloch. The profile, written by Jason Felch and Marlena Telvick, began like so:

Over the past year, as the conflict in Iraq slid from a quick victory into an uncertain quagmire, Frank McCulloch watched closely as a new generation of journalists began questioning the country’s justification for war. Thirty-eight years earlier, McCulloch had seen his own generation reach a similar turning point.

At the time, McCulloch was Time magazine’s Southeast Asia bureau chief. He had come to Vietnam in 1963 at the request of Time Editor Henry Luce to “sort out the mess we’re in over there,” as Luce had put it to him. A former Marine who had missed action in World War II due to a heart murmur, McCulloch arrived in Asia hungry to witness combat and confident that America’s preeminent military could get the job done quickly. By 1966, however, a deep skepticism was sinking in, and he began openly doubting his country’s presence in Southeast Asia. Evidence of real progress was hard to come by, casualties continued to mount, and McCulloch had come to realize that the government’s assessments could not be trusted.

“The similarities between Vietnam and Iraq are damn few, but that’s the big one,” McCulloch says with trademark bluntness. “The real difficulties of the Iraq endeavor—not to mention the motives for going to war in the first place—were largely ignored. It points to a fundamental weakness in American journalism. Why didn’t it occur to somebody to challenge these assertions early on?”

The wide-ranging McCulloch profile went on to say that he:

• lives in retirement today in Northern California,
• is most remembered as “a journalist’s journalist,”
• was born the son of pioneer cattle ranchers in Nevada’s Fernley Valley,
• attended the University of Nevada in Reno uncertain of his career path and struggling to pay tuition,
• enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps,
• covered the civil rights movement while writing and traveling extensively through the segregated South,
• set his sights on interviewing the eccentric and notoriously reclusive Howard Hughes,
• became managing editor of the Los Angeles Times,
• received threats from Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa for uncovering his collusion with organized crime,
• joined Time magazine after getting a call from its founder Henry Luce,
• Etc.

Both types of profile have their place; but consider carefully before choosing a direction. The general profile in particular can become an octopus whose many tentacles prove difficult to bring under control.

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