Say More with Less

"Never in the history of humanity have we vomited up more words in more places with more velocity." 

And this opening line was written before Generative AI went mainstream. We are drowning in mediocre content. It's clogging up our emails, our social accounts, our businesses, and our brains. It makes it almost impossible for the important stuff to break through. That's why I love this book. With the insight that drives the success of digital media platforms Politico and Axios, Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen, and Roy Schwartz serve up an easy-to-read, easy-to-execute framework to communicate in a simple way that connects. It's all about keeping it short, not shallow.

The insights and framework apply most easily to written communication but extend into speeches, presentations, meetings, social media, and visuals. The framework has four parts:

A Muscular 'Tease' 

The six or fewer words that grab your audience's attention and introduce your topic. It could be a headline, a tweet, or an email subject. Keep it short. Keep it grounded in what's essential to your audience. And keep the language conversational and approachable. About a third of important emails aren't read, so don't be one of those.

One Strong First Sentence or 'lede' 

This should be your most memorable sentence about your topic. Tell them something they need to know. Make this sentence direct, short, and as sharp as possible. It should build on your 'tease' and provide one concrete piece of information your audience can take away. 59% of readers forward an article link without reading the content, so this sentence has to be killer.

Explain 'Why it Matters'

Don't make your audience work for it because they won't. Get a couple more points on the board by coming straight out and telling them why your idea matters in a few sentences. Use bolded titles like 'What's New' and 'Why it Matters' to organize the content and make it quickly scannable.

Give the option to 'Go Deeper'

Don't force your audience to read or hear more than they want. Make it their decision. Provide the intrigue and opportunity and ensure what follows is worth their time. Always curate and edit with your audience in mind.

Oh…and package all of this up so that it can be consumed on a single screen of a mobile phone. Brevity is confidence.

The Bottom Line

In a cresting tsunami of content, curating and communicating ideas that matter will be an increasingly valued human skill. Smart Brevity is an easy-to-use framework that gives you and your ideas a fighting chance.

Go Deeper

You can order the Smart Brevity book here: Smart Brevity on Amazon