Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less (Revised and Updated)

by Jim Vandehei

Smart Brevity, in written form, has four main parts, all easy to learn and put into practice—and then teach. They don’t apply in every circumstance but will help you begin to get your mind around the shifts you need to make.

1 A muscular “tease”: Whether in a tweet, headline or email subject line, you need six or fewer strong words to yank someone’s attention away from Tinder or TikTok. 2 One strong first sentence, or “lede”: Your opening sentence should be the most memorable—tell me something I don’t know, would want to know, should know. Make this sentence as direct, short and sharp as possible.

3 Context, or “Why it matters”: We’re all faking it. Mike and I learned this speaking to Fortune 500 CEOs. We all know a lot about a little. We’re too ashamed or afraid to ask, but we almost always need you to explain why your new fact, idea or thought matters. 4 The choice to learn more, or “Go deeper”:

Pope Francis, in September 2021, told Catholic priests in Slovakia to cut homilies from 40 minutes to 10, or people would lose interest. “It was the nuns who applauded most because they are the victims of our homilies,” he joked.

Delete, delete, delete. What words, sentences or paragraphs can you eliminate before sending? Every word or sentence you can shave saves the other person time. Less is more—and a gift.

Learn to identify and trumpet ONE thing you want people to know. And do it in ONE strong sentence. Or no one will ever remember it. This is your most important point—or what journalists call “the lede.”

Now read all three parts together: your headline, your first-sentence lede and your Axiom.

Start your presentation with your big idea, distilled using the tricks for teases in chapter 6. • Each point you make on subsequent slides should have a similarly taut headline and then a few bullet points with the shortest ONE sentence possible. Rule of thumb: If you have more than 20 words on a slide, try again. • Keep your visuals clean, simple and additive (see chapter 20). • Rarely should you exceed five or six slides. • End where you began by restating your Big Idea. Then stop.

To open the meeting, start with your headline—the one-sentence objective you emailed in advance. This articulates the chief reason for this meeting: What needs to be resolved or debated?

As your second sentence, explain “Why it matters” to this specific group at this specific moment. People are busy, often switching topics quickly from meeting to meeting. Let them know why they’re here.

Next, state unambiguously what specific decisions need to be made. You’ll circle back to these at...

Guide the discussion, setting the tone for focus and efficiency.

Be inclusive.

When 2 minutes are left, bring the discussion to an end. Summarize the takeaways and be specific about next steps. Let the team know that you’ll send an email memorializing these before close of business.

Assign responsibility. Make clear who owns what and by when it needs to be done.

Imagine running into a neighbor. Social cues tell us exactly how long we can engage them without being a drag or a bore. • That’s precisely how long your opening story should be. Set up the time and place, describe the situation, tell me what happened. Then stop.

Distill and sharpen your most important ONE point or lesson. Write it down, word for word—don’t hazily know it. Once you have your Big Thought, build your speech around it.

There is a guiding principle that applies to all communications, but to presentations in particular: Simplify to exaggerate. Think fewer words, fewer slides, fewer visuals—destroy anything that distracts from the essential points.

Molecular biologist John Medina found that images = lasting recall. He discovered that adding an arresting image can increase recall to 65 percent, compared to 10 percent if a person simply hears it.

5. Always be closing. Like any salesperson worth their salt, you won’t get what you want without specifically and directly asking for it. Just fill in the blank: I called this meeting and created this deck so I can get _______ or teach you ______.

➊ Mission matters. Find ways to pull your items back to the soul and purpose of your organization. “Why it matters” is the perfect device. • It is impossible to overdose on this: Your mission begins to sink in only when you’ve annoyed yourself with repetition.

If someone read all of your newsletters from the previous year, they should tell a clear, powerful story about what you were doing, thinking, accomplishing. Each item or each newsletter should do the same. • People bore easily. They want an authentic story to explain why they work so hard and bother reading your words.

Headline: Is it . . . • 6 words or fewer? • Clear and specific? • Conversational, with muscular words? What’s new: Is it . . . • One sentence only? • What you need readers to remember? • A distinct detail from your headline?

Explain the significance and context • Write the words “Why it matters,” bold them and slap a colon at the end. • Think about the person you listed as your target audience. • In one sentence, explain the reason you are sharing this with them as bluntly and briefly as possible.