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But people keep banging out emails, letters, memos, papers, stories and books like it’s 1980. Think about it: We know everyone has less time, more options, endless distractions—yet we keep coughing up the same number of words. Or more. Written in the same way we have been writing for generations.
Mark Twain, writing to a friend in 1871, confessed, “I didn’t have time to write you a short letter, so I wrote you a long one.”
We’re taught that length equals depth and importance. Teachers assign papers by word count or number of pages. Long magazine articles convey gravitas. The thicker the book, the smarter the author. • Technology turned this obsession with length from a glitch to a stubborn, time-sapping bug. The result is billions of wasted words: • Roughly one-third of work emails that require attention go unread. • Most words of most news stories are not seen. • Most chapters of most books go untouched.
It does not matter if you work at Apple, a small business or a new start-up, it has never been harder to get people focused on what matters most.
The work-from-anywhere reality of a world changed by COVID-19 has turned communications into a profound and critical weakness for every company, every leader, every rising star, every restless worker.
Stewart Butterfield, the CEO of Slack, told us that, in a hypothetical 10,000-employee company that spends $1 billion on payroll, 50 to 60 percent of the average employee’s time is spent on communication of some sort. Yet no one provides the tools and training to do this well.
Adapt to how people consume content—not how you wish they did or they did once upon a time. Then, change how you communicate, immediately.
We’re also not saying to write short for short’s sake—you bring more soul and salience to your writing by being direct, helpful and time-saving. Don’t omit important facts or nuance, oversimplify or dumb down. “Short, not shallow,” is what we tell our reporters.
Start by accepting that most people will scan or skip most of what you communicate—and then make every word and sentence count. • Share MORE value in LESS time.
Put your readers first. People are busy and have expectations of the precious time they give you. All they usually want to know is what’s new and “Why it matters.” Give them that.
There’s a foolproof way to know if you have a good attention grabber: Would you read it if you hadn’t written it?
If there is one thing you take away from this book, it is this: Learn to identify and trumpet ONE thing you want people to know. And do it in ONE strong sentence. Or no one will ever remember it. This is your most important point—or what journalists call “the lede.”
Whether they’re reading email, on Facebook or on a phone, most busy people remember only snippets. They’re scanning your musings—not reading word for word—and trying to answer two questions: • What the hell is this? • Is it worth my time?
If they were headed out the door, what is the one thing you would shout and hope they don’t forget? That’s your opening sentence.
He is a gruff, grumpy, no BS journalistic throwback—and distills perfectly what every initial sentence should do: “Just tell me something I don’t f@$&ing know.”
Imagine all the time you will save others—and yourself—for more meaningful activities. This should be your North Star.
In elementary school, we learned: “Who—doing—what.” That simple formula always yields a riveting construction.
The bottom line: Tell me a story. Don’t tell me about a story.
