Smart Brevity Quotes

“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.”
― Jim Vandehei, Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less

“The first sentence is your one—and likely only—chance to tell someone what they need to know and convince them not to move on.”
― Jim Vandehei, Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less

“The most important words you type are subject lines, headlines and the first line of tweets, notes or papers. You need to grab me, entice me, seduce me.”
― Jim Vandehei, Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less

“Complexity confuses. Abstraction alienates. Length loses. You can unite people around a common understanding of an important idea or update by writing in short, direct sentences and by losing the clever insider-isms or fancy clauses.”
― Jim Vandehei, Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less

“Educational theory shows we can process a presentation best if it has one big idea, backed by three to five points.”
― Jim Vandehei, Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less

“Listen to the customer and data, not the voice inside your head.”
― Jim Vandehei, Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less

“Short, crisp, punchy = memorable, clear, smart.”
― Jim Vandehei, Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less

“How do you get anyone to pay attention to anything that matters in this mess? Our answer: Adapt to how people consume content—not how you wish they did or they did once upon a time.”
― Jim Vandehei, Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less

“Brevity is confidence. Length is fear.”
― Jim Vandehei, Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less

“Numbering your supporting stats helps the audience take notes. But more to the point: It shows you know where you’re going. If you show you’re in command, the audience will follow.”
― Jim Vandehei, Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less

“The Harvard Business Review recommends 15 words max for your big point. We would advise the shorter, the better.”
― Jim Vandehei, Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less

“Speeches are different from other forms of communications. People come to hear from you on a specific topic. Get the audience on your side from the beginning: Start with a real-life story that hopefully ends with a chuckle. You defeat the purpose if you go on for more than one winning joke or anecdote.”
― Jim Vandehei, Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less

“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.”
― Jim Vandehei, Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less

“Start by stopping. • Stop using too many words in a headline or subject line. Limit yourself to 6 words, tops. • Stop being funny. Or ironic. Or cryptic. It’s confusing, not clever. • Stop using fancy SAT words or business-speak. ➋ Once you kick the bad habits, start new, healthy ones. • In 10 words or less, write the reason you’re bothering to write something in the first place. • Write it in the most provocative yet accurate way possible. • Short words are strong words. A general rule: A one-syllable word is stronger than a two-syllable word is stronger than a three-syllable word. • Strong words are better than soft and soggy ones. • Active verbs ALWAYS.”
― Jim Vandehei, Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less

“Write—then go back and kill at least half the words. It winds up sharper every time.”
― Jim Vandehei, Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less

“The brain is wired to make a clear, quick yes-or-no decision—fight or flight, click or scroll, read or ignore, remember or forget. • The dopamine blast of a great idea or word buys you a few more seconds of someone’s time. Every word is a battle for additional time and attention.”
― Jim Vandehei, Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less

“Do a real gut check. Is this point or detail or concept essential? If so, is there a simpler way to convey it?”
― Jim Vandehei, Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less

“Cowards hide in clauses.”
― Jim Vandehei, Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less

“Picture in your head the person you’re trying to reach. This is easy if it’s a single individual, but if you’re targeting a group, zero in on a specific individual, a name, a face, a job. • Always do this before you start communicating. If you try to speak to everyone, usually you reach no one. Singling out the person you want to reach clarifies things big-time.”
― Jim Vandehei, Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less

“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.”
― Jim Vandehei, Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less

“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.”
― Jim Vandehei, Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less

“technology and our stubborn bad habits. 1. The internet and smartphones opened the floodgates for everyone to say and see everything at scale, for free, instantly, always.”
― Jim Vandehei, Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less

“Never in the history of humanity have we vomited more words in more places with more velocity.”
― Jim Vandehei, Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less

“you. All they usually want to know is what’s new and “Why it matters.” Give them that.”
― Jim Vandehei, Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less

“We’re all communicators now. Never have humans talked, tweeted or texted more words—and found it more difficult to be heard. So you better be good at it, or find someone who is.”
― Jim Vandehei, Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less

“Success is leaving me wanting more because what I’m reading feels so new, essential, riveting.”
― Jim Vandehei, Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less

“To open their eyes to the idea that less is more, and that short does not mean shallow. Smart Brevity was born.”
― Jim Vandehei, Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less

“The gold standard is always what’s best for the audience—the structure that is clearest and most efficient for a reader whose attention is being pulled in a million ways.”
― Jim Vandehei, Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less

“If you see everything, you remember nothing.”
― Jim Vandehei, Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less

“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.”
― Jim Vandehei, Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less