Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less

"Brevity is confidence. Length is fear." So begins "Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More With Less". I've shamelessly (and poorly) stolen the writing style of the authors' @Axios newsletters over the years. It's crisp, smart, skimmable and custom made for our impatient digital age. This is the playbook I've been longing for. How they do it. The secret sauce. If you write at all (and you do, all day long, I'm guessing) this book is for you. It's a clear, concise guide on how to communicate more effectively and make your voice heard through the digital din. Highly recommended.

I consult for businesses working with China. I also a teach Mandarin Chinese. The challenge of explaining culture to bridge differences, and the need to be sensitive to politics, can be a stroll through a minefield. I experience challenges with sharing information—trying to avoid sensitivities. The authors lay out the real challenge clearly: most of us take 26 seconds reading a piece of content, 15 seconds on most web pages, and decisions of like or dislike within 17 milliseconds! For me, mindfulness supports my awareness of thoughts. So, I "see" the struggle in my mind. In writing, I consider K.I.S.S. but never got the instructions. This book fulfills that! I love the simple challenge from the authors to write->a title, lede, content, and ”a choice“—all on one screen of a mobile phone! The book lays out easy-to-follow guidelines for me to abbreviate my verbosity! "Smart Brevity" makes total sense!

You write too much for the way your readers consume information. No one has the time or patience to read everything they are sent, so it is likely that most of what you write goes unread. This matters to you personally because, as a knowledge worker, your contribution, influence and credibility depend on being heard, or in this case, being read. It matters to the organization when important information slips through the cracks and things happen—or don’t—as a result. Smart Brevity will teach you how to grab attention and keep it, and so ensure that your message gets across crisply and clearly. The authors share a formula which they have developed over their work in print and electronic media. As you see in this review: tease them with a good subject line, craft a short opening sentence that tells the one big thing, explain why it matters, and then go deeper as necessary. Simple and effective. As the author of Lean Communication, I am pulling for this book to take off, because it carries such an important message. But I do have to point out one caveat. The book could have been shorter by about 20%. There is too much backstory about Axios, the company the authors founded and run today, and after a while you get the feel that you are reading a corporate brochure.

149,513 That is the number of emails being sent globally as you read this message. So how do you make yours (or any other type of message you are trying to share) cut through and make an impact? This is the premise of the new book by the Editors of the newsletter Axios in their new book Smart Brevity. And this may be the MOST helpful book I have read in 5 years. The authors take the research in brain and social science and combine it with their own success in communicating with millions of people each day to create an action plan for you to become a more impactful writer, speaker, presenter, or Tweeter. The key starting premise is that your message should be about the needs of the receiver and NOT your needs. By focusing on the key message you want to deliver and presenting it in a way that your audience will receive it, comprehend it, and retain it, you will change the impact you have with all of your communication. A bonus impact is by communicating this way, you have the opportunity to become more inclusive in your communication so the members of your audience who may suffer from challenges like Dyslexia or ADHD or who speak English as a second language will find your communication more readable and actionable. We are all bombarded with words all day. Smart Brevity can help you thin out the wasted words and focus on the message you want to deliver.