Brief

Key Concepts

The “Seven Capital Sins” getting in the way of brevity

1. “Cowardice: ‘I am afraid that it's hard to say. There are a lot of perspectives on that topic.’ Please take a stand and tell us what you really think.” (p. 38)

2. “Confidence: ‘I know the material so well I could talk about it for days.’ Save us the time, and don't.” (p. 38)

3. “Callousness: ‘This will only take a minute…’ Really? Do you not see how busy I am? When you don't respect people's time, it always turns into an hour.” (p. 38)

4. “Comfort: ‘Once I start talking, it feels so soothing and I just get on a roll.’ Can you have the discipline to hit the Stop button?” (p. 38)

5. “Confusion: ‘Bear with me; I am just thinking out loud.’ Well, your mind is a mess—why do you have to share it with us?” (p. 38)

6. “Complication: ‘That is a really intricate issue. You cannot explain it easily.’ But your job is to simplify it for us.” (p. 39)

7. “Carelessness: ‘Did I say that out loud?’ Um, yes you did, so use a filter next time.” (p. 39)

Use BRIEF Maps can to organize a communication

“Every BRIEF Map is organized in the following way: 

• “B: Background or beginning

• “R: Reason or relevance

• “I: Information for inclusion

• “E: Ending or conclusion

• “F: Follow-up or questions you expect to be asked or that you might ask” (p. 57)

Use Narrative Maps to identify the major parts of a story

“Focal point (center bubble): This is the central part of a narrative. It's akin to a headline and explains and isolates the point of the story: Is it about innovation, change, competition, or something else?

“Setup or challenge (the bubble directly above the focal point): What challenge, conflict, or issue exists in the marketplace that your organization is addressing? Why does this problem exist, and who contributes to it? This begins to isolate within the story the major issue. 

“Opportunity (moving clockwise, the bubble to the top right): What is the implication or the opportunity for your organization? This is what some people call an unmet need or an aha moment; something that you could do to begin to effect change or to address and resolve an issue. 

“Approach (continuing to move clockwise around the center bubble, the three or four bubbles moving around the focal point): How does your story unfold? What are the three or four characters or key elements? What is the how, where, or when?

“Payoff (the bubble to the top left of the focal point): All good stories have a conclusive end-state or payoff. How do you resolve the set up from the beginning? For example, let's say that the story is about innovation, and there are four ways in which the company is going to innovate. How is that going to benefit somebody? Where does the story conclude? Who feels the benefits?” (pp. 75-6)

Use visuals where possible

“We are transitioning from a text-based world to a visual one.” (p. 90)

“Here are some easy ways to jump into the visual world. (p. 93)

1. Google images that relate to your presentation. (p. 93)

2. Draw during your presentations. (p. 93)

4. Make short videos of your own. (p. 93)

5. Use a whiteboard to illustrate. (p. 93)

6. Bring in small items for show-and-tell lessons. (p. 93)

9. Color-code your memos. (p. 93)

10. Substitute icons for frequently used words. (p. 93)

When giving updates, focus on what the audience needs, not what you want to say

“If you are giving people progress reports, being brief requires that you give them what they are looking for—not all of the other details and information they really don't care about. They want to know about what result you are driving. Some people refer to this as the say-do ratio: the relationship between what you say and what you do.” (p. 165)

“When it comes to progress reports, it's better for you to get to the point. Just say, ‘This is what I'm doing; this is what I am getting done.’ Then you can have the results speak for themselves.” (p. 165)

Quotables

“Light brevity is being concise without comprehension,” [Bernie] Trilling said. “Deep brevity is being succinct with savvy.” (p. 23)

“Brevity starts with deep expertise. Only with thorough knowledge can you accurately make a summary.” (p. 23)

“That is the reality today. There's no time to build up to a big conclusion. To communicate effectively nowadays, you must be able to speak in headlines and grab someone's attention right away.” (p. 34)

“One of the techniques that I teach my staff members is to look for the verb. If they're using a form of ‘to be,’ you're probably missing a punchier, sexier, shorter verb.” (p. 124)

“If you can't meet that challenge, then it's time to go back to the drawing board. For your next PowerPoint presentation, cut the number of slides you use in half. Then do it again. And again.” (p. 125)

“Can you summarize your big idea in a few sentences?” (p. 140)