The Gift of Brevity
The fan inside my desktop docking station announced its failure this morning with an unusually loud whirring noise followed by silence. Undeterred I called Dell technical support, confident they could resolve the issue.
At some point during our conversation the agent asked me a diagnostic question, which I was about to answer when he continued talking….and talking….and TALKING. My eyes started to roll back in my head as I impulsively blurted “Will you please let me answer your question??”
To be fair, I have been guilty of the same behavior. Just last week I was speaking with a new coach for the first time and he asked me a simple question - to which I apparently replied with a lengthy soliloquy. “You might want to think about brevity,” he said. “It was just a yes or no question.”
Oof.
But he was right. It seems we are all exposed to a daily downpour of words, from the infinite reservoirs of streaming content to our own unfocused communications. To cut through the noise we create even more noise in our bid to be heard. The news media company Axios offers this lovely observation: “Never in the history of humanity have we vomited more words in more places with more velocity.”
And our conditioned response to this overload? We skim, scan, and skip through so much of it that we actually consume very little – so we comprehend and retain even less. Axios contends that “this problem will echo loudly through every organization because a vibrant culture, a clear strategy and swift execution rely on strong communication in a scattered world.”
Brevity offers some much-needed relief. Consider the standard advice about packing a bag for travel – put everything you think you want to take with you onto your bed, and then put half of it back in the closet.
It’s not much different with communication, whether your goal is to engage in thoughtful discourse or provide clear direction. To effectively connect with your audience, you need to begin with the takeaway, consider a compelling and relevant headline, and include only the salient points required to get them from one to the other.
Axios calls this kind of communication Smart Brevity and it guides the design of their wonderfully minimalist newsletter format. It also confirms my decision to keep this essay to 500 words or less.
What would be possible if your verbal or written communications offered the gift of brevity?