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Brief: Make a Bigger Impact by Saying Less
Get heard by being clear and concise
The only way to survive in business today is to be a lean communicator. Busy executives expect you to respect and manage their time more effectively than ever. You need to do the groundwork to make your message tight and to the point. The average professional receives 304 emails per week and checks their smartphones 36 times an hour and 38 hours a week. This inattention has spread to every part of life. The average attention span has shrunk from 12 seconds in 2000 to eight in 2012.
So, throw them a lifeline and be brief.
Author Joe McCormack tackles the challenges of inattention, interruptions, and impatience that every professional faces. His proven B.R.I.E.F. approach, which stands for Background, Relevance, Information, Ending, and Follow up, helps simplify and clarify complex communication. BRIEF will help you summarize lengthy information, tell a short story, harness the power of infographics and videos, and turn monologue presentations into controlled conversations.
Details the B.R.I.E.F. approach to distilling your message into a brief presentation Written by the founder and CEO of Sheffield Marketing Partners, which specializes in message and narrative development, who is also a recognized expert in Narrative Mapping, a technique that helps clients achieve a clearer and more concise message Long story BRIEF will help you gain the muscle you need to eliminate wasteful words and stand out from the rest. Be better. Be brief.
The only way to survive in business today is to be a lean communicator. Busy executives expect you to respect and manage their time more effectively than ever. You need to do the groundwork to make your message tight and to the point. The average professional receives 304 emails per week and checks their smartphones 36 times an hour and 38 hours a week. This inattention has spread to every part of life. The average attention span has shrunk from 12 seconds in 2000 to eight in 2012.
So, throw them a lifeline and be brief.
Author Joe McCormack tackles the challenges of inattention, interruptions, and impatience that every professional faces. His proven B.R.I.E.F. approach, which stands for Background, Relevance, Information, Ending, and Follow up, helps simplify and clarify complex communication. BRIEF will help you summarize lengthy information, tell a short story, harness the power of infographics and videos, and turn monologue presentations into controlled conversations.
Details the B.R.I.E.F. approach to distilling your message into a brief presentation Written by the founder and CEO of Sheffield Marketing Partners, which specializes in message and narrative development, who is also a recognized expert in Narrative Mapping, a technique that helps clients achieve a clearer and more concise message Long story BRIEF will help you gain the muscle you need to eliminate wasteful words and stand out from the rest. Be better. Be brief.
270 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2014
491 people are currently reading
2281 people want to read
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September 19, 2014
The very worst kind of business book - one written by a guy more interested in talking about all the people he's worked with (in an obnoxious, name droppy way) than providing actual helpful content. Also, the thesis of the book: that employees need to be brief not because of a societal shift in attention spans or to be respectful of customers' time but because CEOs are way more busy and important than you is incredibly tone deaf. The Grainger anecdote was good, but everyone with a vested interest in customer-centricity has read the HBR case. Also, did you know that people look at their phones 150 times a day? For a book on cleaning up communication, I found it odd that fact was repeated at least five times (and seems inaccurate).
November 25, 2014
Чтение этого обзора займёт две минуты. Подробнее в блоге http://tea-man.ru/2014/11/brief/
Зачем читать эту книгу? Для того, чтобы вас услышали в условиях атакующих со всех сторон потоков информации, нужно излагать информацию коротко и понятно. Почему это необходимо и как это сделать наилучшим способом читайте в книге, или короче :) ниже.
Публичные выступления, речь
* Составьте план или интеллект-карту выступления.
* Ключевые мысли должны прозвучать в течение первых пяти минут.
* Людям не нравится, когда им что-то продают, используйте сторителлинг — структурированные истории.
* Слушайте своего собеседника, клиента, покупателя: вместо длинных монологов используйте управляемые диалоги.
* Визуализируйте! Используйте инфографику, картинки и короткие видеоролики.
* Оптимизируйте совещания, задавайте себе вопрос «зачем я здесь нужен?» Может быть вместо совещания лучше краткий отчет?
* Сокращайте выступления, попробуйте «продать, пока едете в лифте».
* Плохие новости сообщайте сдержанно и доброжелательно.
* Говоря о проделанной работе, говорите о результатах.
Тексты, письма
* Форматируйте текст: разбивайте на абзацы, выделяйте главное.
* Не производите информационный мусор, не пишите лишнего в соцсетях.
* Делитесь хорошими новостями, благодарите за хорошо проделанную работу.
Текст должен быть понятным с самого начала. Применяйте журналистский стиль:
* фокус — броский заголовок;
* убедительный вводный абзац;
* задача — наличие конфликта, проблемы;
* возможность — что нужно сделать, личное мнение;
* подход — логическая последовательность текста, развитие, ключевые элементы и методы;
* результат — убедительный вывод, развязка, концовка.
В помощь:
1. Марк Смикиклас «Инфографика. Коммуникация и влияние при помощи изображений»
2. Дэн Роэм «Визуальное мышление. Как "продавать" свои идеи при помощи визуальных образов»
3. Дэвид Мирман Скотт «Новые правила маркетинга и PR. Как использовать социальные сети, блоги, подкасты и вирусный маркетинг для непосредственного контакта с покупателем»
4. TEDx
Оценка 3/5.
Зачем читать эту книгу? Для того, чтобы вас услышали в условиях атакующих со всех сторон потоков информации, нужно излагать информацию коротко и понятно. Почему это необходимо и как это сделать наилучшим способом читайте в книге, или короче :) ниже.
Публичные выступления, речь
* Составьте план или интеллект-карту выступления.
* Ключевые мысли должны прозвучать в течение первых пяти минут.
* Людям не нравится, когда им что-то продают, используйте сторителлинг — структурированные истории.
* Слушайте своего собеседника, клиента, покупателя: вместо длинных монологов используйте управляемые диалоги.
* Визуализируйте! Используйте инфографику, картинки и короткие видеоролики.
* Оптимизируйте совещания, задавайте себе вопрос «зачем я здесь нужен?» Может быть вместо совещания лучше краткий отчет?
* Сокращайте выступления, попробуйте «продать, пока едете в лифте».
* Плохие новости сообщайте сдержанно и доброжелательно.
* Говоря о проделанной работе, говорите о результатах.
Тексты, письма
* Форматируйте текст: разбивайте на абзацы, выделяйте главное.
* Не производите информационный мусор, не пишите лишнего в соцсетях.
* Делитесь хорошими новостями, благодарите за хорошо проделанную работу.
Текст должен быть понятным с самого начала. Применяйте журналистский стиль:
* фокус — броский заголовок;
* убедительный вводный абзац;
* задача — наличие конфликта, проблемы;
* возможность — что нужно сделать, личное мнение;
* подход — логическая последовательность текста, развитие, ключевые элементы и методы;
* результат — убедительный вывод, развязка, концовка.
В помощь:
1. Марк Смикиклас «Инфографика. Коммуникация и влияние при помощи изображений»
2. Дэн Роэм «Визуальное мышление. Как "продавать" свои идеи при помощи визуальных образов»
3. Дэвид Мирман Скотт «Новые правила маркетинга и PR. Как использовать социальные сети, блоги, подкасты и вирусный маркетинг для непосредственного контакта с покупателем»
4. TEDx
Оценка 3/5.
February 19, 2014
A book about being brief almost sounds ridiculous, until you get your hands on this one. One of the tenets of the book is that in order to master brevity you need expertise. Joseph McCormack certainly does and demonstrates it in both his writing style, the book's structure, and his use of the techniques that he proposes--headlines, visuals, and stories.
The book is so neatly arranged that the reader can navigate the messages and the advice with ease. McCormack starts by raising awareness about the suffocating noise, information clutter, and competing demands that interfere with our ability to be heard in almost any forum.
Then he provides the insights and content that cleanly capture what we need to do and how we need to do it. He doesn't minimize the effort it takes to be brief. It's work and requires mental muscle memory, a technique he illustrates and explains.
He drives home the career, success, and growth value of being brief in our communications whether it's to influence, sell, or advance. The value is made plain and the techniques to achieve it accessible.
I am a writer so this book was in my wheelhouse. I've also experienced and observed the consequences of both missing the mark and hitting it in business situations. Conditions are tough these days. Developing a reputation (brand)for being brief is an asset we all need.
The book is so neatly arranged that the reader can navigate the messages and the advice with ease. McCormack starts by raising awareness about the suffocating noise, information clutter, and competing demands that interfere with our ability to be heard in almost any forum.
Then he provides the insights and content that cleanly capture what we need to do and how we need to do it. He doesn't minimize the effort it takes to be brief. It's work and requires mental muscle memory, a technique he illustrates and explains.
He drives home the career, success, and growth value of being brief in our communications whether it's to influence, sell, or advance. The value is made plain and the techniques to achieve it accessible.
I am a writer so this book was in my wheelhouse. I've also experienced and observed the consequences of both missing the mark and hitting it in business situations. Conditions are tough these days. Developing a reputation (brand)for being brief is an asset we all need.
November 13, 2017
The author clearly knows what he's talking about and has some strong kernels of adviced peppered through the book but frequently fails to follow his own advice.
For instance, one of the major points he highlights is the ubiquity of interruptions in modern society and the added importance of brevity as a result. He then goes on to fill the book with 'Brief Bits' that have small break-out boxes of stand alone text that are a constant interruption from the primariy narritive. Chapter 11 even has a 'Brief Bit' about interruptions and 'cutting out the fluff' despite being a fluffy interruption itself.
(The break out boxes are very reminiscent of a textbook which makes me think the editors at Wiley, a major textbook publisher, might have had a bit too much of an influence on things)
Another example of not following his own advice sees a similair break-out box on Active Listening where the subtitle of the box is word-for-word the same as its first sentence despite being placed back to back. (found in chapter 8)
Punchline: If you have a chance to see the author speak or meet him in person then definitely go, but maybe give the book a pass.
For instance, one of the major points he highlights is the ubiquity of interruptions in modern society and the added importance of brevity as a result. He then goes on to fill the book with 'Brief Bits' that have small break-out boxes of stand alone text that are a constant interruption from the primariy narritive. Chapter 11 even has a 'Brief Bit' about interruptions and 'cutting out the fluff' despite being a fluffy interruption itself.
(The break out boxes are very reminiscent of a textbook which makes me think the editors at Wiley, a major textbook publisher, might have had a bit too much of an influence on things)
Another example of not following his own advice sees a similair break-out box on Active Listening where the subtitle of the box is word-for-word the same as its first sentence despite being placed back to back. (found in chapter 8)
Punchline: If you have a chance to see the author speak or meet him in person then definitely go, but maybe give the book a pass.
January 24, 2021
Being brief helps everybody in private and business life. Bring everything to a point and make your text and talk so short as possible.
#blinkist
#blinkist
February 6, 2017
This book was thoroughly unimpressive. The short chapters are often interchangeable, reiterating material from a different angle instead of digging deeper, and info boxes that cover pre-established concepts regularly interrupt the text flow. Rather than delving into psychology or behavioral science, the book depends on long, skim-worthy stories about people the author has worked with and how they've solved their communication problems. None of it gripped me.
Someone who works in the corporate sector might find this more worthwhile. However, since I enjoyed reading the business book "Switch" in the seventh grade, my lack of involvement in the business world is no excuse for how this book failed me.
Also, this quote baffled and annoyed me: "Only an arrogant author would expect you to read the book cover-to-cover to figure out what he's trying to say. He should have the courtesy to summarize in many ways the moral of the story with images." WHAT EVEN. The average attention span is dwindling, but people read books to learn what authors have to say. That's how reading works. Other mediums are available for different purposes. I counter that only an arrogant author would claim in 2016 that the entirety of human + books history is completely outmoded and obliterated.
Someone who works in the corporate sector might find this more worthwhile. However, since I enjoyed reading the business book "Switch" in the seventh grade, my lack of involvement in the business world is no excuse for how this book failed me.
Also, this quote baffled and annoyed me: "Only an arrogant author would expect you to read the book cover-to-cover to figure out what he's trying to say. He should have the courtesy to summarize in many ways the moral of the story with images." WHAT EVEN. The average attention span is dwindling, but people read books to learn what authors have to say. That's how reading works. Other mediums are available for different purposes. I counter that only an arrogant author would claim in 2016 that the entirety of human + books history is completely outmoded and obliterated.
September 11, 2016
There's really only an HBR article worth of content in this book. It seems like the book was written to serve as a raison d'etre for speaking gigs and as merchandise for the speaking gigs. The main argument of the book (that clear, concise communication is valuable but takes time and is aided by certain techniques) is certainly correct, but it does not take a book to present this argument.
I'd recommend avoiding this book but perhaps watching the author speak in a Youtube video. I only read the book because my company required every employee to read it.
I'd recommend avoiding this book but perhaps watching the author speak in a Youtube video. I only read the book because my company required every employee to read it.
February 17, 2025
Detailed Summary -
**“If you want to make a bigger impact, decide to give your audience less”**
### For all places, Brief means → Concise, clear & compelling
### **What I want to achieve from this book**
- Translate complicated ideas into a simple story, anecdotes & analogy
- Deliver headlines like a reporter
- Know instantly when I have lost somebody in the conversation
**Summary →**
**NOTE 1:**
**It’s not about that we need to speak & convey in lesser time but it’s about how long it feels for the audience**
- To be brief doesn’t mean just be concise but a balancing act between
- Concise, clear & compelling
- Make most of the time you have
- Your aim is to convey the message well enough for the other person to act on it
- If we throughly understand the subject, only then we can give an accurate summary
**NOTE 2: Make your point before your audience gets distracted i.e. Be Brief & Be Gone**
- When talking to a Senior executive **in brief**, we bring Stress relief to them
- As they have been loaded with things & when we speak in brief, we make their life easier & they will be grateful to me for this
- When doing a presentation, make the most important point in the first 5 minutes, don’t do the slow buildup
- make impression in first 5 minutes
- The less you say, the more likely you will be heard
- Although it's tempting to think that talking more means you're smarter, more prepared, and more convincing, the opposite is true
**NOTE 3: Be prepared before going to a meeting**
- Else People will wonder why they don’t get what you say
- You can create a basic outline/mind-map of the point of discussion before-hand
- Start with a headline (Headline is the hook that gets the people to pick the newspaper from the stand)
- Give a background to get people on the same page/ Summary of last discussion
- Why is it relevant for today’s discussion (Reason of the discission)
- Key Information (Meat of the discussion)
- Conclude / Intended Ending
- Prepare Expected Questions
- Follow-up Points
- Going prepared and then giving a pre-constructed message will bring a big relief to your listener
- Make sure no assembly is required for the listener
- Provide the right level of detail to create the easiest possible consumption
**NOTE 4: Become a story-teller like Steve Jobs**
- People love storytelling, storytelling is an Art - If you can narrate like a storyteller, nothing like it
- Narrative storytelling to be clear, concise & compelling
- The Personal connection developed will be immediate & long lasting
**NOTE 5 : How to become a storyteller?**
- Think like a journalist
- Keep your stories short & tight
- Storytelling Narrative Flow ( use this until you read a book & find better way of storytelling)
- **Focal Point** : Central part of the narrative similar to headline in a memo
- **Setup or Challenge** : What is the problem/challenge/conflict/issue/opportunity and even Why is this the problem
- **Opportunity** : What is the opportunity for us, our organisation. Will be aspirational & fwd-looking highlighting potential benefits to inspire and motivate the listeners. Should be able to tie up to larger company’s vision & goals
- **Approach**: Strategy or Plan to tackle the problem or seize the opportunity. Break down the plan steps, identify resources needed & collaboration, acknowledge hurdles & address them, explain why this is best solution
- **Payoff**: Results & benefits, key performance metrics, long-term positive impact
**NOTE 6 : Controlled Conversation (Controlling yourself in the conversation)**
- What not to do:
- Passive Listening i.e. zoning out, playing with your phone while someone is speaking
- Waiting for my turn to speak
- Jump impulsively & respond to a word or thought the other person has said
- What to do
- Active Listening (Don’t zone out)
- When the other person takes a natural pause, go for thoughtful & intentional questions **(Pauses are very powerful)**
- Talking is not like a Golf where you wait for your turn after the other persona has played his shot but like a game of tennis where you do active listening & ask pertinent questions
**NOTE 7: Check-in when talking**
- Pause & check-in with your audience when ur talking
- We can ask good open-ended questions
- This will help you gauge whether the audience is able to make sense of what you’re talking
- Also, it will help you trim & brief
- It eliminates monologoues
- If you don’t check-in, audience will check-out
- Speaking slowly and sensing the mood in the room will give you command of the situation
- You'll also be able to stop where you need and to take a question because when people are festering on a question, they're not hearing the next 10 pages you go through
**NOTE 8 : Why Active Listening**
- Helps you create strong summaries
- Prevents us from talking too much
- Great listeners ask questions that gets other people to talk more
- It makes you empathetic
**NOTE 9 : Pauses are powerful**
*“No word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause”*
Paul Harvey, radio presenter, best tips:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/speake...
**NOTE 10 : Titbits**
Your audience care more about how you say it than what you are saying.
You can get people onboard if they see and feel you are leading the way.
Use User personas when doing a presentation, will help the audience in understanding it much better
**NOTE 11: Keep the final presentation brief**
- In the process of getting approval for a new initiative, we might have prepared a long set of slides which might have increased even further after presenting it to multiple folks for their alignment
- Now, when we reach for the final hurdle, the final approval, by that time our ppt would be huge and we should not be presenting that to the top management
- All they care about is look into your eyes and know that you know what you are talking about
- The top management prefer a conversation instead of going through the slides and value our clarity & confidence
**NOTE 12: Brief on Digital Media**
- Nothing annoys a user more than having to click on ‘Continue Reading’ on a post/email that never comes to a definitive point
- Speak in headlines in a digital post/e-mail
- Lot of executives read mail on their smartphones, if you can fit your mail on their single smartphone screen, nothing like it
- Learn from twitter 140 character limit, brevity is what makes twitter addictive
- Pretend you're the reader. What headline or image would grab your attention and make you read more?
**NOTE 13 : When doing a presentation**
- When making a presentation, relying on your powerpoint & reading through that will not work out
- For you as a presenter, ppts are impt. as you might forget what you’re going to say
- But for your audience, there a lot of things going around
- They can easily get lost, check their phones, the next email, the next Slack
- You need to ensure you keep their focus & don’t exclusively rely on your ppt
- Tell a story or anecdote on at least half the slides
- If you can, present without slides
- Also, you should always know what your audience already knows before starting a ppt
- If your audience knows something, you don’t have to repeat it again
- Also, If you don't make an impression that you have something different and valuable in the first 5 or 10 minutes, the chances of the next 20 minutes being of use to you are slim—because people are going to fault that impression very early
- Speaking slowly and sensing the mood in the room will give you command of the situation
- “You were expecting a long slide presentation but let me tell you a story instead”
**NOTE 14 : When writing a doc/doing a presentation**
- When writing a doc, ensure the readers can get what the doc is all about before they finish the first paragraph
- If we don’t tell that upfront, they may get lost
- You may wrongly assume that your audience is up to date with the context but that may not be the case
- Memorize your 3 key points and know the material backward and forward. This frees you from having to constantly glance back at a slide
- Prepare the outline of your presentation & the conclusion, the payoff that you want from the presentation
**NOTE 15 : When in a Meeting**
- Don't be the first—or last—one to speak at your next few meetings
- If people interrupt you, let them. They're not listening anyways; they're just waiting for their turn to talk
**NOTE 15 : Start with Why**
- When writing a doc, doing a presentation or talking to an executive, always, Start with Why
- Before taking about other details like how, where, how much and when, focus on **Why**
- “Why?” is the most important question that's frequently missing from our communication
- People will never get what you're saying unless you tell them the reason it's important
**NOTE 16 : Train as a TED Talk**
- In a TED talk, the speaker whittle their content down to its essence
- “The best speakers are the ones whose story has a beginning, a middle, and an end, but starts in the middle”
- If people need more information, they will come to you. You just be brief
**NOTE 17: Idea**
- Your idea should stick on a billboard
- A lack of confidence and security usually make people add those two or three extra words
- If your idea needs explanation, it’s not a good idea yet
- Master Elevator Pitch
**NOTE 18: What’s In it for me**
- Know what motivates your audience
- Skip what doesn’t matter
- Know your audience’s What’s in it for me
**NOTE 19:**
- Once you have made your point, don’t try to make it better & better
- When it comes to clarity, if you have made your point, don’t try to sharpen the pencil even more, it will eventually break
**NOTE 20: Talking less is smarter**
- Although it's tempting to think that talking more means you're smarter, more prepared, and more convincing, the opposite is true
- A lack of confidence and security usually make people add those two or three extra words - Don’t do that
- Sharing only new and meaningful information will transform your presentation into a conversation
**NOTE 21: It’s never really small talk - Just becoz you think it, doesn’t mean you have to say it**
- The adage “Loose lips sink ships” says it all. In a time of war, seemingly harmless banter that could expose secrets to the enemy is never welcome. And the same is true in your job
- You should manage how you make small talk - “It’s all on the record”
- If you're thoughtless with your words, your boss will think you're thoughtless with everything else
- For example : In an informal setting, an employee complained to his manager about some of the challenges & his boss termed it as a sign of weakness & the employee was let go shortly even though he was one of the best performers prior to this incident
- How many problems you can avoid if you just kept help your tongue more often
- When you feel bad, are having a rough day, or are frustrated, don't speak in negative headlines - “pause and consider what I'm about to say”
- **If you wouldn't want your boss to overhear you, then leave it unsaid**
- We need to be disciplined when tempted to say everything that comes to mind
**NOTE 22: Got-a-minute Updates**
- People stop by the office, shoot off an e-mail, bump into each other in the hallway, or in the washroom or pick up the phone and call
- Give them something worth their time and consideration
**NOTE 23: Small Talk like Washington DC**
- In Washington, D.C., politics get done while walking and talking—fast
- If you feed your audience points that seem obvious to them, you're wasting their time. Save your breath and get to the newest, most important information in fluid, high-stress situations
**NOTE 24: Brevity In Interview**
- When we are nervous in Interviews, we start rambling
- We talk a lot and try to put lot of information in front of the interviewer
- However, it’s time to show control, restraint, discipline, awareness - Don’t pour it, Stay in the conversation mode
- It's just a matter of time until an undisciplined interviewee either says something stupid or reveals too much information
- Interviews are moments to have controlled conversations, not nervous monologues
**NOTE 25: Get in the Habit of saying “Thank You”**
- When you're thanking people for what they've done and highlighting their successes, you give them the chance to enjoy the spotlight
- Let them enjoy the moment of a short and sweet thank you
- It's about them, not about you. Say it and let them enjoy it
- The best people —the highly successful people—always take time to praise others thoughtfully
**NOTE 26: When giving Bad News**
- Don't give into the temptation to overexplain in order to compensate for the bad news
**NOTE 27: The Power of Threes**
- There's a reason Irish jokes have three guys and take place in a bar
- When talking to a journalist, if you flag your message, they would immediately start noticing or may even start taking notes
- How do you flag your message - By saying, for eg - ‘The 3 most important things to know are’
- When you use ‘3’, it makes the other person do the following:
- Sets a clear expectation of how much they need to listen and how you’re progressing
- The Audience stays engaged becoz they know where they are - like chapters in a book
**NOTE 28: Nobody cares unless you do**
- Remind yourself that if you're not passionate, nobody else will be
- Some of the best joke tellers start snickering in the middle of their material
**“If you want to make a bigger impact, decide to give your audience less”**
### For all places, Brief means → Concise, clear & compelling
### **What I want to achieve from this book**
- Translate complicated ideas into a simple story, anecdotes & analogy
- Deliver headlines like a reporter
- Know instantly when I have lost somebody in the conversation
**Summary →**
**NOTE 1:**
**It’s not about that we need to speak & convey in lesser time but it’s about how long it feels for the audience**
- To be brief doesn’t mean just be concise but a balancing act between
- Concise, clear & compelling
- Make most of the time you have
- Your aim is to convey the message well enough for the other person to act on it
- If we throughly understand the subject, only then we can give an accurate summary
**NOTE 2: Make your point before your audience gets distracted i.e. Be Brief & Be Gone**
- When talking to a Senior executive **in brief**, we bring Stress relief to them
- As they have been loaded with things & when we speak in brief, we make their life easier & they will be grateful to me for this
- When doing a presentation, make the most important point in the first 5 minutes, don’t do the slow buildup
- make impression in first 5 minutes
- The less you say, the more likely you will be heard
- Although it's tempting to think that talking more means you're smarter, more prepared, and more convincing, the opposite is true
**NOTE 3: Be prepared before going to a meeting**
- Else People will wonder why they don’t get what you say
- You can create a basic outline/mind-map of the point of discussion before-hand
- Start with a headline (Headline is the hook that gets the people to pick the newspaper from the stand)
- Give a background to get people on the same page/ Summary of last discussion
- Why is it relevant for today’s discussion (Reason of the discission)
- Key Information (Meat of the discussion)
- Conclude / Intended Ending
- Prepare Expected Questions
- Follow-up Points
- Going prepared and then giving a pre-constructed message will bring a big relief to your listener
- Make sure no assembly is required for the listener
- Provide the right level of detail to create the easiest possible consumption
**NOTE 4: Become a story-teller like Steve Jobs**
- People love storytelling, storytelling is an Art - If you can narrate like a storyteller, nothing like it
- Narrative storytelling to be clear, concise & compelling
- The Personal connection developed will be immediate & long lasting
**NOTE 5 : How to become a storyteller?**
- Think like a journalist
- Keep your stories short & tight
- Storytelling Narrative Flow ( use this until you read a book & find better way of storytelling)
- **Focal Point** : Central part of the narrative similar to headline in a memo
- **Setup or Challenge** : What is the problem/challenge/conflict/issue/opportunity and even Why is this the problem
- **Opportunity** : What is the opportunity for us, our organisation. Will be aspirational & fwd-looking highlighting potential benefits to inspire and motivate the listeners. Should be able to tie up to larger company’s vision & goals
- **Approach**: Strategy or Plan to tackle the problem or seize the opportunity. Break down the plan steps, identify resources needed & collaboration, acknowledge hurdles & address them, explain why this is best solution
- **Payoff**: Results & benefits, key performance metrics, long-term positive impact
**NOTE 6 : Controlled Conversation (Controlling yourself in the conversation)**
- What not to do:
- Passive Listening i.e. zoning out, playing with your phone while someone is speaking
- Waiting for my turn to speak
- Jump impulsively & respond to a word or thought the other person has said
- What to do
- Active Listening (Don’t zone out)
- When the other person takes a natural pause, go for thoughtful & intentional questions **(Pauses are very powerful)**
- Talking is not like a Golf where you wait for your turn after the other persona has played his shot but like a game of tennis where you do active listening & ask pertinent questions
**NOTE 7: Check-in when talking**
- Pause & check-in with your audience when ur talking
- We can ask good open-ended questions
- This will help you gauge whether the audience is able to make sense of what you’re talking
- Also, it will help you trim & brief
- It eliminates monologoues
- If you don’t check-in, audience will check-out
- Speaking slowly and sensing the mood in the room will give you command of the situation
- You'll also be able to stop where you need and to take a question because when people are festering on a question, they're not hearing the next 10 pages you go through
**NOTE 8 : Why Active Listening**
- Helps you create strong summaries
- Prevents us from talking too much
- Great listeners ask questions that gets other people to talk more
- It makes you empathetic
**NOTE 9 : Pauses are powerful**
*“No word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause”*
Paul Harvey, radio presenter, best tips:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/speake...
**NOTE 10 : Titbits**
Your audience care more about how you say it than what you are saying.
You can get people onboard if they see and feel you are leading the way.
Use User personas when doing a presentation, will help the audience in understanding it much better
**NOTE 11: Keep the final presentation brief**
- In the process of getting approval for a new initiative, we might have prepared a long set of slides which might have increased even further after presenting it to multiple folks for their alignment
- Now, when we reach for the final hurdle, the final approval, by that time our ppt would be huge and we should not be presenting that to the top management
- All they care about is look into your eyes and know that you know what you are talking about
- The top management prefer a conversation instead of going through the slides and value our clarity & confidence
**NOTE 12: Brief on Digital Media**
- Nothing annoys a user more than having to click on ‘Continue Reading’ on a post/email that never comes to a definitive point
- Speak in headlines in a digital post/e-mail
- Lot of executives read mail on their smartphones, if you can fit your mail on their single smartphone screen, nothing like it
- Learn from twitter 140 character limit, brevity is what makes twitter addictive
- Pretend you're the reader. What headline or image would grab your attention and make you read more?
**NOTE 13 : When doing a presentation**
- When making a presentation, relying on your powerpoint & reading through that will not work out
- For you as a presenter, ppts are impt. as you might forget what you’re going to say
- But for your audience, there a lot of things going around
- They can easily get lost, check their phones, the next email, the next Slack
- You need to ensure you keep their focus & don’t exclusively rely on your ppt
- Tell a story or anecdote on at least half the slides
- If you can, present without slides
- Also, you should always know what your audience already knows before starting a ppt
- If your audience knows something, you don’t have to repeat it again
- Also, If you don't make an impression that you have something different and valuable in the first 5 or 10 minutes, the chances of the next 20 minutes being of use to you are slim—because people are going to fault that impression very early
- Speaking slowly and sensing the mood in the room will give you command of the situation
- “You were expecting a long slide presentation but let me tell you a story instead”
**NOTE 14 : When writing a doc/doing a presentation**
- When writing a doc, ensure the readers can get what the doc is all about before they finish the first paragraph
- If we don’t tell that upfront, they may get lost
- You may wrongly assume that your audience is up to date with the context but that may not be the case
- Memorize your 3 key points and know the material backward and forward. This frees you from having to constantly glance back at a slide
- Prepare the outline of your presentation & the conclusion, the payoff that you want from the presentation
**NOTE 15 : When in a Meeting**
- Don't be the first—or last—one to speak at your next few meetings
- If people interrupt you, let them. They're not listening anyways; they're just waiting for their turn to talk
**NOTE 15 : Start with Why**
- When writing a doc, doing a presentation or talking to an executive, always, Start with Why
- Before taking about other details like how, where, how much and when, focus on **Why**
- “Why?” is the most important question that's frequently missing from our communication
- People will never get what you're saying unless you tell them the reason it's important
**NOTE 16 : Train as a TED Talk**
- In a TED talk, the speaker whittle their content down to its essence
- “The best speakers are the ones whose story has a beginning, a middle, and an end, but starts in the middle”
- If people need more information, they will come to you. You just be brief
**NOTE 17: Idea**
- Your idea should stick on a billboard
- A lack of confidence and security usually make people add those two or three extra words
- If your idea needs explanation, it’s not a good idea yet
- Master Elevator Pitch
**NOTE 18: What’s In it for me**
- Know what motivates your audience
- Skip what doesn’t matter
- Know your audience’s What’s in it for me
**NOTE 19:**
- Once you have made your point, don’t try to make it better & better
- When it comes to clarity, if you have made your point, don’t try to sharpen the pencil even more, it will eventually break
**NOTE 20: Talking less is smarter**
- Although it's tempting to think that talking more means you're smarter, more prepared, and more convincing, the opposite is true
- A lack of confidence and security usually make people add those two or three extra words - Don’t do that
- Sharing only new and meaningful information will transform your presentation into a conversation
**NOTE 21: It’s never really small talk - Just becoz you think it, doesn’t mean you have to say it**
- The adage “Loose lips sink ships” says it all. In a time of war, seemingly harmless banter that could expose secrets to the enemy is never welcome. And the same is true in your job
- You should manage how you make small talk - “It’s all on the record”
- If you're thoughtless with your words, your boss will think you're thoughtless with everything else
- For example : In an informal setting, an employee complained to his manager about some of the challenges & his boss termed it as a sign of weakness & the employee was let go shortly even though he was one of the best performers prior to this incident
- How many problems you can avoid if you just kept help your tongue more often
- When you feel bad, are having a rough day, or are frustrated, don't speak in negative headlines - “pause and consider what I'm about to say”
- **If you wouldn't want your boss to overhear you, then leave it unsaid**
- We need to be disciplined when tempted to say everything that comes to mind
**NOTE 22: Got-a-minute Updates**
- People stop by the office, shoot off an e-mail, bump into each other in the hallway, or in the washroom or pick up the phone and call
- Give them something worth their time and consideration
**NOTE 23: Small Talk like Washington DC**
- In Washington, D.C., politics get done while walking and talking—fast
- If you feed your audience points that seem obvious to them, you're wasting their time. Save your breath and get to the newest, most important information in fluid, high-stress situations
**NOTE 24: Brevity In Interview**
- When we are nervous in Interviews, we start rambling
- We talk a lot and try to put lot of information in front of the interviewer
- However, it’s time to show control, restraint, discipline, awareness - Don’t pour it, Stay in the conversation mode
- It's just a matter of time until an undisciplined interviewee either says something stupid or reveals too much information
- Interviews are moments to have controlled conversations, not nervous monologues
**NOTE 25: Get in the Habit of saying “Thank You”**
- When you're thanking people for what they've done and highlighting their successes, you give them the chance to enjoy the spotlight
- Let them enjoy the moment of a short and sweet thank you
- It's about them, not about you. Say it and let them enjoy it
- The best people —the highly successful people—always take time to praise others thoughtfully
**NOTE 26: When giving Bad News**
- Don't give into the temptation to overexplain in order to compensate for the bad news
**NOTE 27: The Power of Threes**
- There's a reason Irish jokes have three guys and take place in a bar
- When talking to a journalist, if you flag your message, they would immediately start noticing or may even start taking notes
- How do you flag your message - By saying, for eg - ‘The 3 most important things to know are’
- When you use ‘3’, it makes the other person do the following:
- Sets a clear expectation of how much they need to listen and how you’re progressing
- The Audience stays engaged becoz they know where they are - like chapters in a book
**NOTE 28: Nobody cares unless you do**
- Remind yourself that if you're not passionate, nobody else will be
- Some of the best joke tellers start snickering in the middle of their material
February 16, 2024
“Brief" is a game-changer in the world of communication and persuasion. In a society where attention spans are dwindling and information overload is the norm, McCormack offers a refreshing approach to getting your message across effectively and concisely. McCormack provides readers with actionable techniques and strategies that can be applied immediately. Whether you are a business professional, a public speaker, or simply someone who wants to improve their communication skills, this book has something for everyone. From learning how to craft compelling messages to mastering the art of storytelling, McCormack covers a wide range of topics that can help individuals make a lasting impact. The book is concise, engaging, and easy to read, which is a testament to the author's own principles of brevity. He presents his ideas in a clear and logical manner, using real-life examples and anecdotes to illustrate his points. This makes it not only an informative read but also an enjoyable one. Moreover, McCormack stresses the importance of understanding your audience and tailoring your message accordingly. He emphasizes the need to cut through the noise and capture attention in a limited timeframe. By doing so, he provides readers with the tools to captivate their listeners, ensure their message is remembered, and ultimately achieve their desired outcomes.
March 24, 2021
Good book. Read it.
November 22, 2015
Very important topic these days of less is more. Key take aways
* BRIEF Map = Background, Relevance, supporting Info, Ending
* Controlled Conversation: Make it about the other person, actively listen (which also prevents you from talking too much)
* Tell a story (common theme on all communcation books)
* Better to show then talk
Best part of the book - great sayings on 'Brief'.
* I have only made this letter longer because I have not had the time to make it shorter. (Blaise Pascal)
* The secret of a good sermon is to have a good beginning and a good ending, and to have the tow as close together as possible. (George Burn)
* It is my ambition to say in 10 sentences what others say in a whole book. (Friedrich Nietzsche)
* One should use common words to say uncommon things. (Arthur Schopenhauer)
* Simplicity is the glory of expression. (Walt Whitman)
* Talk to the point and stop when you have reached it. (F. V. Irish)
* I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by. (Douglas Adams)
* BRIEF Map = Background, Relevance, supporting Info, Ending
* Controlled Conversation: Make it about the other person, actively listen (which also prevents you from talking too much)
* Tell a story (common theme on all communcation books)
* Better to show then talk
Best part of the book - great sayings on 'Brief'.
* I have only made this letter longer because I have not had the time to make it shorter. (Blaise Pascal)
* The secret of a good sermon is to have a good beginning and a good ending, and to have the tow as close together as possible. (George Burn)
* It is my ambition to say in 10 sentences what others say in a whole book. (Friedrich Nietzsche)
* One should use common words to say uncommon things. (Arthur Schopenhauer)
* Simplicity is the glory of expression. (Walt Whitman)
* Talk to the point and stop when you have reached it. (F. V. Irish)
* I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by. (Douglas Adams)
July 15, 2021
Güzel anlatımlı, detaylı ve bilgi veren bir kitap olmuş. Bazı kitapları okuyunca kendinizdeki gelişmeyi ve idrakı gözlemleyebiliyorusunuz. Aslında bu kitap bana nerede olmamı görmem için farkındalık sağladı. Bilincinizin gelişmesi ile algı seviyelerinize göre okuyacağınız kitaplar da değişiyor. Uzun süreli iş yaşamım sırasında gerek maillerimi yazarken, gerek yaptığım sunumları hazırlarken kullandığım ya da uyguladığım birçok taktik ve teknik sıralanmış kitapta. Bana çok şey kattı diyemem, ama daha yolun başında olan ve kendini geliştirmek isteyen yeni yeteneklere yol gösterebilir. Yazanın da hakkını böyle vermiş olalım. Kitap okudukça kitapların birbirini tekrarladığını ve aynı mesajları veren birçok farklı yazar olduğunu görüyorum. Bu sebeple seçici olmak çok önemli; bazen de okurken bunu fark edebiliyorusunuz.
December 21, 2017
McCormack has spent his career helping people to think first before talking. Common sense isn't that common, and it can save time, confusion and money.
Why I started this book: Professional Reading list and a short book. Win, win.
Why I finished it: Great audio and a great reminder. The final judge of any self-help/communication book is if you are motivated to follow their advice. So far, so good.
Why I started this book: Professional Reading list and a short book. Win, win.
Why I finished it: Great audio and a great reminder. The final judge of any self-help/communication book is if you are motivated to follow their advice. So far, so good.
November 1, 2021
Every time I sit in a meeting that could be an email, I think about this book. I've actually started gifting copies to coworkers; that's how useful this book has become in the way I think about how we work. Especially now, with our remote work, we need more efficient systems to keep us away from three-hour Zoom meetings. The ideas in this book coupled with the layout (really neat visuals) make it easy to digest with practical strategies we can apply right away in the workplace.
December 27, 2018
يعيبه أنّه طويل :)
يعني أظنّ لو شدّ المؤلف ع حاله فينو يختصر المعلومات اللي فيه للنص
ومع ذلك فيه تلميحات لطيفة ونصائح تهمنا جميعاً
الآباء والأمهات
المدراء والموظفون
طلاب الجامعات ومندوبو المبيعات
العاملين في سلك الدولة والعاطلين عن العمل
كلّ واحد من هؤلاء سيجد شيئاً من الكتاب يتحدث عنه ويفيده
يعني أظنّ لو شدّ المؤلف ع حاله فينو يختصر المعلومات اللي فيه للنص
ومع ذلك فيه تلميحات لطيفة ونصائح تهمنا جميعاً
الآباء والأمهات
المدراء والموظفون
طلاب الجامعات ومندوبو المبيعات
العاملين في سلك الدولة والعاطلين عن العمل
كلّ واحد من هؤلاء سيجد شيئاً من الكتاب يتحدث عنه ويفيده
October 15, 2025
Joseph McCormack's book, Brief: Make a Bigger Impact by Saying Less, is 256 pages long. The author ironically encourages readers to go out and find the longest training on communication and criticize it.
Great principles. But if you just want the headlines, skip to the summary chapter, 23.
Great principles. But if you just want the headlines, skip to the summary chapter, 23.
September 20, 2019
Good Book that provides useful ways to get to the point and be heard. A little ironic that there was fluff in a book about brevity but no one pays for 100 page books so it's understandable.
The added stories help emphasize the points being made.
The tips are useable.
Recommend as a tool. Read, put to use, share and make everyone better for it.
The added stories help emphasize the points being made.
The tips are useable.
Recommend as a tool. Read, put to use, share and make everyone better for it.
January 12, 2020
Some of its advice, if not all, seem interesting, and is worth trying out.
November 2, 2021
This book is basically a textbook that is teaching something quite silly. Would not recommend to creative people.
October 23, 2022
Really liked the intro - motivation to be brief. Not sure how actionable the rest is, but good to consider.
July 11, 2024
Read as a work assignment. Includes very good advice on using brevity to get your point across.
May 14, 2019
A must-have for professional!
Joseph McCormack provides a roadmap on how to communicate with fewer words and still have an impact in a busy world.
Joseph McCormack provides a roadmap on how to communicate with fewer words and still have an impact in a busy world.
July 5, 2023
Rather long winded for a book titled “brief”
June 26, 2019
Excellent book filled with many hands-on and actionable insights. Just the right amount of life examples to provide perspective and cross-references to explain the why. Highly recommend, especially for people in the corporate world who present often and leaders in any setting who want to evolve how they communicate.
June 18, 2017
A not-so-brief book better suited to a HBR or Forbes article, as it often repeats itself and throws in forgettable 'case studies' that don't do much to advance the writer's point.
The frequent text box interruptions don't do the reader any favours either.
___
Being brief is not just about time. What's more important is how long it feels to the audience.
It is a balance between being concise, clear and compelling. Give people enough to act on, but not choke on.
Board members are very busy and have little patience. Their attention is divided between the issues of your company and the other companies they run or advise. Their knowledge is a mile wide and an inch deep.
Be prepared to have an executive summary conversation, as opposed to an hour-long presentation.
The BRIEF map:
B - Background or beginning
R - Relevance or reason
I - Information for inclusion
E - Ending or conclusion
F - Follow-up or expected questions
Speak in headlines, or risk losing your audience.
Real brevity invites, meaningful, controlled conversations. It is a disciplined conversation, where what you're talking about matters to the person you're talking to, and your active listening tells you what matters to that person.
It's not about controlling the conversation, but controlling yourself in the conversation.
In most cases, the slides are less for the decision maker and more for the staff and subordinate commanders on the way up. Everyone wants to protect the decision maker. The slides are less valuable for the actual briefing.
You state it simply. Doesn't mean it's simple, but you do it so that the world gets it and can understand it.
Regularly check in with your audience. You can't adjust if you don't check in.
It is important to listen to gauge how much your audience already knows or doesn't know, so you can adjust accordingly. Never tell people what they already know.
When firing someone, avoid the temptation to over-explain to compensate for the bad news. Be focused on delivering the information. The boss isn't the person to give that person a lot of comfort, because they made the decision.
Flagging, or announcing how many points you are going to speak on, clearly delineating the scope of your talking, doing your audience a big favour.
The frequent text box interruptions don't do the reader any favours either.
___
Being brief is not just about time. What's more important is how long it feels to the audience.
It is a balance between being concise, clear and compelling. Give people enough to act on, but not choke on.
Board members are very busy and have little patience. Their attention is divided between the issues of your company and the other companies they run or advise. Their knowledge is a mile wide and an inch deep.
Be prepared to have an executive summary conversation, as opposed to an hour-long presentation.
The BRIEF map:
B - Background or beginning
R - Relevance or reason
I - Information for inclusion
E - Ending or conclusion
F - Follow-up or expected questions
Speak in headlines, or risk losing your audience.
Real brevity invites, meaningful, controlled conversations. It is a disciplined conversation, where what you're talking about matters to the person you're talking to, and your active listening tells you what matters to that person.
It's not about controlling the conversation, but controlling yourself in the conversation.
In most cases, the slides are less for the decision maker and more for the staff and subordinate commanders on the way up. Everyone wants to protect the decision maker. The slides are less valuable for the actual briefing.
You state it simply. Doesn't mean it's simple, but you do it so that the world gets it and can understand it.
Regularly check in with your audience. You can't adjust if you don't check in.
It is important to listen to gauge how much your audience already knows or doesn't know, so you can adjust accordingly. Never tell people what they already know.
When firing someone, avoid the temptation to over-explain to compensate for the bad news. Be focused on delivering the information. The boss isn't the person to give that person a lot of comfort, because they made the decision.
Flagging, or announcing how many points you are going to speak on, clearly delineating the scope of your talking, doing your audience a big favour.
February 5, 2022
I was over it by page 30 but I pushed through anyways. Pretty sure the word "brevite" is used 1200 times in the first 30 pages, and no, I'm not kidding. I actually found very little actionable/usable information in this book. There were plenty of stories about how the author worked with a client and they weren't using brevite, or being concise, and after his workshops, they used brevite to be clear and concise and live happily ever after. There was very little about the actual process, what he did, or how these clients made that change. The examples were solely "what they were doing wasnt working, after I worked with them, they became successful because my method works". I kept thinking the a tionable informarion was coming. It was VERY long winded (ironically) for what could be said like this "High power executives are very busy, respect their time, and only say what needs to be said, pertaining to the reason for your meeting"..... that is literally a one sentence summary of this books instruction.
January 30, 2024
McCormack’s best advice was a quote from William Strunk: “Omit needless words.” If only he’d stopped there ….Instead, he buried even this perfectly brief point in 6 sentences of repetitive, re-hashed rambling.
I found this book a complete disappointment. McCormack filled each chapter of common sense truisms with pages of anecdotes he very well may have simply made up himself. Flat characters in shallow stories in which they constantly choose manipulative language over any sense of transparency with those around them.
The author writes with clear realist views of what it takes to get ahead in life and business. There appears little tolerance for coworkers, bosses, and employees who care for and trust one another enough to say what they mean in McCormack’s worldview.
My brief summary: don’t bother.
I found this book a complete disappointment. McCormack filled each chapter of common sense truisms with pages of anecdotes he very well may have simply made up himself. Flat characters in shallow stories in which they constantly choose manipulative language over any sense of transparency with those around them.
The author writes with clear realist views of what it takes to get ahead in life and business. There appears little tolerance for coworkers, bosses, and employees who care for and trust one another enough to say what they mean in McCormack’s worldview.
My brief summary: don’t bother.
June 21, 2024
This book paints a hilariously childish image of the corporate executive. They play angry birds at work, they’re constantly on their phones during meetings, and they have the attention span of a goldfish. The central question is: how do you manage to communicate with such a person?
There are lots of illustrations, which gels well with the authors view that nobody has the time or attention to read these days. While there’s some truth to that, he sometimes comes across as an old man shaking his fist.
Probably my biggest complaint is that the author doesn’t follow his own advice here. The book is laden with long-winded and useless examples about his work with both the U.S. military and various corporations. But I feel like all the valuable information here would fit on a single page.
There are lots of illustrations, which gels well with the authors view that nobody has the time or attention to read these days. While there’s some truth to that, he sometimes comes across as an old man shaking his fist.
Probably my biggest complaint is that the author doesn’t follow his own advice here. The book is laden with long-winded and useless examples about his work with both the U.S. military and various corporations. But I feel like all the valuable information here would fit on a single page.
July 17, 2017
I was very interested to read this book, but couldn't even make it all the way through. For a book called Brief, this book dragged on and on saying seemingly the same thing over and over. It could have easily been made into an article saying "People are busy and don't care what you have to say, so say it as succinctly as you can".
It really seemed like this writer has lots of experience with it and was very knowledgeable about the subject, but the book seemed to jump around with tons of little paragraphs here and there and after reading for a while, I couldn't take it anymore and just moved on.
It really seemed like this writer has lots of experience with it and was very knowledgeable about the subject, but the book seemed to jump around with tons of little paragraphs here and there and after reading for a while, I couldn't take it anymore and just moved on.
April 17, 2014
I really liked this book. The term "lean communication" suits it very well. Avoiding waste, getting to the point and making your communication effective, while centering your message on the receiver are key points that I registered after reading the book. If you want to become a more effective speaker and a more pleasant communicator this book is for you.
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