Book review: Smart Brevity, The Power of Saying More with Less by Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen, and Roy Schwartz (4 stars on Goodreads).
“Brevity is confidence. Length is fear.”
Top Tips
Tips from the book for giving a talk or presentation.
- Audience first. Focus on one person. Target your ideal, “target reader.”
- Do the next right thing. Respect time and intelligence.
- One thing to remember. Then, stop.
- Is my message new and essential? Shorten it, tighten.
- Only one thing you remember from the talk.
Template
Template for an essay or memo.
Header: # of words / minutes to read
Top: Headline
A. One opening sentence
B. "Tell me something I don’t know"
C. Why it matters. 1-2 sentences
D. "Go deeper" / "Big picture" / "By the numbers" — pick one call-to-action link
I’ve used this format in work settings for Slack messages, email body copy, and in presentations with slide format.
Key Takeaway
This book reinforces what I already knew to be true: Content matters.
Concise and well-formatted communications are more likely to get more attention. No place is this skill more essential than at work. Product strategy, team feedback, a Town Hall intro — we are telling stories.
Tell it better with Smart Brevity: use active verbs, keep it short, and link out to read more elsewhere.
The Full Stack Leader 
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