THE TOOLKIT
Concise
Length matters, as does conciseness. When we were in school, we loved shorter lessons. We craved shorter assignments. We were appreciative of the shorter lectures. So, why do we feel the need to be so verbose, loquacious, and long-winded in business?
Shorter sounds confident!
Longer sounds
defensive, confusing, and condescending!
Actually, we learned to be long-winded in school. How did we earn a good grade on essay questions? We filled the page or the blue book. We made sure to tell the professor everything we knew about the topic, no matter how tangential or trivial. The challenge is that no one every told us in business, just the opposite is true.
A true professional can take the complex and make it simple!
Winston Churchill was rumored to write speeches standing up. His theory was that by the time his legs got tired, his audience would be done listening. This theory of conciseness has proven successful throughout history. The Gettysburg Address, quite possibly one of the most noteworthy speeches in American history was only 270 words long. As a matter of fact, Lincoln wasn’t even the main attraction. Orator Edward Everett had top billing at the cemetery’s dedication. His address was over 13,500 words and took about two hours. Which would you rather hear?