To Make a Long Story Short

That's your job

Dance Hall Bellevue (obverse) by Ernst Ludwig Kirschner, c. 1909 (public domain - National Gallery of Art)

“Brevity is the sister of talent.” — Anton Chekov, 1889

Is there any better opening line than “I’ll be brief”?

The people are in their seats, the speaker begins, expectations are set.

It’s always helpful to know what you’re in for, whether you’re listening to a keynote speech or a knock-knock joke.

When you’re prepared for one length and you get the opposite, it makes you feel something, doesn’t it? Think of how delighted if you feel when someone says, “To make a long story short…”

Or the opposite, as someone drones on and on, like a 7-year-old telling a joke with no end in sight.

They mistakenly think that by making things longer and more complex they’re improving the story. To be fair, there are times when details matter and flowery descriptions add to the scene.

More isn’t always better; sometimes more is just more.

“The secret of a good sermon is to have a good beginning and a good ending; and to have the two as close together as possible.” — George Burns 

We all prefer intelligent brevity — when someone makes a profound and understandable point in a short but simple manner.

As a leader, one of the most important things you can do is to consistently communicate a clear and compelling vision. It should be simple, understandable, and memorable.

“As it is the mark of great minds to say many things in a few words, so it is that of little minds to use many words to say nothing.” — François VI, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, 1665

Quick: who spoke before Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg?

If you said Edward Everett, then well done. You’re either a student of history or a devotee of trivia.

Everett was a noted orator of the time, an educator and pastor, and a politician who inhabited such offices as U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, and Governor of Massachusetts.

Such were the qualifications that made him a featured speaker at the dedication of Gettysburg National Cemetery, where he spoke for two hours.

Now, more to the point: what did Everett say in his speech?

Accounts of his speech that day say that he relived the battle and renounced the enemy, moving the audience to tears.

And yet, no one remembers what he said.

President Lincoln, on the other hand, gave one of the shortest speeches of his life. And although he self-effacingly included the line “the world will little note nor long remember what we say here,” it is literally etched in stone for posterity.

Just 272 words in length, it took Lincoln approximately two minutes to read.

And its impact is still felt today.

“One should use common words to say uncommon things.” — Arthur Schopenhauer

The challenge with communicating plainly is it takes an effort. That’s right — a simple phrase or explanation of something complex doesn’t come easily. But when it works, it’s almost like magic.

Einstein managed to introduce his theory of relativity by giving us 𝐸=𝑚𝑐².

But it doesn’t take an Einstein to think plainly.

The Plain Language Action and Information Network (PLAIN) is a group of federal employees from different agencies and specialties who support the use of clear communication in government writing.

If the government can do it, so can you.

As Franklin Delano Roosevelt advised his son James about speeches, “Be sincere, be brief, be seated.”

There’s so much to learn,

Bonus material for members of the Ampersand Guild (paid subscribers):

The Attraction of Simplicity