How to communicate succinctly to executives

Executives are short on time and attention. Learn how to Be Brief, Be Brilliant, and Be gone. The secret is in clarity of thinking and having the relevant context, not structure or word choice.

One of the most critical skills in executive-level communication is being succinct. Each of us struggles with different aspects of this. Some of us want to be thorough and include every detail. Some of us like to be precise and give every nuance or caveat. Some of us, including myself, tend to say too few words. In an attempt not to ramble or take up time, we give only the conclusion but don’t connect the dots, leaving everyone confused.

In executive communications training, a commonly taught phrase is “Be brief, Be Brilliant, and Be Gone.”

At the core of this concept is the scarcity of time. Time is the most limited commodity for executives. Due to the number of priorities executives juggle at any point, they tend to have short attention spans, even for topics they truly care about. This is why being brief is critical to being heard. If you start in the weeds or ramble off to a tangent, executives lose focus.

Being brilliant means bringing a new angle or clarity to a complex or ambiguous topic. Executives are constantly managing information overload and context shifts. One moment they are speaking with legal about EU regulation, and the next moment they are stepping into an engineering budget meeting. They want you to help them connect the dots from what you are working on to the broader context of the company. They are looking to you to bridge the gap between in-the-weeds execution and high-level business strategy.

Finally, Be Gone refers to not overstaying your welcome. Sometimes, we get a little greedy with our time with executives. After a decision or topic goes well, we try to engage in small talk, or we bring up another topic that wasn’t on the agenda. Be gone means knowing when to stop talking and respecting their time. It ensures you land your point and leave on a positive impression, rather than diluting your success.

Being succinct does not mean the following:

• Being short. Being succinct doesn’t always mean shorter. Some complex concepts and topics require more words, but each word is essential. It is about the density and clarity of information conveyed.

• Presenting data or status updates. If you’re not providing an interpretation or “so what” of the raw input, you are not communicating at the executive level.

• Avoiding complex topics. If, in an effort to be concise, you oversimplify a situation or completely avoid bringing up a hairy issue, that is misleading, not succinct.

• Doing less preparation. As we’ll discuss below, it takes a lot of work and preparation to be succinct. Work is required to understand what is relevant, to increase information density, and to speak with confidence. To quote Pascal in 1657, “I have made this letter longer than usual, because I have not had time to make it shorter.”

It turns out that being succinct is less about the number of words and more about clarity of thinking and mastery of the topic. And a lot of work and preparation is required to be succinct.

How To Be Succinct

There are three factors in being succinct: context, clarity of thinking, and knowing when to stop.

The first step to being succinct is knowing the relevant context. The relevance of the information being communicated is the difference between being short and being succinct. The more you understand how the topic you’re bringing fits into the overall context of the company, the context of the impacted teams and people, the more succinct your suggestions and conclusions will be. In practice, this means context gathering from stakeholders and networking outside your immediate teams.

Second, being succinct requires clarity of thought. What is the point you are trying to make? What is the one main point of the entire argument? Often, when we ramble or meander, we lack focus and priority. We speak what comes to our minds, and every sentence has equal weight. When there is clarity of thought, there is prioritization of data points, a strong chain of reasoning, or a clear distinction from conventional thought.

Finally, being succinct means knowing when to stop. It may be uncomfortable to leave details and nuances unsaid. It may be tempting to stretch face time with an executive you don’t see often. It may be scary to sit in silence while you wait for someone to make a decision or ask questions. When in doubt, take a breath instead of elaborating. Once you’ve made your point, stop talking. Knowing when to take your exit and not dilute the impact of your point is critical to being succinct.

Being succinct takes preparation and practice. Eloquence is a learned skill. If you’re interested in honing your executive communication, consider my course: Master Executive Presence & Communication with AI. We start on Dec 3rd!

That’s all folks! See you next week at 3:14 pm.

Yue

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