“Be Brief, Be Bright, Be Gone“: a Practical Advice for Effective Communication

Conveying information in the shortest and most understandable way possible equally benefits all. It is that, most successful communicators use clear (structure), concise (eloquence), and correct (syntax) language. We at Amazon adhere to three principles of effective communication. We like to:

“Be brief, be bright, and be gone.”

This simple rule helps us become succinct and exact messengers. We do not just use words; we seek to apply the simplest and simultaneously best vocabulary. Amazonians use simple and understandable syntax, and aim to preserve our audience’s cognitive capacity for what really matters: the message. Clarity in communication represents the ease with which your audience can understand you; It means avoiding unintended ambiguity or confusing thought structure, yet utilizing coherent, intelligible meaning, as well as sharpness of image or idea.

This short article introduces a simple, yet powerful mechanism to improve your verbal and written communication.

During my career as Amazonian I established a trivial guideline in realization of above principle. Imagine two coexistent dimensions. First, the analogy of a simple traffic light. Be reminded of the approximate time it takes for the light signal to switch from one to the other color. Now think of a second dimension: a situation where you either respond to a question or give a remark.

Remember your recent experience. How often have you come to spend more time responding to a question than originally intended. This is, in many cases, because you felt compelled to enrich your response with additional information. As you descended into the appendix of your original, often times very much satisfying statement, you, according to our traffic light analogy, have started to depart the green light zone of your remarks. You entered yellow light, spending time on semi-relevant thoughts. This is until you realized that you indeed have left your original track of thought. Now comes the u-turn. To save the situation and reemphasized on your actual answer/statement, you returned to the original line of thought and repeat. As you repeated, you unintentionally entered the red light zone. In conclusion, you have most likely spent 3-times more on your answer/statement than needed. In addition, your audience received unrequested information, and your initially impactful message suffered from dilution.

My learning: Think before you speak, focus on one thing at a time, and do not leave green light zone.

This simple traffic light rule has become the backbone of my definition of “be brief, be bright, be gone”. It helped me to become heavily sensitive to the essence of my message. I do not add for the sake of adding. I speak only if I know, and I admit if I don’t.