?? Master Mindful Communication: Unleash the Power of Smart Brevity & the Minto Pyramid! ??

Transform your communication skills by leveraging Smart Brevity and the Minto Pyramid for more digestible, engaging, and impactful communication! ??

?? Big picture takeaways:

1?? Use strong titles that convey your point

2?? Embrace concise, keep it simple, and to the point.

3?? Identifying your one big thing.

4?? Leverage signposts like "Why it matters" or "Going Deeper"

These communication styles are a gamer changer for me. I feel confident my points are getting across and information is being communicated. I bring the most relevant points to the top not buried in a giant paragraph. I use these concepts for emails, presentations, articles, and posts.

Going Deeper

Smart Brevity

Smart Brevity comes from a book called "Smart Brevity" written by Jim Vandehei, Mike Allen and Roy Schwartz. It is a great read, and they follow their own advice in the book. I find myself retyping an email to be more concise all the time now!

Smart Brevity concept emphasizes:

• Readers are investing time in your article, make it as valuable as possible in as little time as possible

?? Use short, simple but strong words. Keep it concise.

?? Use strong one-sentence summaries to get your one big idea across

?? Why it matters, an important section to give the reader a reason they should care

?? Use short, bolded signposts to make content easy to read for someone skimming.

• Use as few words as possible, then stop and reduce even more.

Minto Pyramid

The Minto Pyramid comes from Barbara Minto, a former McKinsey consultant and author of the book "The Minto Pyramid Principle: Logic in Writing, Thinking, and Problem Solving". I try to leverage bullet points for main ideas and then go deeper later in the communication.

The Minto Pyramid Principle helps to structure complex information in a clear, concise, and logical manner. By starting with the:

• Main idea
• Grouping and summarizing supporting ideas
• Have a hierarchy to your structure
• Maintaining logical coherence
• Keep it concise

My takeaway for you

I brought these two concepts together because of how closely they align. The idea that we want to consume information in a clear and to the point way. And I think both methods give us frameworks for making it happen. This has changed how I write emails and articles like this one. I hope it does for you as well.

Share your thoughts and experiences below! ?? And don't forget to repost if you found this helpful! ?? #Communication