Want your words to make an impact? Write (or say it) short

Be honest. Do you read incoming emails that are longer than what you see on the screen?

Most of us scan and skim but may not read. We blame short attention spans, overwhelming information and lack of time.

So how can you convey “must read” information? The solution takes time but has a big payoff.

Remember Mark Twain’s comment? “I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one.” Indeed. It’s easier to ramble than to be a concise, clear, and compelling. But if you want people to read, you have to.

Our Executive MBA program asks participants to respond in short prose to very messy questions like: “How does your organization decide which markets to enter?”

The executives write “one-minute-briefs.” OMBs take a minute to read but much longer to write. They are single-spaced, 200-220 words in Times Roman, 12-point font. That’s about half a page, or what’s on your screen without scrolling.

Here’s the structure:

• Why this topic matters?

• What is it?

• So what? What happens now?

With practice, people get better and find a huge payoff: Others READ the email or the memo, or hear the “elevator pitch.” They take action.

Try it.

P.S. Note how I wrote this: why concise writing’s important; what is it — OMB content and structure; and the action: “Try it.”

P.P.S. I apologize that the above is longer than 220 words. It’s 235. Mark my grade down.

Nancy Napier is a distinguished professor emerita and coach for the executive MBA program in the College of Business and Economics at Boise State University in Idaho. nnapier@boisestate.edu. She is co-author of “The Bridge Generation of Vietnam: Spanning Wartime to Boomtime.”

This story was originally published November 30, 2023 at 4:00 AM.