How to be concise

The truth about why it’s so hard to be concise, and 9 tactics I use to tighten my communication

👋 Hey, it’s Wes. Welcome to my weekly newsletter on managing up, career growth, and standing out as a high-performer.

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In this week’s newsletter, you’ll learn why being concise doesn’t mean skipping details or jumping in with zero context. Here’s what it actually means—and how to do it.

• Part I: Common misunderstandings

• Part II: The real reason why it’s so hard to be concise

• Part III: Ways to be more concise

Read time: 11 minutes

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Almost every operator I know wants to be more concise.

At first glance, it seems simple enough. Speak a little shorter and write fewer words, right?

This begs the question:

If it’s so simple, why aren’t all of us already concise?

I’m not naturally a concise person. I’ve worked with colleagues who were much more naturally succinct. When I asked them for tips on how to be more concise though, they couldn’t explain it—they’ve never been any other way.

For me, it’s a skill I’ve had to hone through active practice and experimentation over the years. While I wouldn’t say it’s my #1 strength, I’ve improved a lot and reaped the benefits in my work.

Here’s what’s worked for me. Let’s dive in.

Part I: Common misunderstandings

First, the idea of being concise is often misunderstood, so I want to share my perspective on what it means.

1. Concise does not mean short.

I am painfully aware that this topic attracts attention. (It’s like writing a book about how to be funny. Inevitably, someone won’t laugh at your jokes and will say you’re in no position to write about how to be funny.)

I can already hear folks saying, “Wes, it’s ironic that you wrote an essay that takes X minutes to read, and it’s about being concise. Shouldn’t it be a 1-2 minute read?”

If long-form isn’t for you, that’s cool.

But don’t conflate concision with word count. Being concise is about using an economy of words. It’s maximizing your word “real estate.” It’s about density, not absolute length.

You can have a 1,500-word memo that’s concise. You can have a 150-word memo that’s fluffy and meandering.

2. “It’s not concise enough” is not an excuse to avoid engaging with difficult problems.

It’s a pet peeve of mine when people refuse to engage with anything longer than a few sentences (or god forbid, a few paragraphs) because “you should be more concise.” When you ask for feedback, they say “make it more concise” as if they dropped a rare gem of wisdom. 

If you start sharing (necessary) details, they stop you and ask you to explain in a shorter way. They act like you're long-winded, when in reality, the nature of the situation is complex and those details add valuable context.

3. Some ideas can’t be reduced any further.

You know how in math class, you learned to reduce fractions?

You can reduce 22/64 into 11/32. But you can’t reduce 11/32 further even though the number feels kind of big.

It’s the same with ideas. When you try to simplify a topic BEYOND how much it can be simplified, you get into the territory of misrepresenting an idea.

If you write a memo that’s short, but you left out crucial information… This could do harm and lead to poor decision-making.

4. Being concise is a means to an end, not an end in itself.

Your goal is to be effective, so you should use as many words as necessary—no more, no less. If you use too few words, you might sacrifice clarity and persuasiveness.

Paul Graham has essays that are 500 words and some that are 3,000+ words. One of his recent essays is 10,455 words.

Is he “not concise” all of a sudden? I'm not saying you should write essays in Slack. But there’s nothing inherently wrong with a “longer” message, as long as it’s clear, value-add, and necessary.

Focus on being effective. Focus on reducing cognitive load. That’s more important than being short for the sake of it.

Part II: The real reason why it’s so hard to be concise

Alright, now that we are aligned on the premise, I want to discuss advice you’ve probably heard before, like “bottom line up front,” “don’t bury the lede,” and “cut to the chase.”

For years, I tried to take this advice but found it very hard to implement.

Until one day, I realized…

Most of the advice about being concise required one underlying component that wasn’t talked about: clear thinking.

I’ve come to believe that clear thinking is the hard part—it’s the bottleneck to being concise. If you don’t first clarify your ideas, you can’t communicate those ideas concisely.

For example, the common advice below doesn’t highlight the prerequisite of developing a clear understanding of what you want to say.

• Bottom line up front (BLUF): To put the bottom line up front, you have to develop a perspective about what the bottom line is.

• Don’t bury the lede: You might have multiple potential ledes. Deciding the lede requires making a choice, and only then can you start with that.

• Cut to the chase: What is your most important point? It’s not always obvious. It requires you to think about a few variables: who are you presenting to, how much do they already know, what’s the purpose of this meeting, etc. When you assert those things, then you can cut to the chase.

I believe if we acknowledge the real bottleneck to being concise, it’ll help us be more concise. It’s not necessarily about more tactics. It’s about realizing we may need to take a moment to figure out what we think.

You may be able to share your ideas, yes, but it doesn’t come out clean. It’s not crisp. 

This is completely normal. Ideas are often messy because you’re still working through what you believe. When you’re in this phase, be patient with yourself. Find a coworker who you can bounce ideas off of. Write your ideas—the act of writing is a forcing function to help you both clarify what you think and generate new, better ideas.

Over time, if you practice the principles below, you can improve how to quickly think on your feet and be concise.

Part III: Ways to be more concise

If you want to think clearly, and therefore communicate concisely, you will likely need to prepare. The higher the stakes, the more you may want to do so.

1. Figure out your main point.

“Figuring out your main point” sounds like one step, but it’s actually multiple steps:

1. Process the information

2. Make sense of it

3. Decide what’s important

4. Organize it

5. Say it out loud

It’s hard to do all these cognitive steps simultaneously.

This is why it’s so easy to start rambling: When we speak in a stream of consciousness, there is no information hierarchy, no prioritization (yet)—you’re saying everything as you think of it, with equal weighting.

Now, it’s possible to do all the steps above in succession relatively quickly, depending on how familiar you are with your topic.

If it’s something you’ve explained many times, you’ve already done the work of processing the information—so it’s easier to share concisely. If it’s something new, you might want to take a few seconds to gather your thoughts.

It’s unglamorous. It’s not a shortcut. But it’s what I’ve found consistently works.

Realistically, you might have back-to-back meetings, so “preparation” is more about taking a moment to be center yourself, rather than spending a certain amount of time.

Even a few seconds of preparation can make a positive difference. Ask yourself:

• What do you want to get out of this meeting? 

• What is the most important thing to share?

• What action do you need folks to take?

2. Try to state your main point in 2-3 sentences.

If you aim for one sentence, you’ll have analysis paralysis figuring out THE perfect sentence.

If you aim for ten sentences, it could easily turn into a monologue and spiral out of control.

If you aim for 2-3 sentences, it forces you to state your high-level thesis and what you need from the other person. The point is not to capture everything. The point is to frame the conversation upfront, which “buys you time” with your audience.

• Your audience can relax knowing where you’re taking them

• They can confirm if this is the right time/place to have this conversation

• They can easily focus on the context you share thereafter

When in doubt, ask yourself: How can I explain this in 2-3 sentences? You might end up saying 5-6 sentences, but it’s still better than if you weren’t aiming for something shorter at all.

3. Avoid explaining events chronologically.

We experience events in chronological order, but explaining what happened this way can be confusing for your recipient.

🚫 “Well this happened, then this other thing, and here’s the process of what I did for that. Oh yeah, then this thing but that’s not important, this important thing that’s completely buried, and then this other thing, and…”

✅ “Here’s the important thing I want to discuss. Here's what I need from you. Here are a few sentences about the situation, with the option to elaborate if needed.”

When you say your punchline upfront, you will instantly seem more competent, strategic, and organized. Try to keep the backstory short, and skip the play-by-play of what you did at each step (you can always share this if you're asked about it).

4. Constantly remind yourself to shorten your delivery.

Most of us start with good intentions of being concise. But then you start talking. And before you know it, you’re a few tangents deep and you’ve lost your way.

This is common. It’s why I find it helpful to develop an always-on filter humming in the background as a meta voice that’s hearing yourself talk. That meta voice is asking:

• Is this the shortest way you can explain this?

• Is this backstory REALLY necessary?  

• What are you really trying to say? Can you just say that?

• Should I get back to my main point?

More on aiming for the minimum viable backstory.

5. Exercise situational awareness.

People who speak in giant run-on sentences seem more junior. Imagine a leader you admire—they probably don’t sound rushed. They breathe in between talking. 

It’s hard to stop when you’re on a roll, but try to give people an opportunity to jump in.

• Notice if people are starting to lose interest. Don’t ignore those clues and continue powering through. If they aren’t listening anymore, you’re wasting your breath anyway.

• Pause sooner than you think and give the other person a chance to respond, so you can evaluate if they’re following along.

• Look for a natural stopping point to wrap up. You need to think about how to end gracefully, so you can head in that direction while you’re still talking. It only takes a split second and helps you sound more authoritative.

6. Don’t be too concise.

There is such a thing as being too concise. You might think, “If I’m too concise, my audience can just ask me questions right?”

Yes and no. Here’s an excerpt from my post on how to explain your ideas better:

There is some information you should volunteer without being asked.

Do not force other people to do the heavy lifting to draw basic information out of you piece by piece. This is lazy and irresponsible. Especially because the alternative is doable, simple, and relatively fast.

Even if you explain well, folks will still have questions because (a) you probably didn’t explain as well as you think and (b) they’ll bring up aspects you didn’t cover. When you cover the basics, you’re setting them up to ask better, more advanced questions.

Don’t leave out crucial information because you were trying to be concise. That’s winning the battle but losing the war. 

7. For written communication, use “main point above, context below.”

A common question I get is, “How can I be concise if the details actually matter? Do I just not share those details? That feels irresponsible.” 

Sometimes the context and explanation is just as important as whatever your bottom line is. This is why I love the framework I call “main point above, context below.” It’s a riff on the military framework BLUF (bottom line up front).

When you separate the main point from your context, you allow your reader to immediately understand your point, then get more details.

You give your reader agency because they can read as much or as little of the context as they need.

🚫 [Actions, backstory, and context jumbled together]

✅ [Main point above, context below]

8. For longer verbal communication, use signposting.

In a written medium like Slack or email, you have time to edit. But in a live conversation, it’s all happening in real-time.

In writing, your audience can skim at their own pace, reread anything that requires a second look, and see the overall structure of the page to understand what’s to come.

In verbal communication, though, your audience is limited by your pacing and what you reveal line by line. This is why it’s helpful to frame the conversation upfront—tell them where you’re taking them.

Examples of signposting when you speak:

“For context, we left off last week with [the problem the team was facing]. So I took a stab at solving these issues, and today I will review the changes I made.”

“The part that’s most important to point out is…”

“First, I’ll give a quick high-level view of the three major changes, then I’ll highlight specific in-product copy changes that I believe make the experience more intuitive.”

More on signposting and emotional signposting.

9. Offer to elaborate.

Don’t just say, “I can elaborate on anything.”

That puts the mental load on the other person to come up with good questions. If you’re the project owner and closest to the issue, you should proactively assert what to share.

🚫 “Let me know what you want to know.”

✅ “I can elaborate more on a few areas: For example, the other options I looked at, including (a) if we optimized for speed and could get this done in a week, (b) cheaper/more expensive options that I thought weren’t worth it, and (c) looking ahead a few steps, the risks I foresee and how I’m planning to derisk.”

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The goal of being concise is to create understanding as quickly and easily as possible. Therefore, simply being succinct isn’t enough. You must also be clear, compelling, and coherent too.

It’s usually much easier to identify ways other people can be more concise than to catch it for yourself. When I coach my clients, I interrupt them and point out where they could have been more concise, then have them rephrase what they said to make it more concise. We drill, and it can take several attempts.

If you’re trying this yourself, I recommend saying different versions of the same thing in increasingly more concise ways. See how far you can push yourself.

What’s making you think differently? What are you most excited to try? Hit reply because I’d love to hear from you.

Thanks for being here, and I’ll see you next Wednesday at 8am ET.

Wes

PS Here are more ways to connect:

1. Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn for insights during the week (free).

2. Check my availability to do a keynote talk for your team.

3. Work with me for 1:1 executive coaching. I find it extremely rewarding to give personalized guidance to ambitious operators. My current clients include leaders at startups funded by Sequoia, Accel, Bessemer, SV Angel, Kleiner Perkins, etc.