Say What You Need to Say

Smart Brevity by Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen, and Roy Schwartz is Holly Jergens’ first selection for the Lift & Learn Collective

The Lift & Learn Collective has its first book.

Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less, by Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen, and Roy Schwartz, makes a simple case: people are busy, attention is limited, and good communication respects both.

Say what you need to say.

You don’t sound smarter by using more words.

Holly Jergens, champion of the Lift & Learn initiative for TILT, selected the book after it landed on her own reading list at work. Leadership at her company asked the team to read it, with plans to come back together afterward and discuss what they took from it.

Her boss, who Jergens says has been described as direct—or sometimes blunt—put his approach to communication simply:

“I just need to know what you need me to know.”

That distinction between being brief and simply being blunt is part of what makes the book interesting. Smart Brevityargues that concise communication can still have personality, context, and humanity. The goal is not fewer words for the sake of fewer words. It is making the words that remain count.

The book itself practices what it preaches. It is quick, visual, and easy to move through. Short sections. Bullet points. Clear takeaways.

There’s even a chapter on emojis.

TILT board member Michael Frew’s reaction may have captured the appeal best:

“Pictures, bullet points—I’m in!”

Smart Brevity is Jergens’ first selection for the Lift & Learn Collective. Pick it up, see what you think, and bring your perspective to the conversation.

Join the Collective at links.tilt-up.org/liftandlearn, select Join the Community, and sign in with your existing TCA ID. Details on the discussion are coming soon.