Whether written or spoken, this week’s word involves brevity and clarity. The ability to speak or write succinctly is learned, yet challenging.

Students often express a love for essay questions because of the opportunity to write enough “fluff” to possibly get the right answer. Sadly, our approach to leadership can be the same.

Uncertainty and a lack of clarity is often the result of focusing on the minutia of the trivial and an unwillingness to be direct. When we finish, no one seems to know what was communicated.

Here are a few suggestions to strengthen our succinctness in communication.

Think deeply. We are masters at allowing our words to flow with nothing to stop the thought developed in the mind and the formation on the tongue.

Write it down. This applies to written communication, but how beneficial would it be to write down our thoughts before we say them?

Edit. If there was ever a key word to succinct communication, this is it. Good communication is the result of writing and rewriting and rewriting until we are succinct.

These ideas lay the foundation for a key component to our leadership.