1, #104 - Brevity is confidence. Length is fear.

Estimated Read Time: 42 seconds.

What’s your favorite piece of practical advice for communicating at work?

I recently came across a list of tips that apparently come from an internal writing guide at Amazon. This one particularly stood out:

If you get a question, reply with one of four Amazon answers:

1. Yes

2. No

3. A number

4. I don’t know (but will follow up when I do)

Now… not every question can be answered that way.

“How was the call?”

“Why are we doing this project?”

“What’s your favorite piece of practical advice for communicating at work?”

But I like the tip because, even when we do get direct questions, we often don’t give direct answers.

Why?

My guess: Caveats are comforting.

As the founders of Axios have put it: “Brevity is confidence. Length is fear.”

So, let me ask you: Where can you be more confidently concise?

(If you don’t know, please follow up with me when you do.)

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Insight inspired by: Former Amazon employee,

Danny Sheridan

, who first introduced these tips to The Internet, via his blog. Plus, Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen, and Roy Schwartz, who have been inspiring me since way back in 1, #8!