Lean Messaging — How to craft clear and concise messages

I’ve sat in a room and watched this happen:

CEO: “Where are we on ________ project?”

CXO: “Well, we’re [long, fluffy explanation that sounds close but doesn’t match reality.]”

This kind of exchange happens more than you’d think.

Someone asks for an update. Because: coordination debt—the message didn’t get through. The project lead had spoken to the CXO days earlier—but she hadn’t distilled her update into a clear, condensed, and sticky message.

The result? When it mattered, the response was long-winded, half-right—and a missed opportunity.

Managers and executives—leaders—spend the bulk of their time doing two things: making choices and communicating them. Somewhat bizarrely, while the communication side of the job is as big— if not bigger—than the decision-making, leaders aren’t born communicators.

Friction in an organization is one part mixed messages, two parts noisy communication, and a dash of competing agendas.

Some have cracked the code.

Not everyone suffers from the pounding migraine of miscommunication.

Certain disciplines have mastered the art of lean messaging—putting words that are clear, condensed, and sticky in a useful order.

In moments that matter, the message lands.

Six-word stories.

Writers labor over six-word stories to create narratives with brutal efficiency. In six words, they are a piece of microfiction—capturing the imagination.

A satisfying six-word story suggests more than it tells, evoking emotion, tension, or curiosity. More than a short list of unrelated words, more than a tagline or phrase, they suggest a deeper story—a masterclass of minimal storytelling.

The classic For sale: baby shoes, never worn is often misattributed to Hemingway, although its original author is lost to us. They are complete implied stories.

Six-word stories master compression—saying more with less.

Headlines.

Journalists sharpen headlines to capture breaking news in a single phrase—short, attention-grabbing summaries designed to inform with accuracy.

A great headline isn’t vague or clickbait. It’s clear and factual, without exaggeration, distilling the essence of the news event.

Assassin Kills Kennedy: Lyndon Johnson Sworn In strips a world-shaking moment to its core, ensuring the audience instantly grasps the news.

Headlines deliver clarity—cutting through complexity with precision.

Loglines.

Screenwriters refine loglines to sell a movie in one sentence. They are a short summary of a film or TV show that captures the dynamics of the story, setting up the protagonist, goal, conflict and stakes.

A good logline is intriguing. It’s not a tagline or a complete plot summary. It’s just enough to give essential information and create a hook that sparks curiosity.

A small-town sheriff must stop a monstrous great white shark that is terrorizing a beach community before it kills again (Jaws); sets context: the hero, the villain, and the stakes.

Loglines prompt action—building urgency and motivation.

Equations and laws.

Scientists and engineers distill equations and laws that define how the world works. They are concise mathematical or verbal expressions that render a fundamental truth of the universe.

These equations and laws possess the same fundamentals. They are precise distillations of evidence and observation which can be applied specifically and universally.

Force equals mass times acceleration. That’s why a slap from slow-moving gorilla will hurt as much as being hit by a fastball. That’s not theory, philosophy, or hypothesis; it’s provable scientific fact.

Equations and laws define universal truth—simply expressing fundamental realities.

Rules of thumb.

Investors and strategists employ rules of thumb to simplify decision-making. They are simple, practical guidelines that pack wisdom and experience into general advice.

They’re not hard-and-fast rules—more direction than law. They’re also not infallible. There is always an exception to the rule. But they are useful: easy to remember and apply.

Applying sell what the market wants won’t give you a guaranteed outcome. Markets, businesses, and people are broadly predictable but singularly erratic. A rule of thumb is an imprecise doctrine, not a deeply technical strategy.

Rules of thumb offer practicality—guiding smart, everyday decision-making.

Soundbites.

Pundits and politicians pen soundbites to shape history and public opinion. They are rhythmic earworms; short, memorable phrases used in speeches, political messaging, or legal writing to succinctly capture a key idea.

Good ones are catchy, not cliché. They punch above their weight—sharp, repeatable, and built to last. A word steak, not a word salad.

I have a dream. Four short words that are emblematic of a vision for civil rights and a better future. That’s the power of a soundbite.

Soundbites create memorability—sticking in people’s minds.

Ahem.

If others do this, why does your executive summary weigh in at 800 words? Novelists can craft stories in just six.

Journalists can write headlines that inform millions, yet your strategy remains a mystery to most.

Screenwriters can pitch their product idea in one sentence. You struggle through a twenty-page deck.

Scientists and engineers distill universal truths. Your insights drown in a sea of noise.

Investors and strategists use quick rules of thumb to make billion-dollar decisions—while your team debates decision rights for weeks.

Pundits and politicians move people with soundbites. Your PowerPoint deck moves them to check email.

The answer is clear: small, sticky, frugal words.

Ideas compressed and condensed, not by font size, but by clarity. Simple rules. Hard-won experience. Practical wisdom—packed into a single sentence.

A focus line.

Something like:

Big ideas need small, sticky words.

I have taken over 800 words to get there. An idea I could have landed in six—shame on me.

Let’s check it.

It’s clear, like a headline. Sharp, like a soundbite. Compact, like a six-word story. Actionable, like a rule of thumb. Sets the stage, like a logline. Universal, like an equation or law.

So why aren’t you doing it?

You have big ideas. You have moments when you need to set context—to frame a discussion, a decision, or challenge.

You frame a narrative, controlling how the message lands, internally or externally. Once a decision is made, you must make it clear—aligning the team on the final call. You want to reinforce values or priorities. You want to drive urgency or execution.

As a leader, you must tell stories that share context. And you need to do all that in a nutshell.

You need a focus line.

Take what you know and compress it. Strip away all the big words and make it clear. Replace the sterile, corporate speak with appealing earworms. Use it to drive action. Make it repeatable to drive Message Discipline.

Turn what’s important into a focus line.

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