#44: Keep It Brief: Conciseness Is an Essential Leadership Skill

Want your CEO to actually read your emails? Master the art of concise communication.

As a COO or second-in-command, you don’t have time for long-winded explanation, and neither does your CEO. In this episode of The Right-Hand Roadmap, Megan Long shares why brevity is an essential leadership skill in founder-led companies. You’ll hear real-life examples of communication failures and learn how to craft messages that get read (and acted on). If you’ve ever written a detailed email that went ignored, this episode is for you.

You'll hear all about:

• 00:28 – Why conciseness is a must-have leadership skill

• 00:40 – A real-world example: The director with PhD-level emails

• 01:36 – The manager whose messages were unreadable walls of text

• 02:32 – Have you ever written an email that was ignored? Here’s why.

• 02:53 – The #1 rule of communicating with CEOs: Get to the point

• 03:05 – The power of clarity: Trial lawyers and plain English

• 03:28 – How to write emails your CEO will actually read

• 03:35 – Start with an executive summary (2-4 sentences)

• 03:47 – Use bullet points for key facts

• 03:58 – Cut the fluff: Eliminate filler words and phrases

• 04:39 – The golden rule: Give CEOs access to supporting details, but don’t make them hunt for the key takeaways

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Links mentioned in the episode:

• Second First Membership
• Second First One-on-One Coaching
• Second First on Instagram
• Second First on LinkedIn
• Megan Long on LinkedIn