Smart Brevity
Episodes about this book
5 episodesAxios And The Art Of Simplification With Roy Schwartz - TWMJ #1055
Roy Schwartz, co-author and episode guest, describes Smart Brevity, which he wrote with Axios co-founders Jim Vande Hei and Mike Allen. He says it sold about half a million copies and covers how to communicate more effectively. He notes the approach has become "almost cult-like" in some organizations, where employees hand it to new hires, edit each other's writing toward maximum concision, and adopt its framework as a shared communication standard.
News Media in an AI World | Interview: Jim VandeHei
Jim VandeHei references Smart Brevity, his earlier book with Mike Allen and Roy Schwartz, as the origin of the simplification philosophy that Simplify extends. He notes it taught efficient communication, became a bestseller, and continues to sell around a thousand copies a week. He also recalls that critics worried it would strip away complexity, a charge he rejects, arguing that distilling things to their essence demands more rigorous thought.
Axios Founders Mike Allen & Jim VandeHei: The Case for Simplifying Everything
Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei discuss their previous book Smart Brevity as the precursor to Simplify. They describe it as teaching efficient communication, note it sold 600,000 copies and still sells roughly 1,000 copies a week, and explain its core idea as doing the editorial work for the reader. Allen recounts that law firms and scientists were especially drawn to it as a tactful way to nudge colleagues toward clearer, more concise writing.
Simplify: Doing What Actually Matters with Axios co-founder Mike Allen
Mike Allen describes Smart Brevity, his earlier co-written book with Jim VandeHei and Roy Schwartz, reporting 500,000 copies sold and continuing sales of 1,000 per week. He explains its core argument that anyone becomes more effective by identifying one key point, using plain human language, and stopping there. He presents Smart Brevity as the communication layer that Simplify now extends to all of life and work.
Episode 32 - Mike Allen: “Welcome to the NFL”
The host asks how Simplify differs from Smart Brevity, treating it as a prior comparable work. Mike Allen explains that the premise is the same — doing the work for the reader — but Simplify extends that philosophy from journalism to every area of life and work. He describes Smart Brevity as the "germ of simplify" and attributes it to Axios as an institutional idea.
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All summaries are AI generated based on the original transcript.