One Minute Message
Making sense of complex communication begins by finding the message underneath the noise.
We communicate all day.
We write emails. Give instructions. Present proposals. Lead meetings. Explain decisions. Write reports. Have difficult conversations.
And yet, remarkably often, the person on the receiving end is still left wondering: What exactly are you trying to tell me?
That question sits at the heart of my work.
Over years of working with communication, I developed a simple way of getting to the core of a message before deciding how best to communicate it.
I call it the One Minute Message.
The principle is simple: If you had only one minute, what would someone absolutely need to understand? Not everything you know. Not everything you could say. Just the core message.
Before you communicate, get clear.
What is this really about? What is the one thing you need to say?
Why does it matter? Information only becomes meaningful when people understand its relevance.
What must happen next? Good communication creates a reaction.
The One Minute Message began as a practical communication tool, but over time it became the foundation of how I approach communication.
I use the same thinking when I help an executive prepare an important presentation, work through a difficult conversation, structure a report, clarify a strategy, develop a message, or decide what belongs on a website.
The format changes. The question doesn't:
What are we really trying to say?
