Clarity isn’t just a communication skill—it’s a virtue. Clarity also delivers tremendous value to your audience.
Clarity means being clear, distinct, and easily understood. It’s the ability to think sharply, identify what matters, and convey information so that others can quickly grasp it and act on it.
Clarity also acts as a filter: it forces us to strip away the noise, cut through the clutter and focus on the essentials. Clarity rejects anything that distracts from your core message.
When we communicate with clarity, we build trust. We inspire confidence and make life easier for everyone.
Plain English: A Timeless Approach
The Plain English Campaign has championed this cause for decades. Since 1979, they’ve advocated for clear, simple language—especially in business, government, and legal communication.
Their A to Z of Alternative Words is an invaluable resource for anyone seeking to simplify their writing. It offers practical suggestions like using:
- “start” instead of “commence.”
- “use” instead of “utilize.”
- “alternatively” instead of “on the other hand.”
The principle is simple: If your reader (or listener) must work to understand you, you’ve fallen short because they won’t.
Rule 1. Respect Your Audience
I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.
– Mark Twain, celebrated American writer, humorist, and essayist
It’s easier to ramble than to distill. It’s easier to add than to subtract. Easier isn’t always better.
Making time to be clear, brief, and meaningful shows respect for your audience. It signals that you value their time and attention. It also demonstrates that you’ve done the hard work, so they don’t have to.
If you feel too rushed to craft clear communication, it may be a sign you need to rethink how you’re spending your time. You might enjoy my post on Develop Your Personal System for Getting $h*t Done. It’s packed with tips for reclaiming your focus and investing your energy where it matters most.
Because clarity isn’t just about style—it’s about priorities.
Why Use Two Words When One Will Do?
One of the easiest ways to improve clarity is to avoid wordy phrases when a single, simpler word will do.
For example:
- Use “before” instead of “prior to.”
- Use “help” instead of “make possible” or “provide assistance.”
- Use “against” or “despite” instead of “contrary to.”
While descriptive language adds color and depth (especially in fiction), wordiness slows the reader down.
Today, people are so busy that they rarely read. They scan. They, like you and me, value simplicity because it saves time.
The goal isn’t to dumb things down and sound less intelligent—it’s to be more accessible, more respectful, and more effective. It’s amazing how a few words paired with an intentional pause when speaking adds impact.
Save More Words. Use Active Voice.
If you want to increase clarity and impact, use active voice whenever possible. Active voice puts the subject first, making sentences more direct, energetic, and often shorter. Passive voice tends to be wordy, vague, and harder to follow.
Here’s an example:
|
BEFORE – Passive Voice |
AFTER – Active Voice |
|
The report was written by the communications team. |
The communications team wrote the report. |
The active version is:
- Clearer (you immediately know who did what).
- Shorter (six words instead of eight).
- More engaging (stronger action feels more natural).
Active voice respects the reader’s time. It removes confusion about who’s responsible. And it naturally helps you cut unnecessary words without losing meaning.
📚 Dig Deeper: Active vs. Passive Voice (Grammarly Guide)
The Power of Three
There’s a reason the number three shows up everywhere in great communication: it’s easy to remember, powerful, and persuasive.
We know from studies in neuroscience that our brains seek out patterns and naturally latch onto patterns of three. It’s why some of the world’s most memorable brands use three simple ideas to inspire and drive action:
- Nike: Just Do It.
- Skittles: Taste the Rainbow.
- Chick-fil-A: Eat More Chikin.
- Sky: Believe in Better.
Even when slogans are longer, the structure often follows the Rule of Three:
- Apple: Simple. Beautiful. Powerful.
- Subway: Eat Fresh. Live Green. Feel Good.
- U.S. Marine Corps: Honor. Courage. Commitment.
The Power of Three creates rhythm. It builds momentum. It’s one reason why messages stick. If you want your communication to be clear, memorable, and motivating—think in threes.
📚 Dig Deeper: A Quantum Physicist Recommends The ‘Rule of Three’ To Simplify Complex Ideas (Forbes)
Smart Brevity: Clarity for a Modern Age
More recently, the team at Axios introduced the concept of Smart Brevity—a structured approach to clear, impactful communication in an age of information overload.
Smart Brevity encourages communicators to:
- Respect the reader’s limited time and attention.
- Lead with the most important point.
- Use clear, direct language.
- Break information into digestible parts.
While these concepts aren’t new, the way Axios packaged and delivered them is brilliant.
Tactics to Cut through the Clutter
While at Cox Communications, I led an effort to create a writer’s style guide that contained recommendations, including:
Chunk your content in a way that’s easy to digest:
- Use sub-headings when you want to section your article into several different parts.
- Create space by adding space between paragraphs. Spaces make your article easy to scan and the reader won’t feel overwhelmed.
- Use short phrases. Clear, short, and concise sentences are what everyone wants to read.
- Use bullet points or lists to make your content much easier for the reader to follow.
- Bold important keywords to draw attention to certain key points in your article.
Make hyperlinks meaningful
- Links should be short, but descriptive (fully explain their purpose).
- Don’t overdo it – ‘link to…’ is unnecessary.
- Provide useful information about the link – file format, size, popup, etc. (especially if the link downloads a large file, which may take some time).
- Dig Deeper: Improve Readers’ Experience with Clear Hyperlinks
When writing, remember…
- Be simple. Be concise. Be consistent. Be engaging. Use clear language.
- Always ask “will it be understood?”
- Ensure the benefit to the reader is clear.
- Empower people with information, never hide anything.
- Be playful and surprising.
- Be genuine.
- Be polite, but don’t be too formal.
- It must sound completely natural.
- Be understated yet confident.
- Use positive, action-oriented words (i.e., active voice)
- The company is “we” and the audience is always “you.”
- Use contractions.
Over a decade ago, while at Orange Business Services, I created “Communication Touch: A Better Way to Sell Your Project / Idea.”
Originally designed to help leaders communicate about a project or an idea that required support, the presentation advocated principles that are as effective today as they were then:
- Answer the key questions… before you begin.
- Tell stories, using a simple methodology.
- Create a powerful message, using memorable slides.
- Sound like a real person talking.
While many elements Axios promotes aren’t new or revolutionary, they deserve full credit for reintroducing and promoting concepts that increase clarity with impeccable timing—and packaging them in a way that’s gaining wide appeal.
Clarity: A Filter and a Leadership Skill
Clarity not only makes things easier to understand, it’s a skill that contributes to a leader’s effectiveness. It demonstrates respect. It shows that you’ve done the difficult work of thinking clearly so that others don’t have to struggle to understand.
If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.
– Albert Einstein, German-born mathematician and physicist
Clear communication isn’t about dumbing things down. It’s about lifting people up by making complex ideas accessible and actionable. Speaking of actionable…
AL’s Actionable Insights: 3 Ways to Communicate More Clearly
Want to put clarity into practice today? Start with these three simple and powerful actions:
1. Don’t Bury the Lede
State your main idea within the first sentence or two. Your audience should know straight away the point you’re making and why they should care
🎥 Dig Deeper: The Minto Pyramid Principle Explained with Examples (video)
2. Replace Jargon with Plain Language
Swap complex or technical terms with your weekend words. If you’re not sure, use resources like the A to Z of Alternative Words to find a simpler option. Also, if you must use an acronym, decode it and, if necessary, explain it the first time it’s used.
Trim ruthlessly. Aim to cut at least 10% of your words on the first edit. Fewer words, stronger impact. Admittedly, there’s an opportunity to trim more out of this article… and perhaps I will with another pass.
3. Respect Word Count as Much as Word Choice
Trim ruthlessly. Aim to cut at least 10% of your words on the first edit. Fewer words, stronger impact. Admittedly, there’s an opportunity to trim more out of this article… and perhaps I will with another pass.
📚 Dig Deeper: Smart Brevity 101 (Axios HQ)
Parting Thoughts
Every time you communicate—whether you’re writing a report, leading a meeting, or delivering a keynote—ask yourself:
- Is this clear?
- Is this focused?
- Is this helping my audience understand easily and act confidently?
Clarity isn’t just about getting your point across. It’s about making sure it lands—intact, understood, and ready to inspire action. And that, in today’s world, is more important than ever.
Inspire on!
