Mindmap-Book: Brief

Mindmap-Book: Brief

• Cover/1
• Title Page/5
• Copyright/6
• Contents/9
• Foreword/15
• Acknowledgments/17
• Preface/19
• Part One Awareness: Heightened Awareness wareness in a World Begging for BRIEF/25,
  • Chapter 1 Why Brevity Is Vital/27
    • Get to the Point or Pay the Price/27
    • Executive—Interrupted/29
    • Who’s Responsible for Adapting When the Message Is Not Being Heard?/33
    • Timing Is of the Essence/33
    • BRIEF Balance: The Harmony of Clear, Concise, and Compelling/34
    • A BRIEF Timeout/35
  • Chapter 2 Mindful of Mind-filled-ness/37
    • Brevity Is Like an Instant Stress Release/37
    • Battling Overcapacity/38
    • 1. Information Inundation—The Water’s Rising/39
    • 2. Inattention—The Muscle Is Weakening/41
    • 3. Interruption—The Rate Is Alarming/43
    • 4. Impatience—The Ice Is Thinning/45
    • What Does It All Mean?/46
    • Your New Reality: There’s No Time for a Slow Buildup/46
    • Test Yourself/48
    • Examination of Brevity/48
    • A New Professional Standard/49
  • Chapter 3 Why You Struggle with Brevity: The Seven Capital Sins/51
    • Why Is It So Difficult?/51
    • 1. Cowardice/52
    • 2. Confidence/53
    • 3. Callousness/53
    • 4. Comfort/54
    • 5. Confusion/55
    • 6. Complication/55
    • 7. Carelessness/56
  • Chapter 4 The Big Bang of Brevity/59,
    • A Success Story/59
• Part Two Discipline: How to Gain Discipline to Be Clear and Concise/65,
  • Chapter 5 Mental Muscle Memory to Master Brevity/67,
    • The Exercise of Brevity/67
  • Chapter 6 Map It: From Mind Mapping to BRIEF Maps/69,
    • Your 11th Grade English Teacher Was Right/69
    • An Outline Is Missing, and So Is the Sale/71
    • Mind Mapping and the Modern Outline/73
    • BRIEF Maps: A Practical Tool for Delivering Brevity/75
    • How a BRIEF Map Can Be Used/76
    • Wrong Approach: Bob Chooses to Share but Not to Prepare/76
    • Right Approach: Bob Prepares a BRIEF Map and Maintains Executive Support/77
    • BRIEF Maps: What’s the Payoff?/81
  • Chapter 7 Tell It: The Role of Narratives/83,
    • I’m Tired of Meaningless and Meandering Corporate Jargon. I’m Ready for a Good Story/83
    • Where’s the Disconnect? When a Story Is Missing/86
    • The Birth of Narrative Mapping: A Way to Organize and Deliver Your Story/88
    • Rediscovery of Narratives and Storytelling: Breaking through the Blah, Blah, Blah/90
    • Listen, I’m Ready for a Story/91
    • Think About Your Audience: Journalism 2.0 and the Elements of a Narrative/93
    • Narrative Map (De)constructed/99
    • Seeing and Hearing Is Believing: The Story of the Evolution of Commerce/100
  • Chapter 8 Talk It: Controlled Conversations and TALC Tracks/105,
    • Risky Business Trip/106
    • Controlled Conversations Are a Game of Tennis, Not Golf/108
    • TALC Tracks—A Structure for Balance and Brevity/108
    • Be Prepared for Anything/110
    • Audience, Audience, Audience/112
  • Chapter 9 Show It: Powerful Ways to Make a Picture Exceed a Thousand Words/115,
    • Show-and-Tell: Which Would You Choose?/115
    • You Can See the Shift/116
    • Seeing Supersedes Reading/117
    • A Visual Language/118
    • Connect an Image with Your Story/120
    • Momentary Magic: Infographics in Business/121
    • Breakdown of Complex Information/122
    • The Age of YouTube and Business/123
    • TL; DR: Too Long; Didn’t Read/125
  • Chapter 10 Putting Brevity to Work: Grainger and the Al and Betty Story/129
• Part Three Decisiveness: Gaining the Decisiveness to Know When and Where to Be Brief/135,
  • Chapter 11 Meeting You Halfway/137,
    • Defeat the Villains of Meetings/137
    • Meeting Villain #1: Time/138
    • Meeting Villain #2: Type/139
    • Meeting Villain #3: Tyrants/140
    • Change the Format and Tone—Make It a Conversation/142
    • Put BRIEF Back into a Briefing/143
  • Chapter 12 Leaving a Smaller Digital Imprint/147,
    • The Digital Flood/147
    • BRIEF Hall of Fame: Verne Harnish/150
    • From Social Media to Venture Capital/152
    • Social Media Squeeze/154
  • Chapter 13 Presenting a Briefer Case/157,
    • Practicing What You Preach/157
    • The Discipline of Brevity/158
    • Putting the Power Back in PowerPoint/162
    • Training as a TED Talk/163
  • Chapter 14 Trimming Your Sales (Pitch)/167,
    • Shut Up and Sell/167
    • Billboard on a Bumper Sticker/168
    • Time to Be Convincing and Concise/170
    • Cut to the Customer’s Chase/173
  • Chapter 15 Whose Bright Idea Was That Anyway?/177,
    • Your Big Idea/177
    • A Mission-Critical Narrative/178
    • Clear Picture with Radical Focus/181
    • The Entrepreneur’s Dilemma: Mixed Messages/182
    • Tailor Your Pitch to Your Investor’s Needs/185
  • Chapter 16 It’s Never Really Small Talk/189,
    • Brevity as a Conversational Life Raft/189
    • Momentary Misgivings Stall Momentum/190
    • Walk the Walk; Talk the Talk/192
  • Chapter 17 Help Wanted: Master of Brevity/197,
    • Not the Time for Anxious Rambling/197
    • Let Others Lead the Conversation/199
    • Talking Your Way out of a Job Offer/201
  • Chapter 18 I’ve Got Some Good News/207,
    • Pay the Favor of Brevity Forward/207
    • Let the Brilliance Shine Through/208
    • Speak the Language of Success/210
    • Get into the Habit of Saying, “Thank You”/211
  • Chapter 19 And the Bad News Is…/213,
    • The Bright (and Brief) Side of Bearing Bad News/213
    • Give It to Them Straight/214
    • Serving up the S#&$ Sandwich/216
  • Chapter 20 Got-a-Minute Updates/221,
    • The “Say-Do” Ratio/221
    • Be Prepared to Be Lean and Drive Out Wasteful Words/223
    • The Most Important Question: Why Am I Here?/228
• Resources/243
• Part Four Being BRIEF Summary and Action Plan/231
• Notes/245
• About the Author/249
• Index/251