Say it in Ten Words or Less. Or Else!
“Remember that 10 words is not a speech. It is a statement!” said East Bay Business Times Publisher Mike Consol. Over a thousand businesspeople had gathered in San Francisco Hilton’s grand ballroom for the presentation of the 2008 list of the 100 Best Places to Work in the Bay Area.
“You get 10 words…Or Less!” Consol prepped the winners in the audience for their moment on stage and urged them to start consolidating their ideas right away.
Realizing that they had to create a “corporate haiku” on the spot, the audience reacted audibly.
An unexpected exercise in Zen brevity– great idea! My takeaways:
1) Simplicity is Hard – Condensing thoughts in 10 words or less – not easy. But it makes you think carefully about what’s important. It’s like packing a small suitcase full of words for a long journey.
2) Information Intolerance – In an information-overloaded world, Consol didn’t need to enforce his challenge. The crowd was more than happy to do it for him. When Meebo ventured into the 20 to 30-word range, they were sadly booed off the stage.
3) Expose the Essence – Strip people down to ten words and you learn a lot about them. Companies broke down this way:
- The Quitters –Gave up on Consol’s challenge by stepping up to the podium with a disappointing and ho-hum “Thank you” or worse just plain “Thanks!”
- The Marketers – Seized the opportunity with a hard-hitting marketing pitch. They made each of the ten (or in some case 12 or 13 words) sell sell sell, as in “Buy Real Estate in Marin County —NOW!”
- The Buzzword Lovers – Made dramatic statements with 3-second pauses between each of the words: “Respect. Teamwork. Balance…”
- The Recruiters – Smiled, simply took their trophies, and said “We’re Hiring.”
- The Chatterboxes – Ten words and then some.
In my estimation, the best speeches were those that conveyed their company’s brand without being offensive. They respected the 10-word limit but tried to stretch its creative possibilities.
There were 125 rankings, and I was happy to report to Bill that Fenwick & West earned a 5th place ranking, making it the top ranked law firm. This was a great honor: 506 nominated, and 193,881 employees surveyed in 12 bay area counties. Managing Partner Kate Fritz, along with 12 Fenwick & West employees, accepted the award. Fritz’s statement came in at half the 10-word limit!
“It’s all about the people!”
-Drue Kataoka
To remind ourselves of the value of succinct brevity is important in a culture, which admires verbosity and speed of delivery. Often comedians bank exactly on these: like William Robbins and Jim Carey, whom I don’t find funny at all. But try to be simple and word-sparing in a job interview, and most likely you won’t work in those best companies to work in! What is good for individuals in their private arena, may not be so good and applicable in social situations.