Mic Check Vol. 23: Honestly, the TikTokers are on to something

Why recording yourself might be the best way to become a better storyteller.

If you’re a leader, you’ve probably thought about how to hold your team to a higher bar at least once this month. The bar is usually related to measurable performance.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about a different kind of bar: the concision bar.

We live in an age where everyone is competing for attention. The macro effects of this are evident even in our meetings—if we don’t make our point quickly, we lose our audience.

We think about this a lot as leaders in the context of our own performance. The truth is, though, members of high-performing teams must all be effective communicators—not just the leaders. But feedback around concision and communication style can be really difficult to deliver well.

Most of us have a pretty good radar for when we’re rambling. But many of us lack the tools needed to right the ship. One simple thing we can do as leaders when someone on our team has lost the plot is, when they’re finished, ask:

“Can you summarize that for me so I can be sure I understand?”

I don’t know about you, but I’m always grateful for the chance (and the gentle prod) to try again—this time, with more concision.

Happy weekend,

Raman

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📚 What’s made me a better storyteller this week

James brought the ROI Report to life in this week’s Rhetoric Talk. The report is incredibly data-rich, but James’ thesis is clear: investing in POC and women founders pays off for investors.

Evelina is an information designer (sweet title) who writes the biweekly newsletter, The Plot. Last month she shared five ways to hook your audience in the first 30 seconds of your data story, and I’ve come back to this list at least a half dozen times. Highly recommend the bookmark.

WTF is happening with Carvana? Perhaps the best way to understand the data is through this journalist’s experience: The firm that bought my car for more than I paid new has lost 98 percent of its value.

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✨ What I’m trying next week

You know those ~5-10 minutes before your next call that are usually a productivity dead zone? When you’re too focused on the last thing you were doing to really prep for your next call, but also too eager for the next call to start anything new?

For calls that require me to hook my audience—get them excited about a problem, bought in on a solution, or aligned on a path forward—I’ve started recording a practice run. Nerdy? Yes. Helpful? Also yes. I just pop my phone up, hit record, and see how much fat I can trim off of the core idea I’m sharing. Try it out just once—trust me.