Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less

Like his fellow co-author Jim VandeHei, Allen was also a one-time political correspondent for The Washington Post, in addition to having the same role with TIME. Along with VandeHei, Allen co-founded Politico and Axios. Allen’s found great success with writing newsletters that eventually morphed into the Politico Playbook, which became widely read in Washington political circles. The New York Times Magazine, in 2010, referred to Allen as “The Man the White House Wakes Up To” (108), and former US president Barack Obama’s communications director Dan Pfeiffer hailed Allen in the Times as the “‘the most powerful’ and ‘important’ journalist in Washington” (108). According to Leading Authorities, Inc., “[i]n 2006, Allen joined POLITICO and sought to carve out a niche in the marketplace by focusing on giving readers one solid take-away from select stories” (“Mike Allen.” Leading Authorities, Inc., 2023). This strategy is prominent and traceable in Smart Brevity.

Whereas VandeHei and Allen were journalists prior to the founding of Politico and Axios, Schwartz was a businessman. Prior to joining forces with his two partners, Schwartz was a consultant with the polling firm Gallup. His business acumen enabled the two start-up companies to generate large profits and establish a prominent reputation. In Smart Brevity, Schwartz is especially prominent in the chapter that discusses applying the concepts of the strategy to workplace culture and hiring practices. Schwartz had learned later in life that he was dyslexic, and the book argues that its strategy of the straightforward, direct writing style is naturally inclusive, making it accessible to people of all ability levels and backgrounds.

Initiated in 2017, Axios is the second news start-up founded by Vandehei and Allen, this time with the addition of Roy Schwartz to the team. The origin of the idea for the company is discussed in the book as the authors explain how they sought to modify their approach to news that had begun at Politico, specifically with regard to Allen’s popular newsletter: “When we started cooking up Axios, Jim had the idea of imposing a discipline on it—just 10 items, numbered, to give a sense of what mattered as you started your day” (109). The company’s mission statement, which can be found on its primary website, states, “We launched Axios in January 2017 based on this shared belief: The world needed smarter, more efficient coverage of the topics shaping the fast-changing world. We pledged to put our audience first, always” (“Manifesto, 2021 and Beyond.” Axios, 2021).

In the years since it was founded, Axios has branched out into other media forms including television. In 2018, the company developed a series for HBO. The company has also sought to invest more in local news coverage since its inception. Axios offers an artificial intelligence-generated software that aims to help users apply the principles of smart brevity discussed at length in the book. Lastly, Axios has modified their mission: “Now, we are focusing our minds and manpower on a much bigger problem faced by all consumers: the erosion of truth, trust, safety and sanity in news. This is an existential threat to our democracy. It will require extraordinary effort by us and others to correct” (“Manifesto, 2021 and Beyond”).