Improving internal communication with Smart Brevity

Executive overview

Most organisations invest heavily in external communications but neglect internal ones — leading to misalignment, inbox overload, and wasted meeting time. Roy Schwartz and his co-founders learned this the hard way scaling Politico and Axios.

The fix is a structured weekly update discipline called Smart Brevity: short, hierarchical, personality-driven communication sent on a fixed cadence. It replaces scattered emails, surfaces misalignment early, and frees up one-on-ones for strategy instead of status updates.

The core insight: over-communication on mission and culture is almost impossible — under-communication is the default and the risk.

Why internal communication fails

• Leaders are taught spreadsheets and presentations, not how to write a staff-wide email
• Long-form writing habits from school (length, SAT words, buried leads) transfer badly to the workplace
• Most organisations talk about culture at all-hands, then assume it has sunk in — it rarely has
• Remote work removed the ambient alignment that in-person offices provided

The weekly update system

• Replace scattered emails with one structured update per department, sent on a fixed day and time
• The most important update is from the CEO or C-suite to the whole organisation — minimum once a week
• Name it after its content, not "newsletter" — e.g. "The Weekend" (sent Fridays), "Sales Update"
• A fixed cadence lets readers anticipate it and gives the sender time to write thoughtfully
• Open rates of 70–90% are achievable internally; marketing email benchmarks at 15–20%
• Consistent cadence matters more than length — even a two-line holiday message keeps the rhythm

Smart Brevity writing principles

• Lead with the most important thing; never bury the headline
• 80% of readers stop after the first 250 words — that's roughly one phone screen
• Each update item: one strong headline (tells you what you need to know even if you read nothing else), then "what's new" and "why it matters"
• Aim for up to five items per update; each item no more than 200–250 words
• Use a "go deeper" link for detail — keep the body scannable
• Read everything out loud; if you wouldn't say it, rewrite it
• Brevity does not mean robotic — personality, emojis, and humour belong here

Subject lines and open rates

• A bad subject line makes everything else irrelevant — if it's not opened, it's not read
• AI tools can generate subject lines after the body is written and lift open rates 2–5%
• The subject line should deliver on what's inside — no clickbait

One-on-ones and alignment

• Ask each direct report to send a brief written update before every one-on-one
• A two-to-three minute read eliminates status-update questions, freeing the meeting for strategy and insight
• The writer benefits too: constructing the update forces them to prioritise and clarify their thinking
• Sharing department updates across the full executive team gives everyone visibility and catches misalignment early
• Weekly updates act as an early warning system — a misaligned priority surfaces in days, not months

Adding personality

• "One fun thing" sections invite team members to contribute content and signal that people are reading
• Employees begin petitioning for kudos, shoutouts, and content — a sign the channel is working
• Personality should be authentic; if humour isn't natural, don't force it
• Roy's chief of staff wraps his daily agenda in a "Daily Drive" format with car emojis — memorable and specific

Using AI in internal communications

• The blank page is the biggest barrier for first-time communicators
• Prompt ChatGPT or similar: describe your role, team size, and the initiatives you're tracking — ask what to include in a weekly update
• Refine the AI-generated structure, then make it your own template
• AI-native tools (like Axios HQ) handle planning, collaboration, approvals, scheduling, analytics, and multi-channel delivery (email, Slack, Teams, SharePoint)
• Write once, distribute everywhere — meet your audience where they are
• AI will dramatically increase inbox volume industry-wide; clear, concise writing becomes a competitive advantage

Getting started

• Start with one weekly update for your team — keep it short, even if just two items
• Use a consistent send day and time from week one
• Let AI help with structure and subject lines; write the content yourself
• Build in a "one fun thing" section from the start to invite participation
• Expect it to take a few iterations before the format feels natural and writing speed increases