Let’s start by giving away the punchline: When you speak or pitch or write, begin with your conclusion.

I originally learned this strategy from Edward Bailey’s “The Plain English Approach to Business Writing.” There’s nothing fancy about it. It’s almost offensively simple. And it works. Here’s what I mean.

Imagine someone from your department walks into your office and says, “I have something important to tell you.” You put aside the five things you’re working on. He continues:

“The other day I was in Manhattan. I was eating at a restaurant in the theater district, and I saw a friend I hadn’t seen in years. His name is Ricky. He’s a big-time lawyer now. So Ricky comes over to my table, I’m eating eggplant parm, and we start talking about old times. Something he says, though, triggers a memory from when we were in high school . . . ”

Let’s pause there.

If you were listening to this, what would you be thinking? Me? I’d be thinking: Manhattan. Ricky. Lawyer. Eggplant parm. Got it. Why are you telling me this?

If he keeps going, you get antsy. Then irritated. And here’s the important part: even if what he has to say is genuinely important, you have no way of knowing that yet. Why? He won’t tell you what he’s asking of you! So part of you just wants him to leave. We’ve all been on the receiving end of this. And if we’re honest, most of us have done it ourselves. Why does it happen?

One reason is that we present information the way we experienced it, instead of the way someone else needs to hear it. We’re asking the other person to do all the work of figuring out what matters.

Another reason is fear. We’re afraid to say the point up front. We worry the other person will judge it too quickly, or won’t understand how we got there. That fear feels prudent, but it isn’t. Hiding the point doesn’t make rejection less likely. It just makes the conversation harder to follow and easier to dismiss.

So try this instead: start with the conclusion, or the recommendation, or the main idea. Then explain yourself. It sounds like this:

“Hey, I think we should ask for a ten-day extension on this deadline. Here’s why.”

Or: “Instead of going to Florida this year, I think we should go to South Dakota. Here’s why.”

Now the listener knows what game they’re in. They can follow along, and agree or disagree. But they’re not guessing why you’re talking.