A Tip from the The Fugitive: Cut to the Chase

This is the first in a series of videos we’re doing to bring the Act Like You Mean Business lessons to life.

It’s basically a condensed and “out-loud” version of The Fugitive story, which is one of my favorites from the book. There are so many lessons from that one scene:

  • Focus on what’s essential and eliminate the chaff.
  • Use fewer words, not more.
  • Show, don’t tell — use images, expression, music and other things besides words to get your point across.
  • Don’t spoon-feed your audience. Respect their intelligence. Letting them figure things out on their own sometimes helps keep them engaged.
  • Edit, edit, edit.
  • The writer’s words aren’t sacrosanct.

Of course I could only get so much into the video and remain faithful to one of my other principles: keep videos SHORT. Two minutes or less.