After Michelangelo sculpted his statue of David in Florence in 1504, he was asked how he created such a masterpiece?

“It’s simple. I took away everything that wasn’t David,” he replied.

Viewing the magnificent more than four metre David, it’s obvious Michelangelo is being slightly disingenuous.

But his ‘simple’ idea to remove the unnecessary bits should be kept in mind when telling a business story, and informing us as succinctly as possible.

Removing story clutter is deceptively difficult to do. Our temptation is to always add more – like adding another feature to already bloated software.

It’s one reason Subway’s ‘Eat Fresh’ story/slogan/value proposition is so good. There’s plenty of other fast food brands that could’ve claimed the label, but Subway got there first.

Like Michelangelo, Subway’s creatives cut away everything that wasn’t David.

‘Eat Fresh’ is simple, and Subway owns the idea.

The challenge for all of us is to own an idea in our own area of expertise. It will probably require more than two words, but shouldn’t be more than 15.