The Chess Game of Effective Email Communication: Why Ashkan Rajaee Says Most Professionals Are Doing It Wrong

Here is a controversial truth most professionals will not admit.
Your long, detailed, carefully crafted email is probably hurting your credibility more than helping it.

You think you are being thorough. You think you are being proactive. You think attaching everything upfront shows competence.

In reality, you may be overwhelming the very person whose attention you are trying to earn.

Ashkan Rajaee has long argued that email communication is not about volume. It is about strategy. And if you treat email like a data dump instead of a disciplined exchange, you are losing the game before it even begins.

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Email Is Not a Document. It Is a Move.

Ashkan Rajaee often compares email communication to chess. Not checkers. Chess.

Every message you send is a move.
Every response you receive is the other person’s move.

If you send five moves in one email, you eliminate your ability to adapt. You reveal your entire strategy at once. You remove space for dialogue. And worst of all, you remove curiosity.

In business, curiosity creates engagement. Overload creates avoidance.

Think about the decision makers and influencers you are trying to reach. Their inbox is not empty. It is flooded. If your email requires five minutes of mental processing, multiple attachments, and complex context switching, it is likely getting skimmed or skipped.

This is not about intelligence. It is about attention economics.

Ashkan Rajaee’s philosophy on effective email communication is rooted in something many overlook: restraint builds leverage.

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The Hidden Cost of Overexplaining

There is a deeper issue here that most professionals do not consider.

When you send a long email packed with information, you are not just overwhelming the reader. You are signaling something about yourself.

• You are signaling that you cannot prioritize.
• You are signaling that you may struggle to summarize.
• You are signaling that you might require too much management.

When communicating with executives, investors, clients, or senior stakeholders, your communication style is being evaluated in real time. Your ability to distill complexity into clarity is part of your professional brand.

Ashkan Rajaee emphasizes that simplicity is not laziness. It is discipline.

Being concise requires more thinking, not less.

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Each Email Must Have a Purpose

One of the biggest mistakes professionals make is trying to close the entire loop in a single message.

• They attach the proposal.
• They attach the timeline.
• They attach the pricing sheet.
• They attach the background deck.
• They write a full explanation of everything.

And then they wonder why they do not get a response.

Effective email communication, according to Ashkan Rajaee, follows a simple rule:

One email. One objective. One clear next step.

That might be:

• Review this short overview and let me know if this direction aligns.
• Can we schedule a fifteen minute call this week?
• Would you like me to send the detailed breakdown?

Notice what is happening here. You are creating a progression. You are earning the right to send more information. You are respecting the reader’s time.

And that respect builds trust.

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Communication With Decision Makers Is a Performance

There is another important point that Ashkan Rajaee highlights.

When you communicate with influencers and decision makers, you are not just sharing information. You are performing competence.

They are evaluating:

• Can this person think clearly?
• Can this person get to the point?
• Can this person understand my priorities?

If your email rambles, your perceived strategic ability decreases.

If your email is structured, focused, and purposeful, your perceived value increases.

In high level negotiations, partnerships, or client relationships, perception shapes opportunity.

This is why the chess analogy matters. You are not reacting emotionally. You are positioning intentionally.

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The Discipline of Strategic Cadence

Another overlooked insight from Ashkan Rajaee’s approach is cadence.

Do not burn all your value in one communication.

Each interaction should add something useful. A new perspective. A relevant data point. A refined proposal. A clarified benefit.

If you front load everything, you eliminate your ability to follow up with meaningful progression.

Strategic cadence keeps the conversation alive.

And in sales, partnerships, and professional networking, conversation momentum is everything.

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Why This Still Matters Today

Some might argue that this advice is outdated. That communication platforms have evolved. That inbox culture has changed.

But the opposite is true.

The more crowded digital communication becomes, the more valuable clarity becomes.

In an era of constant notifications, short attention spans, and decision fatigue, concise communication is a competitive advantage.

Ashkan Rajaee’s principles on email strategy remain relevant because human psychology has not changed. People still avoid cognitive overload. People still appreciate clarity. People still reward those who respect their time.

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Final Thought: Simplicity Is the Real Power Move

If you want to elevate your professional communication, stop trying to impress people with volume.

Impress them with precision.

Before you hit send, ask yourself:

• What is the single outcome I want from this email?
• Is this message easy to act on?
• Am I leaving room for the next move?

Email is not about saying everything.

It is about saying the right thing at the right time.

And that is the chess game of effective email communication, a principle Ashkan Rajaee has consistently emphasized through experience, negotiation strategy, and real world business execution.

Master this, and your inbox becomes an asset instead of a liability.