We can make things too complicated.
I’m not saying we should over-simplify things. That’s just as bad as over-complicating things.
Explanations that are too wordy, lists that have too many items, “must-haves” that really aren’t necessary, strategies that have too many steps, organizations that have too many layers, bureaucracies that have too many rules . . . maybe this sentence that has too many words!
“It ain’t rocket science”—that expression is often so true. Meaning? Something is much simpler than it’s being made out to be.
Sports is a great metaphor for just about anything in life. Let’s apply it here.
Pick any sport. Have you ever noticed how some offenses and defenses are complicated beyond being useful and effective? Perhaps the schemes chosen by the coaches are beyond the players’ abilities.
Whereas other teams have offensive and defensive schemes that are simple enough . . . and when executed skillfully, therein lies the power.
Which works better?
I’ve seen teams that are pretty much executing basic, fundamental skills, but doing an excellent job at it, and winning. There isn’t any flash and dazzle—in fact, it may look rather boring--but the scoreboard tells us all that matters.
Basic fundamentals, executed skillfully, will always beat flash and dazzle, in the long run. Simple “blocking and tackling”.
Tortoise always beats hare.
Does this mean we should never progress beyond the fundamentals? Of course not. Keep progressing. Keep building your skill set. Keep adding to your bag of tricks (AFTER you’ve learned the fundamentals sufficiently!).
But often, even when our range of skills for getting the job done puts us in the “master” category—we really DO have a deep skill set and CAN fly with the eagles—if we can “win” with simple, stay simple!
If I can strike you out with 3 fastballs down the middle, why go beyond that? Why?
K.I.S.S.—Keep It SIMPLE Sweetheart.
Finally, a few of my favorite quotes on keeping it simple.
Confuscious: “Life is really simple, but men insist on making it complicated.”
Albert Einstein: “Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.”
Legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright: “Think ‘simple’ as my old master used to say. Meaning, reduce the whole of its parts into the simplest terms, getting back to first principles.”
Napoleon (in discussing strategy): “The art of war does not require complicated maneuvers; the simplest are the best, and commonsense is fundamental. From which one might wonder how it is generals make blunders; it is because they try to be clever.” (I love that—“they try to be clever”.)
William of Ockham (14th Century logician, describing the principle of what came to be known as Ockham’s razor): well, no quote, but he tells us that when explaining something, start with the simplest explanations, and ONLY proceed to more complicated ones if necessary.
Sir William of Ockham brings it home for us nicely, and this is my exhortation to all of us: let’s all start with “simple”, whatever that may mean for your situation, your business, your team, your relationship, or your strategy, and only proceed to “more complicated”, if necessary.
Three cheers for simple.
--Sean Cox, Chicago