Leonardo da Vinci once said, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”
To be honest, I don’t know if he said that. But that’s what the internet told me.
But his quote resonated with me because I was forced to confront the notion of simplicity after a recent event. During my time on stage, while explaining how I believe we have overcomplicated the solutions to our problems at work, I made the following statement:
“The best ideas in life are fundamentally simple. And those ideas deserve simplicity in their solutions.”
Quite frankly, I don’t see much there to debate, but after I got off stage, I was approached by an attendee. He was very kind and complimentary of our time together, but he was struggling with thinking of our ideas as simple. He said, “Matt, I’m not being asked to bring simple ideas to the table. I’m always asked – what’s the next big idea? – so it’s hard to think about simplicity in the environment we’re living in with AI, constant change, and the like.”
And I want to be clear. He is not wrong. We consistently look at the word “simple” and associate it with elementary, easy, or painless.
Therein lies the issue. Leadership and life are not elementary, easy, or painless. But simplicity is about being clear, present, freed of obstacles and ultimately creating space for innovation, change, and dreams to grow. We only reach those goals when we build a culture of simplicity where simple ideas can become the big ones we seek.
I’d argue the best ideas are always simple at their core.
- The iPod transformed music because of a simple idea to be able to carry all of our music around in one device.
- Uber’s big idea was simple: Make it easier to hail a cab.
- Netflix: What if we didn’t have to go to the store to get a movie?
- The Scrub Daddy, a sponge with over $220M in sales last year, was the result of a simple idea to wash your hands more effectively.
These – and most of our big ideas – are simple in nature. What is not simple is the execution, in part because we often try to make the solutions more complicated than necessary.
Your role in leadership will increasingly become about how you build a culture of simplicity with your team and organization so these simple ideas can come to life. The answer is not endless meetings to build consensus, red tape, more reports nobody will read, or any of the common obstacles we put in our own way. The answer is creating simplicity and here’s three quick questions to ask yourself to get started.
- How are you spending your time?
A quick glance at your weekly or monthly calendar will give you a realistic view of how you’re spending your time. Is it endless hours of meetings which produce little results? Is it full of large blocks of unaccounted for time where our ADD kicks in and nothing gets accomplished? Show me where you spend your time and I’ll show you where you’re headed.
- What is your priority?
One of the biggest traps we fall into is not being explicit with our priorities. The truth is everything can’t be a priority. We must have favorites – or those which rise to the top above all else – and that goes for our work and personal lives. Understanding where those priorities are allows us to make sure we prioritize the most important ones first.
- Are you taking action?
Perhaps the hardest, but most elementary step, is to take action. When you know where you spend your time and what’s most important, the simple step is to take action. It’s not the time to find the excuses “why not” or how obstacles remain in your way. Simply take action – ANY action! – which moves you towards those priorities.
These three questions can help teams simplify the work ahead. Those questions can help you achieve any personal goals you’ve set. Those questions can literally help pull you out of the ocean of noise around us and create a culture of simplicity we can execute upon.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve noticed I have not spent any time this last week eating ice cream. I have goal to try all of the Blizzard flavors at Dairy Queen and it’s time to take action.
Until next time!
