Complexity is Not the Problem

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𝐖𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐫𝐚 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐁𝟐𝐁 𝐝𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐚𝐫 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞.I've worked with companies that had well-thought-out plans buried inside documents so long that most readers never made it past page three…

Here is the principle I keep coming back to: 𝐤𝐞𝐲 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫. Everything else should be verifiable and available for those who want to go deeper, but never a prerequisite for understanding the core.

In practice, a few principles tend to help:

• 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭. In a world of shrinking attention spans, burying your main point at the end is a communication failure, not a narrative choice. State it upfront so people immediately understand the context, then use the rest to develop your reasoning. I still remember my elementary school teacher, my fabulous Maestra Gina, telling us to start with the introduction, develop the thought in the middle, and close by reinforcing the conclusion. Looking back, she was clearly a black belt in communication without even knowing it 😊.

• 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬. The one who skims and the one who reads every word. Both are real. Both matter. Headers, bold text, and clear structure are not just formatting, they help people find their way through the message.

• 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐤𝐞𝐲 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. If everything is important, nothing is.• 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. Nobody engages with an answer to a question they have not felt yet. Make them feel the problem first. Then your solution has somewhere to land.

• 𝐂𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐝𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬, 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐛𝐬. “Innovative,” “cutting-edge,” and “best-in-class” say very little today. “We reduced downtime by 40% in 6 months” says much more. Of course, statements like that need to be backed up by evidence.

𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐔𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐬.

𝑅𝑒𝑚 𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑒, 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑏𝑎 𝑠𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑢𝑟. Possess the subject, and the words will follow.

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