The power of simplicity

Jonathan Fields recently posted his eleven rules for "moguls in training." It is a short list of leadership lessons based on extensive reading that he has done. I found it interesting for two reasons.

The first is that it is a pretty good list. It does a good job distilling leadership experience and theory into tag lines that are good for posters and daily reminders. They are powerful in their simplicity.

The second is how useless the list is in the absence of all the background reading. If you take that list and try to lead only on what is there, you will probably fail. If you have the background (from reading and/or experience) to understand where the lessons come from, then a short list is helpful.

It is a key thing to remember...there is power in simplicity, but only with an understanding of what lies behind it. E = mc² is one of the simplest and most powerful equations in physics. If that was all, though, anyone could be a nuclear physicist and atomic fusion would be a high school chemistry experiment. Clearly, there is more to the equivalence of matter and energy than a short equation. The power comes from summarizing complexity with a simple statement, not eliminating the complexity.

Keep this in mind the next time someone tries to share the "3 Steps to Happiness" or "15 Ways to Make Money Blogging" or any other simple formula. Simplicity is powered by underlying complexity that cannot be ignored.