Simple Takes Work

Finding our way is hard.

We have a tendency to over-simplify things. To make them simplistic, which leads to complications. 

Our limited brains conserve energy by spotting patterns in an onslaught of information. This is enough to get by, but it leaves us vulnerable, much like how our eyes only see a narrow band of the light spectrum – we can get around, but we struggle in the dark.

I'm using the words 'simplistic' and 'complications' carefully. I like to imagine there's a difference between 'simplistic' and 'simple'; between 'complicated' and 'complex'. 

'Simplistic' suggests flimsy, lacking depth, lacking rigour. 

'Simple' suggests something robust, solid, elegant.

'Complicated' is illogical, messy, chaotic, stuttering.

'Complex' is majestic, organised, intelligent.

Simplistic makes things complicated; simple requires an understanding of complex.

A good example of this is when people thought the sun went round the earth. For this simplistic explanation of reality to work, they needed very complicated, fiddly models. Eventually science caught up with the wisdom which showed that actually the earth goes round the sun. The reality was complex, but the explanation and the models that explain it are simple. 

So simple is possible – it just takes work. 

Suren Manvelyan

I used to work in brand consulting, where elegant simplicity was highly prized. There was a much-respected 'elder strategist' on our team who used to work magic for clients. He would sit in meetings, not saying a word, doodling on his notepad. The meeting would typically cover all sorts of complex dynamics, with various people in the room offering their simplistic, complicating solutions. At the end of the meeting we would turn to the elder, and he would offer a single, simple, perfect phrase. The room would melt, the client would pay handsomely. 

The doodling was his way of understanding the complexity, swerving the simplistic answers that made things complicated to instead arrive at simple answers that delighted.

Delight is often a reliable indicator of simplicity. Simple resonates with some deep truth about our reality that we intuitively connect with. In branding we always knew when we had reached a simple solution for a client because it would bring a smile.

Developing something simple takes energy, it takes work. But once that work is done – say, the work of understanding a complex situation – simple is satisfying because it demands less energy. Our brains are saying 'good job' to simple because it makes life easier. 

But our brains are vulnerable. Simplistic things can have that effect too, especially if we don't understand the complexity they are failing to understand.

Were the elder strategist's suggestions really simple? 

They seemed simple in the limited context of that client's brief. But those briefs typically didn't understand how our economic system is ravaging the living world. Once that is understood, articulating a snappy purpose or slogan for a corporation, one which encourages them (unintentionally, perhaps) to keep destroying the living world, will lead to complications. 

A company slogan that doesn't acknowledge the damage it is causing is simplistic.

Some people use the word 'truth-y' to describe the feeling of a simplistic explanation. We are particularly susceptible to truth-y things when we're stressed, exhausted, overwhelmed, under pressure, or oppressed. In that state, we'll take whatever relief we can get. Struggling in the dark, we’ll welcome any light, even if it's artificial.

So if someone's living standards are falling, they are vulnerable to believing a politician who tells them it's "because migrants", showing them a picture of crowded boats. Perhaps this person has been worked to the bone today. Perhaps they've only eaten nutritionally empty processed food today. Perhaps they haven't eaten at all. They don't have time or energy to understand the complexity of our political economy, to be able to see the simple explanation – “plutocrats are robbing you blind”. 

Whatever I write here runs the risk of being simplistic. I am trying to understand as much complexity as possible, to arrive at energy-saving, delightful, elegant ‘simple’. To find instructive truth in a world awash in truth-y deception.

But I only have a human brain, it is limited, and vulnerable. 

Sometimes I will bump into things in the dark.

Please let me know if I do.

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