I recently heard a comment from a British politician on the current state of the world. His comment was simple – the world is too complex for simple answers. (Paraphrased from memory: Sorry; do not have the link, and did not catch the name of the politician).

I was intrigued by his thought. I think it is correct. The world is in fact complex. And to pretend it is simple, and not complex, is a mistake. But…that makes the job of describing it in simple terms that much more necessary.

And, as I do often, I go back to thinking about the genius of Steve Jobs. He had this great capacity to explain the complex in simple terms.

In Ken Robinson’s Creative Schools, he wrote this line:

Most young people find school hard to use.

In other words, schools are not easy to use for many students. What an indictment! And, I think it is indeed a true indictment.

Back to Steve Jobs – things have to be easy to use; you know, “user-friendly.”

That was part of his genius; understanding that, making that become reality.

But those things we use, that are easy to use, accomplish so many complex tasks.

Here’s the challenge: to understand complexity, and then to explain the complexity in simple terms.

 

Complex – Simple – Complex – Making the complex simple, easy to understand and use, is quite a challenge, isn’t it?