The Ultimate Guide to Eliminating Complexity: Simplify and Conquer

Complexity is your enemy. When you're dealing with reporters. Your answers cannot. They should not be overly complex. Well, why is that? Is it because reporters are stupid? No, that's not it. Some are brilliant, maybe some aren't that bright. That's not the point. The point is a reporter is listening to you, perhaps writing things down, typing things up the next day, looking at their notes. They can get lost. It's too easy for a complex answer to get changed, amended somehow, and then your message gets lost. Maybe the reporter gets it just right, but then there's a copy editor or a producer, someone else condensing your ideas. And when it's condensed, the important elements of your message get lost. And sometimes with a complex message that's dependent on five or 10 ideas, if you remove four of them, the remaining ideas don't make sense. So if you're going to communicate effectively talking to the news media, you have to realize it's not like giving a speech where you can give a complex argument. It's not like a colleague walking into your office asking you a question where you can give a very complicated, thoughtful response. You need to simplify things because of this editing process. It's too easy for the complex idea to be distorted in the editing process. So don't think of it as dumbing your ideas down. Don't think of it as kiss. Keep it simple, stupid. Think of it as an intellectual challenge. You have to figure out what's truly most important. What ideas can you communicate through the news media in such a way that it doesn't matter how it's edited, sliced, diced, it will still get through? That requires intellect. That's not stupid or simple. But if you want to communicate, avoid the complex ideas. Focus on your simple, clear ideas. That way you won't get distorted, your ideas won't be muddy.