Minimizing Complexity
By Tom Schroder, Vice President, Corporate Communications There is a movie where a grizzled, old, cowboy is asked the secret of life. He raises one finger and says, “One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and the rest don’t mean ____.” Easier said than done, right? Complexity paralyzes. It can suck the special out of a great idea. And along the way, it can frustrate us, slow us down and create swirl. All of us have been on both sides of complexity: we’ve contributed to it and we’ve been victims of it. And let’s face it – we work in a very complicated business and we constantly push ourselves and each other toward excellence. And so some of what we are dealing with is unavoidable. We know what complexity looks like: a meeting or email about a problem or plan. A lot of voices in the room. Questions and conversation that be...