SIMPLEXITY MANAGEMENT The “Art” of Complexity and the “Smart” of Simplicity

Sanjiv M Karani

@SanjivKarani

FOREWORD

The term “Simplexity” captures the dynamic interrelationship

between Simplicity and Complexity. If complexity is a fact of

life than simplicity is a quest of life. One does not exist or

matter without the other. In this eBook, I explore these

important concepts through series of quotes (some famous

and some not-so-famous). Within the context of each quote, I

also highlight the key insights and implications for businesses

everywhere.

– Sanjiv Karani

1. “You tell me it is too early to be looking back,

but that is because you have forgotten the

perfect simplicity of being one and the

beautiful complexity introduced by two.”

– William Collins

Complexity is really the fusion of three things: 1) The number

and variety of components, systems and people within a

company and across its value chain, 2) The interrelationships

among all of them and 3) The pace at which 1 and 2 are

changing. Complexity is indeed beautiful as without complexity,

the world would be a linear and boring place and we would all be

making minimum wages.

2. “Everything is simpler than you think, and at

the same time, more complex than you

imagine.”

– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Some of us may find beauty

in “simple” while others may find beauty in “complex.” It is all

about our individual perception, attitude, focus and culmination

of our lifelong experiences. For example, creative-type

individuals may perceive analytical work to be highly complex

and vice versa. The key is the relentless pursuit of our passion to

perfect and simplify the complex knowledge over time.

3. “Out of intense complexities intense

simplicities emerge.”

– Winston Churchill

Without the complex and intimate understanding of the problem,

situation or issue, we cannot even begin to address it, let alone

simplify it. In other words, we have to first conquer complexity

before we can conquer simplicity. It is only after discovery of the

initial solution that we can iterate through the continuous

improvement cycle of simpler, faster, better solutions.

4. “Everything should be made as simple as

possible, but not simpler.”

– Albert Einstein

Einstein’s genius stands the test of time. Simplification is an

ultimate quest for all of us, but over-simplification of certain

aspects of our business strategy may in fact kill our company.

There is only so much we can simplify without sacrificing the

ultimate functionality, quality and utility that sets apart our

company’s offering from the others. Everything in excess is

poison, and that applies to simplification.

5. “Our biggest limit is no longer the reach of

our imagination. It’s now our inability to

order, make sense of, and connect

everything that demands our attention. We

are failing to make the complex clear.”

– Bill Jensen, author of Simplicity

It is not really complexity that is holding us back; it is a lack of

clear communication to our employees in how they can be

successful in this new dynamic world with gazillion choices. It is

having a deeper purpose (or meaning) of our organization’s

existence, its core values and being able to clearly articulate that

to all of our stakeholders in the simplest way possible.

6. “If necessity is the mother of invention, then

complexity is the mother of innovation.”

– Sanjiv Karani

Complexity is the ultimate catalyst for innovation. It is a constant

inspiration and motivation for all of us to conceive of simpler,

faster, better, cheaper offerings that create strong value for the

customers. These offerings can be new products, services,

solutions, processes, customer interactions and/or business

models. Complexity provides a clear focus and purpose to our

innovation quest and enables us to be a resilient organization that

is ready for any challenge.

7. “The biggest barrier most companies now

face in delivering value is managing the

complexity of their own business processes.”

– Tom Nies, Founder & CEO, Cincom

Complexity is the new reality, and the rapid escalation of

complexity is identified as the number-one challenge facing

CEOs as per IBM Global CEO Study. According to IBM, 79% of

CEOs predict even greater complexity ahead. However, more

than 50% doubt their ability to manage it. Clarifying, capitalizing

and conquering complexity is going to be a top strategic

imperative for the organizations all over the world.

8. “I would not give a fig for the simplicity this

side of complexity, but I would give my life for

the simplicity on the other side of

complexity.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes

This ties in beautifully with the quote #3 by Winston Churchill in

that you have to nail complexity before you nail simplicity.

Because the simplicity that comes before true understanding of

all the nuances and complicating factors is all superficial, inane

and naive. Such simplicity does not provide any value to anyone.

Eric Berlow in his 3 minute video at TED showed how

complexity leads to simplicity. Also, often times, the true answer

is also remarkably simple, you just have to be on the far side of

complexity in order to see it clearly.

9. “Really, I am not afraid of complexity at all.

On the contrary, this just motivates me.”

– Jacques Pellas, Secrétaire Général,

Dassault Aviation

It all boils down to the notion of customer value creation. Would

we rather be perceived as a complex enterprise that creates

enormous value for our customers or a simple enterprise that

creates almost no value for our customers? If complexity enables

us to deliver step-change value to our customers, it is absolutely

worth it. On the contrary, if complexity gets in the way of serving

and delighting our customers, it is an internal complication that

needs to be eradicated.

10. “We struggle with the complexities and avoid

the simplicities.”

– Norman Vincent Peale

Complexity and simplicity always exist together as two sides of

the same coin. Good complexity is our company’s know-how and

know-why honed over the years to build our competitive

advantage, while simplicity on the other side is masking this

complexity (behind the curtains) to deliver the most intuitive,

compelling and delightful customer experiences. It is only when

we add the complexity of human behavior to the complexity of

markets, customers and enterprise that we begin to see the total

picture.

11. “When things look very simple, you need to

look for a competitive edge. When things are

complex, you simplify to get the competitive

advantage.”

– Graeme Liebelt, former MD & CEO,

Orica Limited

In order to outwit our competition, we need to constantly develop

a set of distinctive capabilities that can only be mastered and

delivered by us. We should also inspect each and every aspect of

our business (i.e. processes, technology, people interactions) and

anything that takes away from our quest for “total customer

experience” needs to be simplified.

12. “In today’s dynamic environment, Simplexity

(i.e., simultaneous perfection of simplicity

and complexity) is the organization’s only

form of sustainable competitive advantage.”

– Sanjiv Karani

In the current global, turbulent and hyper-competitive

environment, complexity/simplicity is no longer an

either/or proposition. In order for you to drive and thrive

in this economic environment, you require the mastery of

both complexity and simplicity.

CONCLUSION

As Scott Fitzgerald said, “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the

ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and

still retain the ability to function.” Complexity and simplicity are

perhaps the most important opposing ideas that we deal with on an

ongoing basis. The Simplexity Management provides us with a

holistic approach to customer value creation and total customer

experience.

Long live complexity! Long live simplicity!

– Sanjiv Karani