The Horror Of The Simple

Roger Federer is probably the greatest player in the history of tennis. He adores and respects Rod Laver. It was interesting to hear him answer a question on what, according to him, has changed for players, in the game of tennis since the days of Laver? Is it the quality of the racquets, the nature of the courts, the fitness levels of the players, the television exposure, the travel, the money, even the new/improved material used in the shoes today?

 Federer smiled, and said, “Nothing, really. From then to now, there is only one thing players need to do, to win matches. It is very simple, and always has been.” The interviewer was intrigued enough to ask, “Wow! Just one simple thing? What will that be?” Roger paused and replied: “Keep the ball in the other court.”

 That is a reply worth pondering upon. If you can keep the ball in the other court most of the time, you are winning. The aids, accessories, technology and anything else is secondary. Simply focus on the one simple mantra: Keep The Ball In The Other Court. That is all it takes to keep winning and be the best ever at it.

This is a trait of all those who are very good at what they do. They keep it simple.

 Edward De Bono has been brutally vociferous in propagating simple expressions and simplicity in perceptions. He says: “Over the years I have found that for mediocre minds there is horror in the simple. I do not mean a mild unease, or discomfort when faced with something simple but an absolute horror.”

“Why should this be so?” he asks, before wondering: “May be that the mediocre mind cannot distinguish between:

~ Something that is simple with nothing much behind it or

~ Something that looks simple with a great deal hidden behind it!”

A mediocre mind needs things to be complicated before they choose to appreciate them, A mediocre mind distrusts simple things. Unless what they ‘see’ is of a complication level that they think befits their (imagined) capabilities, they do not think it is even worth their while to understand the issue.

The opinion/feeling that you are doing something complicated helps mask mediocrity.

 “I understand the technology and in the next two weeks, will pick up the new features as well”, said the VP of Projects, “I will form the teams, and instruct the Team Leads as well. We will also agree on a Change management process, and all the customer reports for project progress will also be finalised. But I will need HR to come in to talk about this reward/recognition bit”, he said, categorically.

 It took us 3 weeks to make him see the point. A few one-on-one chats with the key members of the team, and a 3-slide presentation on the new scheme for reward/recognition is all it takes. If the people are fired up, everything will happen by clockwork, as if by magic. He was enamoured by the complications of running a project. The simplest way will be to win the people over, and the rest will simply happen. He, therefore, found that demeaning.

Next time you hear someone say that something is complicated, you want to step back and look at the person. He/She has just revealed something very important about him/her.

 Once the strategy for the year was finalised and written down to everyone’s satisfaction, one of them put forth a request, and soon all of them joined him to demand the same: “Can we get an operational, ground-level, tactical version of this to share with the people in levels below us in the organisation? Strategy (and all that) is too complicated for them.” Really?

Here is De Bono again:

“If most people can understand something how can it be serious? We do find many who are more impressed by form than substance.

“Great masters are known to stay simple; speak simple. “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication in complexity”.

Only the mediocre is horrified by the simple.”