What Is Evolution and Where Does It Begin?

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

We all know this famous dilemma meant to highlight cause and effect, or maybe simply illustrate the evolution of ideas.

How often have you heard that phrase in a meeting or discussion used to denote frustration and loss of patience???

So, where does evolution begin? Let’s forget the theatrics and the theology—often hard to tell them apart, n’est-ce pas? Where does an idea, or a thing, begin?

For example, when it became clear that mechanical, motor-driven cars would dominate the roads, most of the craftsmen who produced whips, halters, and saddles for the horse and buggy crowd went out of business. That is, except for the really smart few who saw the transition as a next step and started producing car parts. In fact, the famous Body by Fisher, a staple of GM for many years, began as a carriage manufacturer before the mechanized age.

Your smartphone is a direct descendent of the Walkman (think about it), which itself can claim descent from the first wristwatch, while your mouse and keyboard are the latest in a long line of innovation that goes straight back to cave paintings and rock carvings.

If you agree that innovation is evolution, evolution is progress, and we, as humans, are all about progress—moving ahead and staying ahead, competitive edge, you get the point—how do we short circuit the development process so that we are first and foremost innovators?

I would like to posit, it is about back to basics. A simple philosophy that is easy to grasp and easy to market. It is a concept that, rather than limit, opens up infinite horizons and rather than be past-focused, can propel us unfettered into the future.

The minimalist view: the idea there is always a core to any business—a part that has little or nothing to do with the outward veneer of the business. The ability to look at the steps from manufacturer to market (egg to chicken, or is it the other way around?) and lump businesses that have the same steps together.?

For example, no matter the service, all service-based businesses have some core operational pieces in common—whether they’re a plumber or accountant is simply commentary. You might argue, for example, that streaming, broadcast, and cable TV are really about content creation and distribution. Then look at similar models to leverage them instead of looking at them as individual and unaligned problems.

The minimalist view strips a company to its bare essentials and tries to understand it in the harsh light of no trappings.

The minimalist view allows a buggy manufacturer to become a car maker and Google to start with a “blank” page. And it is that same view that needs to propel your conversations with your clients, customers, users, and buyers as you help them increase the value of their transactions, with you, and thus their lifetime value to you as well.

“Fundamental progress has to do with the reinterpretation of basic ideas." —Alfred North Whitehead

Think about that a moment. Evolution at its best…most creative and most productive. Rethink the complex by reinterpreting the simple and basic.?

We need to be able to reinterpret the primal needs of people, across all walks of life, across all segments, in all regions.

We need to understand the impact of events; the potential of technology and the pressures of the day as we focus on the problems that need to be solved in our world.

And, we need to start with the basics…people and their needs…and not get caught up in the complications and unique issues of our own business models that so often clouds and muddies the waters of our thinking.

Let me go back to the chicken and the egg and ask it another way:

Which came first, the simple or the complex?

My bet? The simple came first…we are guilty of creating the complex.

Final proof point. My favorite.

While everyone else was creating ever more complex and gobbledygook nomenclature for the devices that deliver the various technologies that empower our lives, Apple stayed simple. Thank you IR for the push!

While others fumbled with the idea of a device that fits around your wrist and does so much more than tell time, Apple in its brilliant simplicity called it the Apple Watch.?

They called their handheld device that does so much more than allow you to make phone calls the iPhone.?

There is Apple TV…the rest of the world denies TV even exists anymore.?

There is Apple Radio…imagine that!

And, of course, the iPad…what else would it be called by the masters of simplicity?

The list goes on….

It is harder to be simple; it takes more time, more thought, more confidence, and frankly, more vision.

Simple is as simple does.?

What’s your view?