Simplicity is the key to brilliance. Don’t take my word for it. Just ask anyone who has succeeded in his or her field. For example, see what the following people—who are associated with widely different fields—all said about simplicity.
- Aristotle
- Frédéric Chopin
- Chip and Dan Heath
- Steve Jobs
- Bruce Lee
- Charles Mingus
- Pablo Picasso
- Dieter Rams
- Ken Segall
- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
- Robin Sharma
Simplicity isn’t simple. It takes thought and it takes effort. As a lawyer, I worked on dozens of complex cases involving boxes of evidence and numerous witnesses. I had to work with lengthy statues and years of jurisprudence. But I had to be able to come out on the far side of complexity and explain to the court what the key issues were.
Too many presenters get bogged down in the details. They try to cover too many points, pack too much information in their slides, and speak quickly to squeeze every word in. And the result is almost always worse than it would have been had they made an effort to simplify things.
Audiences prefer speakers who can speak about things in a clear, compelling and concise way. Simplicity is the key to brilliance. It’s not easy, but it’s worth it.
