I am sure you have heard of the phrase, KISS – Keep It Simple, Stupid.  Now I don’t like to call anyone a name, especially “stupid”.  The “keep it simple” principle is somewhat similar, according to Wikipedia, www.wikepedia.com, to Albert Eistein’s maxim “everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.”  There are many variations of the “keep it simple” theme.  I am sure you have been exposed to several of those phrase variations.

The “keep it simple” principle works today as well as it have ever worked.  As I am out walking around in the world, I try to observe everything that goes on because there are life and business lessons everywhere.  No matter how much technology we have, no matter how we can break the atom down to the smallest particle or launch a spaceship into space, the basic nature of people never changes.  I was walking through the bookstore the other day and observed a young mother with two children.  I was taken by her patience with those two young children and was compelled to compliment her as to how much patience and caring she was showing.  Her reply was that a grandmother-type person had once told her to ”keep it simple” and “repeat it over and over again”. 

The same principles – “keep it simple” and “repeat it over and over again” apply to everything we do in business.  When you operate your business and you make it too complicated, something will inevitably get lost in the translation, and you won’t get the results you want.  Guaranteed.  Break everything down to the simplest possible form before you communicate it so people can understand the point you are trying to make.   As a CEO, company president or business owner the more complicated the issue the more you need to “keep it simple” and repeat what is important “over and over again”.