Don't you just love life's little contradictions?
To get more in life, you have to give, give, give. To get more in life, you have to have less. You must have less:
-clutter
-distractions
-demanding, zero added value clients, suppliers, employees or partners
-busy work
-employees dependant on you
-pointless meetings
Simplicity can help provide you with clarity and focus. Describing a situation via a simple metaphor can paint a much more vivid picture than a thousand words. Repeating your main message in a meeting or presentation or speaking slowly in 3-8 second sound bites will help your audience listen and retain the information and understand its importance. Presenting without countless, overly detailed PowerPoint slides, allows your powerful messages to break through the clutter of noise and people fighting for our attention. Think of the most effective leadership speeches, slogans and marketing campaigns -- they communicate a common theme and use one or two strong but uncluttered messages.
Putting It Into Action
Do not stop providing people with the details, facts and figures that they need. Provide details as support or an appendix to your main message. Tell people what you plan on telling them, tell them, then review what you just told them. Paint visual images, use video, use props to help people remember. Purge your work space at least twice per year. During important phone meetings, clear your desk and stand up to add energy to your voice. Get your main hypothesis down to a 30 second radio commercial, where every word used must add value and repetition is key. If you want to be quoted by media or stakeholders, speak in powerful 3-8 second sound bites.
With you along the path towards success,
Joseph