“The art of war does not require complicated maneuvers; the simplest are the best, and common sense is fundamental. One might wonder how generals blunder; it is because they try to be clever.”
- Napoleon Bonaparte
Agenda Magazine has a great article about Napoleon's campaign into Russia in the year 1812 which comments on, amongst other topics, Napoleon's ultimate downfall being a likely byproduct of deviation from his own best practices and generally making things too complex to succeed. Often times creativity in business manifests itself in the delivery of the simplest possible solution. We are too often awed by the size of the problem, so we assume the solution must be equally large.
The old joke that NASA spent billions on a pen that could write in zero-gravity while the Russians used a pencil, though not entirely true, comes to mind.
On a similar front, one might wonder if too many minds are wrapped up in the tech-boom-big-sexiness of trying to become the next great GOOGLE-optimized social media tool. Perhaps we've forgotten the elegance of simple business.
Consider, most business in the world is done by small businesses doing simple things - how could your product or idea help these operators do what they do better, faster or even more simply? As an alternative, how can you take a lofty concept or difficult process and make it simple enough for mass access? Apple does this well - the IPOD made music more simple, the IPAD makes content management more simple.
The strongest organisms tend to be the most simple, the most durable ideas tend to be the most simple and he who has the best sound bite often wins.
THE POINT: Simple may not always be easy, but it usually works.
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