An eBook exploring the dynamic interrelationship between complexity and simplicity through series of famous and not-so-famous quotes. It provides key insights and implications for businesses operating in today's highly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous environment.

1. SIMPLEXITY MANAGEMENT
The “Art” of Complexity and the “Smart” of Simplicity
Sanjiv M Karani
@SanjivKarani

2. FOREWORD
The term “Simplexity” captures the dynamic interrelationship
between Simplicity and Complexity. If complexity is a fact of
life than simplicity is a quest of life. One does not exist or
matter without the other. In this eBook, I explore these
important concepts through series of quotes (some famous
and some not-so-famous). Within the context of each quote, I
also highlight the key insights and implications for businesses
everywhere.
– Sanjiv Karani

3. 1. “You tell me it is too early to be looking back,
but that is because you have forgotten the
perfect simplicity of being one and the
beautiful complexity introduced by two.”
– William Collins
Complexity is really the fusion of three things: 1) The number
and variety of components, systems and people within a
company and across its value chain, 2) The interrelationships
among all of them and 3) The pace at which 1 and 2 are
changing. Complexity is indeed beautiful as without complexity,
the world would be a linear and boring place and we would all be
making minimum wages.

4. 2. “Everything is simpler than you think, and at
the same time, more complex than you
imagine.”
– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Some of us may find beauty
in “simple” while others may find beauty in “complex.” It is all
about our individual perception, attitude, focus and culmination
of our lifelong experiences. For example, creative-type
individuals may perceive analytical work to be highly complex
and vice versa. The key is the relentless pursuit of our passion to
perfect and simplify the complex knowledge over time.

5. 3. “Out of intense complexities intense
simplicities emerge.”
– Winston Churchill
Without the complex and intimate understanding of the problem,
situation or issue, we cannot even begin to address it, let alone
simplify it. In other words, we have to first conquer complexity
before we can conquer simplicity. It is only after discovery of the
initial solution that we can iterate through the continuous
improvement cycle of simpler, faster, better solutions.

6. 4. “Everything should be made as simple as
possible, but not simpler.”
– Albert Einstein
Einstein’s genius stands the test of time. Simplification is an
ultimate quest for all of us, but over-simplification of certain
aspects of our business strategy may in fact kill our company.
There is only so much we can simplify without sacrificing the
ultimate functionality, quality and utility that sets apart our
company’s offering from the others. Everything in excess is
poison, and that applies to simplification.

7. 5. “Our biggest limit is no longer the reach of
our imagination. It’s now our inability to
order, make sense of, and connect
everything that demands our attention. We
are failing to make the complex clear.”
– Bill Jensen, author of Simplicity
It is not really complexity that is holding us back; it is a lack of
clear communication to our employees in how they can be
successful in this new dynamic world with gazillion choices. It is
having a deeper purpose (or meaning) of our organization’s
existence, its core values and being able to clearly articulate that
to all of our stakeholders in the simplest way possible.

8. 6. “If necessity is the mother of invention, then
complexity is the mother of innovation.”
– Sanjiv Karani
Complexity is the ultimate catalyst for innovation. It is a constant
inspiration and motivation for all of us to conceive of simpler,
faster, better, cheaper offerings that create strong value for the
customers. These offerings can be new products, services,
solutions, processes, customer interactions and/or business
models. Complexity provides a clear focus and purpose to our
innovation quest and enables us to be a resilient organization that
is ready for any challenge.

9. 7. “The biggest barrier most companies now
face in delivering value is managing the
complexity of their own business processes.”
– Tom Nies, Founder & CEO, Cincom
Complexity is the new reality, and the rapid escalation of
complexity is identified as the number-one challenge facing
CEOs as per IBM Global CEO Study. According to IBM, 79% of
CEOs predict even greater complexity ahead. However, more
than 50% doubt their ability to manage it. Clarifying, capitalizing
and conquering complexity is going to be a top strategic
imperative for the organizations all over the world.

10. 8. “I would not give a fig for the simplicity this
side of complexity, but I would give my life for
the simplicity on the other side of
complexity.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes
This ties in beautifully with the quote #3 by Winston Churchill in
that you have to nail complexity before you nail simplicity.
Because the simplicity that comes before true understanding of
all the nuances and complicating factors is all superficial, inane
and naive. Such simplicity does not provide any value to anyone.
Eric Berlow in his 3 minute video at TED showed how
complexity leads to simplicity. Also, often times, the true answer
is also remarkably simple, you just have to be on the far side of
complexity in order to see it clearly.

11. 9. “Really, I am not afraid of complexity at all.
On the contrary, this just motivates me.”
– Jacques Pellas, Secrétaire Général,
Dassault Aviation
It all boils down to the notion of customer value creation. Would
we rather be perceived as a complex enterprise that creates
enormous value for our customers or a simple enterprise that
creates almost no value for our customers? If complexity enables
us to deliver step-change value to our customers, it is absolutely
worth it. On the contrary, if complexity gets in the way of serving
and delighting our customers, it is an internal complication that
needs to be eradicated.

12. 10. “We struggle with the complexities and avoid
the simplicities.”
– Norman Vincent Peale
Complexity and simplicity always exist together as two sides of
the same coin. Good complexity is our company’s know-how and
know-why honed over the years to build our competitive
advantage, while simplicity on the other side is masking this
complexity (behind the curtains) to deliver the most intuitive,
compelling and delightful customer experiences. It is only when
we add the complexity of human behavior to the complexity of
markets, customers and enterprise that we begin to see the total
picture.

13. 11. “When things look very simple, you need to
look for a competitive edge. When things are
complex, you simplify to get the competitive
advantage.”
– Graeme Liebelt, former MD & CEO,
Orica Limited
In order to outwit our competition, we need to constantly develop
a set of distinctive capabilities that can only be mastered and
delivered by us. We should also inspect each and every aspect of
our business (i.e. processes, technology, people interactions) and
anything that takes away from our quest for “total customer
experience” needs to be simplified.

14. 12. “In today’s dynamic environment, Simplexity
(i.e., simultaneous perfection of simplicity
and complexity) is the organization’s only
form of sustainable competitive advantage.”
– Sanjiv Karani
In the current global, turbulent and hyper-competitive
environment, complexity/simplicity is no longer an
either/or proposition. In order for you to drive and thrive
in this economic environment, you require the mastery of
both complexity and simplicity.

15. CONCLUSION
As Scott Fitzgerald said, “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the
ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and
still retain the ability to function.” Complexity and simplicity are
perhaps the most important opposing ideas that we deal with on an
ongoing basis. The Simplexity Management provides us with a
holistic approach to customer value creation and total customer
experience.
Long live complexity! Long live simplicity!
– Sanjiv Karani