Chapter 5 – Keep It Simple

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

— Leonardo da Vinci

The space pen—a high-tech ink pen for NASA. All sorts of myths and rumors exist about this fascinating pen developed in the 1960s as NASA geared up for its race to the moon against the Russians.

Just after President John F. Kennedy gave his amazing speech to Congress in May of 1961, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) had a lot of engineering problems on its hands, not the least of which was, “How the heck are we going to do this?” At the time, NASA had barely put a program into place for sending a single man into orbit, let alone sending a crew all the way to the moon and safely back to earth. Talk about a “To Do” list!

One of the problems faced by the engineers was that they needed to develop a pen for the astronauts that could withstand freezing cold, desert heat, extremes in pressure, gravitational forces, and could write upside down and function in a zero gravity environment.

Rumor has it that NASA spent an enormous amount of money (perhaps as much as $12 billion) to develop this space pen. Truthfully, NASA only had a budget of $500 million for the entire project.

Ultimately, the astronauts ended up using a special nitrogen pressurized pen called the “Fisher Space Pen,” which was developed by Paul C. Fisher after thousands of hours of research and design and millions of dollars of his own money.

The Russians at the time used a…pencil—25 cents at the local drugstore.

This difference highlights the tendency among very intelligent and technical people to overcomplicate and overdo what could be solved by a very simple answer.

I see the same thing in business almost every day. Highly intelligent people will sit around for hours on end in meeting rooms to design complex solutions to simple problems, such as: complex I.T. solutions, CRM systems, accounting systems, long processes. However, most of these complex solutions are designed for the comfort and convenience of the company—not the customers.

One of the many hats a leader must wear is “Solution Facilitator.” (A big booming, echoing voice should accompany that title!). The Solution Facilitator’s job is to help the organization’s members wrap their heads around potential solutions that are good for customers, good for employees, and good for the company. Key to the job is insuring they never allow complex, expensive solutions that require a Ph.D. to implement, use, and maintain. No offence to the Mensa IQ’s out there, but simple is easier to understand and implement. Simple has a lower overall cost, higher customer satisfaction, and usually generates more revenue in the long run.

Members of the organization (maybe even your boss) may scoff at your approach as too simple. I have even suffered this wrath myself when a former boss (a Ph.D.) could not wrap his head around simple solutions because answers to problems “cannot be that easy!” This person turned out to be a leadership disaster because no one could or would follow him.

Believe me; you need to get good at simple. Get great at understanding what customers need and then find the easiest and fastest way to get it to them. While your competitors are over engineering things, you will be out delivering and generating revenue.
By the way, the international astronauts of today still use the Fisher Space Pen. You can have one of your own by purchasing directly from the Fisher Space Pen Company for about fifty dollars. As for me, I’ll stick with my pencil.

What process in your business might you be over-thinking?

How can you simplify it?

Robert Murray is a Vancouver, BC based Business Strategy Consultant, #1 Best Selling Author, and International Keynote Speaker. For further advice, insight and inspiration on how to unlock your inner leader, follow Robert on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

Click here to get his weekly Tuesday Tune Up blog posts straight to your inbox.