“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.” This quote is attributed to Albert Einstein, one of the greatest scientists in history, yet it relates to business communication as much as science. When we strike a balance between simplicity and accuracy, we reach the golden mean where we communicate successfully. In a world of ever-dwindling attention spans, suitably simple writing is no longer optional: It is necessary if we want to be understood.
Simplify
How can we simplify our writing? The first key is to be able to express our core idea in one or two sentences. If we fail to grasp the big idea, we will get lost in the weeds and our readers will blunder after us. In this sense, simplicity comes from distilling complex concepts into their fundamental elements, making them accessible to a broader audience.
We also need to consider our readers. What’s easy for one person is hard for another. My husband is a physicist – an article on stellar nucleosynthesis is easy reading for him and incomprehensible to me. Conversely, an article on grammar that I enjoy might make him grab his head in pain. Before you write, ask yourself how much detail your reader needs in order to do their job or take the next step in understanding.
Once you’ve focused on your main point and reader, you create simplicity through word choice and sentence structure. Brief, concise language is always welcome. Use straightforward language without trying to dress up your ideas in fancy words or outdated phrases. Avoid jargon. No matter how complex your ideas are, you will profit from using plain language.
But Don’t Oversimplify
We’ve looked at ways to simplify; now let’s tackle the issue of oversimplifying. As one pundit wrote, “Beware the simplicity that is born out of ignorance and overlooks the complexities of reality.”
Life is messy. Business and political situations are created by interconnected factors. Trying to paint everything with a broad stroke might mean missing essential subtleties. If, in your attempts to crystallize your ideas, you omit key factors, you haven’t served anyone. Oversimplifying leads to misunderstandings and mistakes. It may make your readers believe that they understand circumstances they actually don’t comprehend.
Writing simply without oversimplifying requires mastery of your subject. Nobel-Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman was once asked to review a textbook on freshman physics. He told the author that he had not covered a concept that Feynman thought was key. The author said that he thought the concept was too difficult for freshmen to understand. Feynman famously retorted, “If you can’t explain it in a way that a freshman can understand it, then you don’t understand it!”
The goal is not to dumb down the content, but to present it in an easily digestible way without sacrificing accuracy or diluting the core message. Doing so requires you to deeply understand your subject matter and its nuances. If you do not fully understand what you are writing about, try to restrict yourself to writing about the things you know.
Embracing Einstein’s wisdom, we can elevate our business writing by making it as simple as possible while holding on to the necessary depth and accuracy. By striving for clarity, conciseness, and relevance, we can captivate our readers, convey ideas effectively, and foster meaningful connections. In an increasingly complex world, the ability to simplify without oversimplifying can set you apart from the crowd.