4 Comments

This is great, as always, John.

What this leaves unsaid, though, is how to avoid inadvertently simplifying, by simply forgetting about what you're not focusing on.

In fact, I'd say it's the way you relate to / preserve what you choose to ignore that determines whether you're adapting a complex posture.

What strategies have you seen people adopt on your travels in order to preserve

- rejected hypotheses

- de-prioritised objectives

- non-core personas

?

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This is just word play with the meaning of simplify

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Rumelt’s new book, The Crux, seems to be a book-length exploration of what you said in an article :)

I’ve only just started it though - I bet there’s plenty of good in there

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Your opening “A complex problem cannot be simplified.” startled me. My immediate reaction was: “How do you know if a problem is actually complex?”

I often see people missing opportunities to dig into the core of the problem by which it (and possible solutions) could be simplified.

I’d be interested on your take on this!

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