Life is actually very simple, but we keep trying to make it more complicated, billionaire Richard Branson shared.
Instead of inventing 1 ballpoint pen that works in outer space, why not use… a pencil?
There is an amusing story many people know through the film ‘3 Idiots” famous, with the following story: Over 10 years, NASA spent millions of dollars researching and developing a ballpoint pen astronauts could use in a vacuum and extreme temperatures, because without gravity, ink cannot flow to the ball at the pen’s tip.
So how did the Soviet Union—NASA's rival in the race to take humanity into space—handle writing in zero gravity? They used… pencils.
Although astronauts do not actually use pencils either, because the lead can break and pencil fragments floating in zero gravity can get into equipment or astronauts' eyes, this story still offers a highly valuable practical lesson: simplicity is sometimes the optimal solution, the best answer to every problem.
As physics genius Albert Einstein once said: “If you cannot explain it to a 6-year-old, you do not really understand it yourself.”
The truth is that, consciously or unconsciously, people always prefer simplicity over complexity and tend to choose and work better with things that are familiar and easy to understand. This partly explains why simple lifestyles that free people from dependence on many things, such as Minimalism, Tiny House of the United States or Danshari from Japan has recently created a “craze” among millions worldwide.
This truth remains valid in business. Look at the evolution of the Nike, Pepsi, or Mercedes Benz logos and you will see one common feature: they become simpler over time.
And the trend toward simplifying everything exists not only in graphic design, but also affects technology products. For example, today people may be very familiar with smartphones that have large screens and only a few buttons. But before the iPhone, the innovator of the phone world, appeared, what did phones look like? Were they not square, oval, flip phones, sliders, or both flip and slide, occasionally equipped with a stylus and a keyboard with dozens of buttons?
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The logos of famous brands around the world are becoming simpler, aiming to make them easier for customers to remember |
In recent years, a hotly debated topic has been how marketers can build a better customer experience. But what kind of experience actually counts as better? Does “better” mean increasing the amount of interaction and time consumers spend with a brand? Or does “better” come from simplifying the customer experience, reducing time spent with the brand, and letting consumers enjoy life instead?
Through the annual evaluation study called Global Brand Simplicity Index (Global Brand Simplicity Index), Siegel+Gale, a multinational brand strategy and experience consultancy, argues that marketers must reconsider what makes an excellent customer experience. Most customers crave simplicity, speed, and seamless brand interactions.
Siegel+Gale's 2017 study reportedly surveyed over 14,000 people online across 9 countries and ranked 857 brands based on respondents' perceptions of their simplicity. Some notable details: 64% of consumers are willing to pay more for simpler experiences; 61% are more likely to recommend a brand because it is simple.
In fact, billionaires such as Richard Branson, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckerberg, as well as other renowned entrepreneurs, have achieved outstanding success by thoroughly applying simplicity in business.
Billionaire Richard Branson once advised: ‘The best solutions explain difficult things clearly and simply, so everyone can understand them easily. Entrepreneurs with complex business ideas may often forget this truth: life is actually very simple, but we keep trying to make it more complicated.’
Virgin Group’s founder even proposes judging a business idea’s feasibility by whether it can fit on an envelope.
The British billionaire shared: “Today, if someone presents a business idea they believe is better than existing models, I ask whether its summary can fit inside an envelope. If the idea is too complicated to explain briefly, consumers will surely have difficulty understanding it, and naturally, the likelihood that they will not buy is very high.”
Besides billionaire Richard Branson, Apple’s late CEO Steve Jobs is another prime example of success through a philosophy of simplicity in business. Specifically, while designing the iPod music player’s interface, Jobs did everything possible to minimize details he considered unnecessary.
Jobs firmly required his staff to ensure iPod users could reach any music folder they wanted within 3 clicks. Tony Fadell, then head of iPod product research, recalled that the design team often wrestled with potential user-interface problems. But a single question from Jobs, “Why do we need this interface?”, made them realize they did not actually need it.
Fadell recalls another occasion when the design team presented proposed interfaces for iDVD disc-burning software. Apple's CEO “jumped up,” drew a huge rectangle on the board, and said: “The new software will look like this. Just 1 window. People will drag their video into the window. Then press ‘burn disc.’ That's it! That's what we're going to do.”
There are many more examples of success in life and business through simplicity rather than unnecessary complexity. If you want success in both life and work, you should do the same.
Collected.
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