adore and Bella Tania and my topic for
today is think simple by complex I
looked at various definitions of
complexity and I found that there’s
actually not one particular definition
of complexity I saw that complexity as a
definition right is dependent on the
context in which it is used when I first
received the information from the
organizers and I saw complexity I
thought this is easy the opposite of
simple is complex or complicated
complicated as a synonym is complex but
then I saw the writes up from the
organizers and I was like I am Not sure
I went to the same school as these guys
because really it just seemed really
really complicated so for the purpose of
this talk anyways I’m going to make it
as simple as possible for us to
understand this and so I’m going to use
colors so just think about simple as the
color whites and think about complex as
any color other than white so primary
colors secondary colors tertiary colors
for this talk I’m going to focus on
sales as it relates to complexity so I
think that complexity is largely
correlated to sales and I say this
because as human beings we naturally
think that simple ideas are too easy and
complex ideas are the best sort of ideas
so if somebody came up to you and said I
have this simple idea that is going to
change the world it’s an amazing idea
immediately you would think hmmm if it’s
so simple why isn’t anyone else done it
or why is it so easy I’m not going to
put my money there if that same person
came to you with a really really
complicated idea
using all this business jargon lingo
you’re more likely to think that it’s a
great idea sometimes we don’t even
question what they’re saying we just
thinks ourselves
it just sounds really really really good
and this is because as human beings were
conditioned to seek external validation
for our self-worth we believe that
anything other than our inner knowledge
and who we are as people is better we
also believe that better is adding to
what we already have so learning new
things exposing ourselves to new things
in fact we even tell ourselves that
exposure is going upward that’s a
conversation for another day but I found
in my experience in life that better
sometimes means stripping ourselves of
layers of things that we’ve learned over
time so conformity rules teachings
religion philosophies I’ll tell you a
little bit of a story to show you where
I’m going with this about four days ago
I was in Sri Lanka for those of you who
don’t know Sri Lanka is an island of the
coast of the Indian Ocean and I was
there with an artist friend of mine we
were looking at some really beautiful
art that we thought was amazing so I saw
this piece and it was so lovely
beautiful colors vibrant great lines
brilliant artists and I thought to
myself I want to buy this this is this
is lovely but there was only one problem
the problem was that were in Nigeria and
I say that because the picture was of
snakes
it was beautiful snakes colorful snakes
intertwined and I looked at him and I
said oh boy listen I sneak this picture
sure I hope you carry out good night job
you know because I thought so myself I
take this big to Nigeria I put it on my
wall that’s it my family is not coming
to my house ever again and I think one
of the couples behind us heard me and
looked at me like it’s just us why it’s
so crazy but here’s the thing
I thought to myself at that moment I
said you know why is it that we think
about snakes as evil creatures why don’t
we think about them as dangerous animals
for animals nonetheless the same way we
think about fish frogs lions dogs why is
the snake a problem and the answer to
that question lies in would have just
previously said which is layers that
have been added over time things that
we’ve learned without questioning things
that have been told to us things that
we’ve heard from society and we haven’t
asked questions about why so we scare
ourselves into believing that certain
things because we’ve been told that this
is what they are they have negative
connotations anyway so I’m not going to
spend so much time talking about
simplicity vs. complexity because I
think that that is highly do you I guess
I I think more that as a person you’re
definite your your need for simplicity
or complexity is depending on your
personal experience so instead I’m going
to talk about how to manage complexity
because complexity is not going anywhere
the world in itself is complex life is
complex and we have to create the
necessary tools to be able to match life
every time you buy a new device months
later there’s an upgrade same with the
apps same with social media you join a
social media network and before you know
it there’s a new one just while you’re
getting used to it there’s a new one
that opens up and you tell yourself I
would never join it I’ve told myself
that thing so many times like you know
it’s like to tacos eyes it was to time I
can never join it I’m good with Facebook
you know and you find yourself having to
join it because your friends move there
and that’s life life is complex and it’s
going to only get more complex so we
have to figure out you know how can i
navigate this world so instead of
looking at things as breaking down for
instance hashtag denied you’re on the
corner
me oh I didn’t say that you know how do
we look at it as breaking open so
instead of it’s breaking down how do we
look at it as it’s breaking open there
couple ways that I think that we need to
start thinking to better manage the
complex world first thing is we need to
be intuitive intuition is essentially
your gut feeling so it’s that’s not
always logical reasoning that comes up
and tells you I think you should do this
versus that we tend to ignore it because
we’re so focused on logic
I want to sound smart so let me give I
have something that happened this
morning okay so this morning I woke up
and I said I was going to wear black I
packed to come to Potok what I packed
two different colors of what I could
potentially wear now black is one of my
favorite colors black and white but then
I said my god feeling told me that I
just wear black because you’re gonna be
confident you’re gonna be comfortable
and that’s more important to you but
then my logic told me that black will
make me look like really really dark for
the cameras and stuff so I could’ve gone
with my logic and one red because red
would be brights but I went with my gut
feeling and I’m overly confident
standing here I could probably go on for
30 um so that’s that’s our God instincts
we need to trust our gods the second
thing is you need to be imaginative and
I think that’s very self-explanatory be
inventive be original the third one is
we need to be creative we to come up
with ideas that create value we need to
execute those ideas fourth one for me is
we need to be innovative I’ve found so
many definitions of innovation and what
it means to be innovative but my
favorite one is innovation equals
positive social change sounds like a
very off definition but I think it’s the
best one we need to impact our
communities we need to impact lives we
need to contribute to the world the last
one for me is we need to be flexible
because again the world is only going to
keep on being more and more complex and
we need to be able to adapt to the world
as it is so no complaining no telling
yourself that I’m going to be a certain
way and I’m not going to move because
you get left behind so we can’t run away
from complexity life in itself is
complex so I’ll go back to my the
beginning of my topic which said think
simple by complex actually there was a
question back there because I was hoping
at the end of this conversation we’ll be
able to answer that question and the
answer for me personally is by complex
things simple so instead of think simple
by complex by complex things simple and
let me just explain that before I leave
the stage I was actually good to end my
conversation with with that boy I will
I’ll tell you what I mean by that
because we know that life is already
complex we have to by complexity anyway
but we need to take that and simplify it
to what works for us we need to be
honest with ourselves and make things as
easy as possible for us so that’s really
what it says it’s things are not as
difficult as it is if you see someone I
know the number of people that walked up
to me today and said to me oh hey I like
your hair oh hey you know I follow you
on Instagram and I think that you’re
cool it’s that simple life is really
that simple but a lot of times we stand
and we think oh I don’t want to walk up
to this person because what if they say
this and what if they say that or what
if they pretend like they don’t even
know even on Instagram right of what
eventually life is really that simple
the most Laker says no or yes and that
is the reality of this entire thoughts
of complexity so without
further ado I’m going to say that’s the
end of my talk why ramble on what thank you very much