Do You Fall Prey to Oversimplification?

Unintended Consequences and Consequential Impacts

Issue 147, February 15, 2024

We all do it.  We oversimplify when it suits us or when we believe that is what our audience wants to hear. In business, we have been programmed not to share too many financial details and just report the high-level numbers. Or not get all techy; talk in plain English. Avoid all those legal terms that make heads spin. Can’t you just say that a different way? Add to that programming the urban myth that human beings hate to read anything too complicated; get to the point quickly.

Separate But Equal

A behavioral truth is that ultimately each of us seeks to conserve our energy and take the easiest path, which falls into the temptation to oversimplify. After all, deep diving into every issue, problem, and solution comes with the risk that everyone around the table will take a short snooze. We believe that a few important bullet points and the most concise communication of information will be a crowd-pleaser. If we get exhausted from “too much information,” we beli…