The Awesome Power of Simplicity and Fundamentals in Businesses
“Truth is ever to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things.” - Isaac Newton
There is enormous power in simplicity.
Complexities, on the other hand, weaken power.
Simplicities clarify; complexities muddy the waters.
Simplicities channel all available resources and power toward the goal.
Complexities lead to and create problems on top of problems. Simplicities solve all problems.
Most people seem to have a strong thirst for complexities; people appear to go out of their way to complicate things. The world and society get more and more complicated. But in terms of leadership, management and business, complexity acts as an anchor, holding back the organization in various ways.
It is an unfortunate fact of human nature that a group of people will tend to introduce more and more complications and complexities into their group, if left to their own devices. And, as businesses grow, they tend to become more and more complex.
It takes a wise and focused leader to cut through these tendencies and keep the group and each individual focused on the most important fundamentals. Good leaders and managers simplify problems and get agreement to effective solutions that keep the business moving toward its goals and purposes.
There is great power in simplicity and in the fundamentals.
The definition of fundamental is the essential nature of something, being an essential part of something; forming a necessary base or core; of central importance; so basic as to be hard to alter or overcome.
There are fundamental laws of leadership, management, efficiency, people, structure and organizations.
As an example, the law of gravity is simple and fundamental. Understanding this law and the laws of aerodynamics leads to the development of planes, helicopters, rockets, satellites and balloons.
In much the same way, knowing and understanding the fundamentals of business lead to optimum solutions and highly successful results for any business - in every situation, in every environment, in any field or industry.
The 5 most fundamental - and powerful - principles in business and management are listed below. If these are followed, success is almost guaranteed - regardless of the technology employed or not employed.
If these fundamentals are not known or followed, then organizations struggle or even fail - no matter how much technology is added.
The awesome power of these simplicities comes from their very nature as fundamental truths.
The 5 fundamentals given here are the foundation, the driving force, the power underlying ALL successful management and leadership systems, technologies, tools and processes. No technology, system or process will work very well without the 5 fundamentals described in this article.
FUNDAMENTAL NUMBER 1: Purpose is the most powerful force in the universe. Anything can be accomplished if one’s Purpose is strong enough.
Successful people and good leaders have a strong purpose and pursue it boldly.
Purpose is the greatest power within each person. A strong enough purpose can accomplish anything.
Throughout history, people have accomplished amazing things and created fantastic results through the sheer power of purpose and purpose alone.
Every major advancement in every civilization, every discovery, every revolution, every great religious or political movement, every invention and technological advancement, all philosophies, even all destructive events such as wars, are the result of one thing and one thing only - the purposes of individuals.
Therefore, every business should work out its purpose clearly and completely. The definition of an organization’s purpose must be clear, complete, valuable to others, constructive and motivating. It must also be communicated to everyone involved and employed in the business.
And not just communicated, but driven home to each and every individual. Purpose - or lack of it - establishes the entire culture, values, operating procedures and policies of any business.
People have fantastic capabilities to achieve great things. The leader-manager who can ignite and channel his or her people’s purpose power has great success.
And those people will also develop, grow, and be successful as well. How to tap into and direct the purpose power within each person in the group is is one of the top reasons our own businesses have been successful. It is also one of the most important actions our consulting company provides to our clients.
Any job description should begin with defining the purpose of that job, and focus on how that job contributes to the overall purpose of the entire organization. A job description should be more than a list of responsibilities and actions to take. The most important part of any job is its purpose and how important that job is to the overall success of the business.
Purpose is at the very heart and soul of leadership and management.
FUNDAMENTAL NUMBER 2: “To command is to serve, nothing more and nothing less.” - Andre Malraux
Andre Malraux was a French novelist, historian, and statesman who served as a minister under President Charles de Gaulle in the 1950s and 1960s.
In this simple statement lies an entire philosophy of effective and successful management and leadership. A universe of principles is contained within this statement. This is one of those Zen-like principles that the more you consider it, the broader and deeper are its applications.
This statement presents the ideal point of view for anyone who is or desires to be in a leadership or management position.
“To command is to serve.” What a concept! It does not state commanding and serving; it states that commanding IS serving.
The question is, “Who is one serving while commanding?” One who is in command is actually serving
the organization (by making it successful and lasting),
its people (by giving them purpose, professionally rewarding jobs, and the means to earn a higher standard of living),
and its customers, clients, or beneficiaries (by providing them superior products and services, which in turn improve their very quality of life).
How is this a fundamental principle? How is this simple statement so powerful?
A leader-manager who knows that "to command is to serve" will always put the best interests of the group, its people and its clients/customers ahead of any other consideration. Simply knowing and adopting this attitude will cause any leader-manager to make better and wiser decisions.
A leader-manager who truly accepts this principle will always strive to do the right thing in all situations.
Any leader-manager who is arrogant, insecure, harsh, loud, manipulative, demeaning, unsuccessful, nasty or any other negative attitude does not understand that his or her role is to serve the organization and its clients - not be served by them.FUNDAMENTAL NUMBER 3
Anyone in a position of management or command who is arrogant, insecure, harsh, loud, manipulative, demeaning, unsuccessful, nasty or any other negative attitude does not understand that his or her role is to serve the organization and its clients - not be served by them. Such a person is no leader.
FUNDAMENTAL NUMBER 3: An organization is a group of competent people unified, coordinated and all working together as an efficient, productive team in pursuit of the same goals and purposes.
"So what?" you ask. "Everyone knows this!"
Maybe, but ask yourself truthfully - is each and every word and intent in this definition totally, 100% in place in your business?
This definition is the end result that every leader-manager should be working to achieve in his or her business. Any leader-manager can take this definition and all its elements, and work out how to create a successful organization.
How do I identify and choose competent people to join this group?
How do I ensure that only competent people are in my organization?
How do I develop them and increase their competence and abilities?
How do I unite them? How are they best organized?
How are the goals and purposes communicated so that everyone is on the same page?
How do I get them to work as one well-oiled, efficient and productive team in pursuit of the same goals?
How do I tap into the great power inside each person?
How do I quickly identify counter-productive or detrimental or negative people in the group?
How do I keep out all unnecessary distractions, noise, stress and conflicts in my group?
What systems and work flows will result in the highest efficiencies?
How do I best manage these people and the group so as to produce success and prosperity for all of us?
How do I ensure that our clients/customers are getting the very best products and service possible, that improve their very quality of life/
The single most important end result of all the work of any leader-manager is to create a group of competent people united, coordinated and all working together as an efficient, productive team in pursuit of the same goals and purposes.
If a leader-manager produces such an organization, success and prosperity are guaranteed for one and all. The organization would achieve its purposes and goals.
FUNDAMENTAL NUMBER 4: Success is achieved by creating happy, loyal, repeat customers or clients who refer others. This is accomplished by producing and delivering an excellent product and service that satisfies a need or desire or demand.
Any business that
satisfies a need or desire or demand with an excellent product and service that people want and are happy with;
sells those products and services to lots of people;
gives these customers great service;
communicates with them very well;
resolves any problems quickly and competently; and
improves the very quality of life for its customers/clients with all of the above
will create loyal clients who refer others. In this way, a business grows like wildfire - as long as the other fundamentals are in place.
An average product, average service and average communication will result in a mediocre or even unsuccessful group.
The better the product and service, the greater the number of people will buy it.
The better the service, the more customers will stay loyal to the company and give it repeat business.
The better the communication to the client, the happier the client will be and will refer others to the business.
FUNDAMENTAL NUMBER 5: Communication is by far the single most important skill, ability and action in any organization.
This one fundamental is so important that it deserves a separate article - or several. But since communication is one of the 5 fundamentals, I include it here for completeness.
The previous 4 principles are fundamental truths, from which spring all successful leadership and management systems and processes. But Communication is a skill, an ability and an action all at the same time.
By communication, I don't mean any automated message systems. I mean one-on-one communication between two or more people. Person A communicating to Person B - face-to-face, by phone, by email or even a letter. I'm talking about an actual two-way exchange between two or more live people.
One-on-one communication is so important, so valuable, so creative of success, that it cannot be adequately addressed in this article. The vast majority of what is called "communication" in most businesses falls far short of what true, ideal and effective communication is all about.
Our society is hell-bent on automating everything possible - including communication. A certain amount of automated messaging and communication is fine. But the trend is to automate too much - at the expense of far more valuable and profitable one-on-one communication.
The result of too much automation is too little real and effective communication. This is a huge mistake that costs any business thousands, thens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of dollars each month in revenues and profits.
No matter how well or poorly a business is doing, improving Communication skills and abilities would have an enormous positive impact on all areas of the business - to include revenues and profits. We have proven this for over 25 years in our own businesses.
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One final point:
All too often, the introduction of a new technology adds complexities to a business - even though the intent is always the exact opposite. Well, as the old expression goes, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." This saying is never more true than when it comes to adding new technology.
Technology is never a fundamental. Technology is simply a tool - no matter how advanced or high-tech or cool or WOW! it might be. And like any tool, technology should be designed and used to strengthen and reinforce the fundamentals.
Have you ever had new software or a brand new system or technology put into your business, which then caused all sorts of confusions, glitches and even chaos? This occurs when the technology is not designed and based on the fundamentals - or if one or more of the fundamentals is missing or weak in the business.
Adding technology with little or no thought to the fundamentals produces a business that devotes more time to the technology than it does to the fundamentals - fundamentals which create success, prosperity and happy clients/customers who sing the organization’s praises.
Technology is very often introduced to solve a problem, when the real problem is a lack of one or more fundamental ingredient to success. All too often, technology becomes the master and people become the servants to technology - totally dependent on technology.
It should be the fundamentals - the simplicities - which define and drive the technology, not the other way around.