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Business is simple, people are complex
“Business is simple, people are complex”
Those who know me hear me use this turn of phrase often. Perhaps business is not quite simple, but where it comes down to hard numbers, it can be complicated, but it is not complex.
What is the difference between complicated and complex?
Well, designing a massive piece of infrastructure (think Panama Canal, Hoover Dam, The Shard) is certainly not simple, but it is complicated rather than complex. It can be considered as a (large) number of constituent parts and issues to be addressed, each of which can be quantified, assessed, designed for. Humans, on the other hand, are complex. We cannot design rules, systems, processes for how people behave.
I love this. There is no set answer to being human, so there is not set answer to being a Leader. Learning to lead is a lifelong practice, a journey.
My own career began by qualifying as a Chartered Accountant. I was good at numbers, so that was a good place to start, I guess. I then spent about, oh, fifteen years dedicated to numbers and what could be measured. At a certain point though, I became progressively more passionate…
