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b"Everything should be as simple as it is, but not simpler.- Albert Einstein\\nThere are at least 200 working days a year. If you commit to doing a simple marketing item just once each day, at the end of the year you've built a mountain.-\\xa0Seth Godin (http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2012/09/the-simple-power-of-one-a-day.html)*\\nSimple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it\\u2019s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.- Steve Jobs\\nComplexity to Simplicity: The Transformational Leader Creates Clarity\\nOur world already has too many choices. I can remember when we only had the telephone to contact people. In fact, when we needed to call long distance, we needed to have the operator place the call. It was a big deal when we could dial 1 to make a long distance call. Then we got FAX machines. We could send documents over phone lines. This saved sending packages by special delivery mail. Then, the next big deal was email! This was an amazing breakthrough allowing us to communicate with people around the globe. Then came pagers. Then we got cell phones. Then came texting. We kept adding things and not taking away anything. More is not better.\\nWe are bombarded each day with so many messages that it's difficult to discern what's important.\\nWe live in a mostly over-stimulated world.\\nIn music masterworks, some of the most profound moments are those with complete silence\\xa0or a passage that's pianissimo, following a loud, dramatic passage. There's unique power in the quiet times and the times of silence.\\nIt's in silent, quiet times that the presence of God is most felt, not in noisy praise sessions.\\nIt\\u2019s the leader\\u2019s duty and delight to pay attention to what\\u2019s happening and how it happens and separate the noise from the essential messages.\\nIt\\u2019s the leader's job\\xa0to make the complex simple. This is not a simple\\xa0task. Cutting through the noise and confusion takes focus, concentration, and a lot of effort. Like the Jobs\\xa0quote above points out, it\\u2019s hard work making things simple.\\nWhen I was a young piano student, I heard Van Cliburn play a solo\\xa0concert in Atlanta, Georgia. I was so impressed that he made playing the\\xa0piano\\xa0seem easy. It\\xa0appeared easy because he had practiced. He had\\xa0done the hard work. He had prepared in order to release his creative energy in performance. Mozart\\u2019s music is\\xa0seemly simple,\\xa0however it\\u2019s so transparent that every note is exposed. It\\u2019s\\xa0delicacy in\\xa0motion. It\\u2019s\\xa0difficult, not in playing lots of notes, but in precision. Paderewski was known to have said that playing Mozart was simple for the student and very\\xa0difficult for the teacher. In\\xa0other words, the simple is difficult.\\nWe want to hide behind complexity as leaders to protect our\\xa0deficiencies, our\\xa0insecurities, and our lack of knowledge. Leadership is identifying our gaps. Leadership is asking questions and not knowing all the answers. Leadership is about integrity, honesty, and open communications. We get things done and we know how things get done. If we don\\u2019t know, we find out how.\\nWhen the musical conductor prepares for a rehearsal, they spend 2 to 3 hours preparing for each hour of rehearsal. There\\u2019s no substitute for preparation.\\nTo get to\\xa0simple takes work. It takes lots of work. The\\xa0complexity of leadership is in being able to make things simple so others can follow.\\nWe want stimulation.\\n*\\xa0http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2012/09/the-simple-power-of-one-a-day.html (http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2012/09/the-simple-power-of-one-a-day.html)\\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices"