essays – Consulting

Complicated

𝗜 𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀, 𝗶𝗻 𝗺𝘆 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘁.

It might take me a month to prepare for a 20-minute presentation (and it has). I research all the possibilities of addressing a topic and fret over what to include – and NOT include – in the final talk.

Just because I have decades of experience and knowledge doesn’t mean I have to share all of that with the audience. But that’s the path I tend to go down initially.

I believe in being prepared, especially when it comes to nonprofits and strategic planning (see my post on that topic here: https://lnkd.in/gBU9HPJA).

📌 But overly complicated strategies or approaches may prove unsuccessful in the long run.

𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗪𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗘. 𝗖𝗼𝘆𝗼𝘁𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝗥𝘂𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗿.

Talk about overly complicated strategies. W.E.C. puts so much effort and analysis into his attempts to catch and eat the roadrunner, but he ends up being humorously (?) unsuccessful every time.

👀 𝗙𝘂𝗻 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘀: Roadrunners reach speeds up to 20 mph while coyotes can go upwards of 43 mph. Roadrunners can fly, they just prefer not to.

If either of the “characters” had been true to their abilities, either the coyote would have outrun the roadrunner or the bird would have flown away. 🤔

[But that would not have made for a very interesting or successful cartoon series, obviously.]

𝗜’𝘃𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗿𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵 𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗹𝘆: 👉 𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗼𝗸𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘅 𝗶𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗲𝘀.

Can you tackle a small part of the problem to begin with? Is there something you can do that seems so simple but might make a difference?

𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗺𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲.

As long as you’re going in the right direction, at least you’re making progress. 𝙎𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙧𝙪𝙣𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜.