Speak Simply

Aim

Damian McKinney's favorite saying, “What is simple is understood, what is understood is done,” serves as a reminder to himself. Powerful leaders are easily tempted to craft complex strategies on paper, or to issue a series of impulsive orders.
Business leaders, too, must make the difficult choice to distill vast amounts of strategic material into a few concise words that clearly express the mission.

Deep Dive

When I first heard Damian say,
“What is simple is understood. What is understood is done,”
I thought, “That’s it! That’s exactly what I needed to hear!”
The sharpness of the English expression struck me.
Whenever I introduced Damian’s words to non-Japanese audiences, I saw them instinctively reach for their pens to jot them down.

Before that moment, I had spent years in the planning division of a global corporation, producing and reading massive, complicated reports.
Often I wondered, “Does anyone actually understand documents this long?”
But if I ever said aloud, “Who has time to read this many pages?” my MBA-educated colleagues would look at me with that ‘Are you stupid?’ expression.
So, to survive, I forced myself to read every word.

After Damian’s words gave shape to my own frustrations, I began noticing the same principle echoed in the sayings of great leaders throughout history.
“Damian is right. The military is right. And I was right too,” I realized.

Wisdom Through the Ages

Napoléon Bonaparte:
“Complex strategies are unnecessary in warfare. The simplest plans are the best. Great generals go wrong because they try to appear clever by devising intricate schemes.”

Steve Jobs:
“Simplicity is harder than complexity. You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it, because once you get there, you can move mountains.”

Ryōtarō Shiba, Clouds Above the Hill:
“Excellent strategy and tactics are like arithmetic—simple enough for laymen to understand. Philosophical, overly intricate plans may exist, but if they do, they belong to the losing side.”

Ikujirō Nonaka et al., The Essence of Failure
In any military operation, there must be a clear strategic or operational objective. Operations with ambiguous goals are bound to fail, for they amount to commanding and mobilizing a large organization—the army—without a definite sense of direction. Fundamentally, no operation should exist without a clearly unified purpose. Yet in the Japanese military, such unthinkable situations occurred all too often.
Even in history, clarity has won battles.
During the Siege of Port Arthur in the Russo-Japanese War, victory came from a single, unifying mission: ‘Capture Hill 203.’

The Power of a Simple Strategy

I once witnessed the same principle in the business world while consulting for a luxury fashion brand seeking renewed growth.
The leadership team was debating which factor of the formula Sales = Price per Customer × Number of Customers should be their main focus.

One executive argued:
“Raising the average price per customer is the hallmark of a luxury brand. If we chase volume, our staff will start pushing cheap items.”

Another countered:
“No, increasing the number of customers is what keeps a brand popular. If we rely only on high-spending clients, we’ll suffer when they leave.”

A third tried to compromise:
“Let’s pursue both. As long as total sales rise, it doesn’t matter how.”

The discussion went in circles—until the CEO made a clear decision:
“Let’s go for customer numbers.”

He explained, “That will energize our stores, develop our staff, and sustain growth in the long term.”

Once the message “Increase customer numbers” spread company-wide, the response was immediate:

“Simple and clear! We joined this company to work with premium brands—we won’t cheapen our image just to boost numbers.”
“We’ll refine our skills to attract new clients with style, not discounts.”
“Our flagship stores will lead the way!”

Within months, customer traffic began to rise—without lowering average purchase value.
The CEO later told me,

“It was a big decision. But the moment we, the management team, committed to a simple, unified message, it ignited our people’s passion.
That’s when I truly felt I had taken the controls of this company as its new president.”

During the heated debates, my only contribution was to quietly urge,
“Simplify. Simplify.”
But now I boast to friends,

“That transformation happened partly thanks to my advice.”

One friend laughed and said,

“You know, that’s what we call an ‘ore-ore scam’—the ‘it-was-me’ scam.”