The "How To" Dilemma
Leadership
November 30, 2010
Susan Mazza
CEO, Clarus Works
Topics
Coaching, Communication, Learning, Marketing, simplicity
It is common knowledge that blog/article titles starting with “How To…” or have lists like “The 5 Ways To…” are popular. As a blogger I have been encouraged to use this strategy for my titles more often by other bloggers and marketers.
We appreciate it when someone takes something complex and hard and makes it simple and easy for us. After all, why reinvent the wheel? If someone can show us a shortcut to understanding and/or action, why not take it?
The ability to simplify is definitely an important and valuable skill in today’s world, perhaps more than ever. But...
Are we really looking for simple or are we deluding ourselves that simple also means easy? Is this just another version of our endless search for the quick fix: “take this pill and you’ll lose 30 pounds, no exercise and diet required”?
The web is rampant with promises of difficult made easy. When we read the simple version of anything it makes so much sense it can seem like it will actually be easy to execute. Unscrupulous marketers prey on people with promises of taking the pain out of success selling “simple and easy” in the form of countless varieties of “get rich quick” programs or that this new marketing tactic is “the” solution to turn around your results.
I’m not saying we shouldn’t learn from others who have gone before us or model practices and systems that are proven and work. But are we looking for guidance so we can develop and apply our own thinking and ingenuity or are we looking for answers in the form of “it’s as easy as 1-2-3” steps that eliminate the need to think and ensure we get results anyway?
It like being given the answers to a test and expecting not just to get an A but expecting that you actually learned something of value. Behind every answer, “how to” instructions, or simplified lists there is a rich context of beliefs, knowledge, mindsets, etc. that made the simplification possible. Getting to simple is far from easy.
The "lists" will change over time, but it is the thinking behind those lists often leaves us with the enduring principles and understanding needed to apply them and adapt successfully over time.
We can’t consume our way to success by reading, listening to audios and watching videos. We have to actually consciously apply it in real life or we won’t really learn anything that makes a difference. And when we do it is not likely to be as easy as 1-2-3. If it was, we probably could have figured it out for ourselves.
As a coach I have been trained to resist the pull to give answers and instead ask the questions that can help someone find their own way and their own answers. And ultimately I have gathered enough of my own evidence that this is what really serves people.
I have resisted the advice to just give people what they want (or what I am told people want anyway) – the answers, the solution to their problems. My attempts to do this have been few and the few have been unsatisfying. There are quite a few unfinished posts in my blog’s draft folder!
I have wondered whether I am being a purest to my own detriment. Now that I am working to market my own products I am challenged by the same phenomena. I can promise what I offer to be simple to understand, to translate theory into pragmatic action, and that when applied it has worked consistently. Yet when I offer simple do people also expect easy?
Creating the product isn’t the hard part. Marketing it is in a world that continually looks for the ultimate solution to their problems. Besides, often what people think their problem is turns out not to be the problem at all.
Whether it’s a blog post, a product, or even a vision we have to consider how to appeal to the market if we want anyone to invest their attention, time and/or money in what we have to offer. Somehow we have to get people’s attention in an attention deficit world.
Hence I've been in a personal inquiry: do I have to learn to “market” to the least common denominator who seeks simple and easy to get people’s attention online, or are there other approaches that work just as well and maybe even better? I would of course love to hear your thoughts on this.
A question I specifically have for you is: What characterizes the posts you value most and/or the products you are willing to invest your time, attention and money in when it comes to developing yourself as a leader?
Who are some of the great leaders you have worked with and learned from?
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I’m drawn to the posts that not only inform me but that contain insights or tips worth sharing with others.
Appreciate the feedback Beryl.
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A very timely post for me, Susan. I was thinking again just this morning how much I HATE lists. As you correctly point out, we are rewarded for writing in lists. Look at any big blog post aggregater (e.g. Smartbrief) and you will consistently find lists. My favorite bloggers (e.g. Bog Sutton, Wally Bock) write intelligent, thought provoking pieces that challenge me to think or see something differently. They rarely write in “to do” lists. I too have written in lists but every time I do it I am painfully aware that I am pandering to some simple minded person who’s main purpose is to sell their site.
It does not sell subscriptions, but I try to write for myself. I have a lot still that I need to learn, need to understand. When I learn something new or chew on something in a different way, I archive that on my blog. It is a way for me to codify both the content and process of my thinking and learning. My blog is more than anything else my own personal learning journey.
I am convinced that blogging and the pursuit of understanding it represents (for me) has made me a better person and a better performer. Thankfully, I have a day job and don’t have to depend on content marketing to pay the bills.
Thanks!
Bret
Thanks Bret for sharing about your own journey in this regard. I have had a similar approach to my blog – it is my own personal learning journey, too, including my journey for learning to write in a way that engages people. I also believe twitter and blogging has made me a better communicator in all areas of my life.
And I since am a solopreneur, I have to get a lot smarter about how I leverage the time I spend writing. For me the next evolution in my blogging journey is to learn to write more strategically, perhaps based on a theme I want to develop rather than opportunistically based on what happens to be inspiring me to write in that moment based on the work I am doing with clients. Likely I will end up with a mix of both.
My ultimate commitment in my writing and in my products is to push the envelop on the value I can provide. Consulting is very satisfying and high touch means i can personally press people to push past their limits. Pondering how I can accomplish that level of impact with less touch by leveraging the incredible tools available.
Excellent post, Susan, thank you!
You are SO right: There is a HUGE difference between simple and easy. So many “simple” things are difficult: For example, “to lose weight, just burn more calories than you consume” or “be kind to those who insult you.” Simple? Yup. Easy? Not so much.
What is true, though, is that eliminating complexity can make difficult tasks much less so. For example, if someone decides (the night before) exactly what time they will exercise next day and when and what they will eat, their odd of fitness success go WAY UP. Similarly, setting your mind before an appointment with a difficult person improves the chances you’ll answer kindly. So I guess preparation makes the difficult, easier. Preparation is the “conscious application” you mention.
The post I value most share simple truths about difficult problems. I love posts in which the writer recounts a personal experience and what he or she learned. These posts leave me pondering how I can apply the lesson in my life.
With regard to your question about marketing, I would say this: People’s lives are becoming increasingly complicated. Information is flooding eyes and ears and seeping from pores. Each time you identify a repeatable approach that can allow someone to be MORE successful in LESS time, I’d say so, quite loudly. People are aching for solutions like that.
Tristan
Exceelent – thanks for your great feedback Tristan
Playing with formulating my own “test” for future posts based on what you said….here’s what I have so far…Simplicity delivered in a way that is engaging, meaningful, authentic and actionable.
Thanks for a thoughtful and valuable post, Susan. As a technical writer, much of the work I do is providing step-by-step instructions for completing tasks…and to be successful, I must be sure that those instructions are clear, complete, and help the user get a job done quickly and with a minimum of pain. Some of the documentation I must write, however, is for topics that are not as clear-cut…for example, explaining a complex concept, or providing instructions that require the users to understand the options available to them and make the right choices.
These challenges have helped me to appreciate the dangers of oversimplifying topics that often are fraught with complexity…such as searching for a job in the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression…making career decisions in a job market that has changed dramatically in the last 10 years…or responding to the new world of social media in a way that is both productive and true to one’s values. Tasks that might have seemed straightforward in the past, such as preparing a resume, are not that easy these days — not in this complex and competitive job market. All of this provides all of us with the challenge of communicating clearly and directly, while acknowledging the complexity that often accompanies the issues we’re writing about… and offering empathy for the difficulty in forging ahead when the road is bumpy and the winds are high.
Thanks so much for sharing your experience and insight.
Meg Wheatly in Leadership and the New Science says: “Perhaps order is simply a brief moment seized from disorder”. I think we could replace order/ disorder with clarity/lack of clarity!
When it comes to navigating the job market a thought came to mind….I think we need to be clear about our strengths and be able to keep upgrading our story about how those strengths add value now.
I love your idea that simple doesn’t mean easy. The best posts are those that express complex ideas simply and elegantly. This does not make them easy, just clearer. Posts with lists tend to be surface analyses of complex ideas and leave me disappointed and bored. To be fair, I am pretty skeptical of easy. I would rather spend my time failing at something difficult than succeeding at easy. Just my 2 cents.
Hope you are well,
Deb Costello
Thanks for sharing your observations. Nice to see you!
Susan: Thank you! I can see by the comments that you and I aren’t the only ones pondering this question. I took a blog writing course about a year ago, and it almost made me stop writing blogs because it was based on a formula for the “how to” or “six steps to”, etc.
I love blogs that are pointed at a simple topic, laser focused, and really make me think. I love to respond when someone asks me a question, just like you did – especially when it deals with an issue I have been struggling with for a while.
Thanks for the opportunity to share my thoughts!
Thanks Georgia. This is a great community for exploring what challenges us and learning together.
While “simple” means “easy to understand, deal with, or use” it doesn’t mean “easy” in application. Two statements I hear regularly in my work are, “You make it sound so simple” and “That’s hard!” Typically, these comments are made in association with one another. These exclamations are always “music to my ears” because they let me know that I’m hitting the target of my teaching. Simple doesn’t mean “easy” application, simple means “efficient” application. The way we put a satellite into space is “efficient”, yet it requires a tremendous amount of spent energy. It’s not “easy” at all! I think these are important distinctions to add to the thesis, Susan, and as always, you’re bringing “tough stuff” to the table in an intelligent way. As for me, I like blogs that that keep me from “reinventing the wheel” (efficiency) but leave me the task of working out my own dance steps! As I think about it, I like your articles in particular! 🙂
Thank you Thomas! Always appreciate your added distinctions. Love the analogy of working out “your own dance steps”.
Great post and comments!
Your question: What characterizes the posts you value most and/or the products you are willing to invest your time, attention and money in when it comes to developing yourself as a leader?
I have been thinking about similar things lately (list posts, simplifying complex ideas, leader development, etc). In fact just yesterday I was asked to write a List post and my heart sank when the request was made. I wasn’t sure why at the time but after reading your post I think I understand my disappointment. I was going to write a “fluff” post: High-level and fun. The real question that should drive our writing (or product development, webinars, training) is: “What’s in it for the reader/user/learner?” Why do they care? What will make them act on this idea? What is the return on their 5-minute investment? I like to read posts that provide me with an experience, a story, an idea that expands my knowledge, gets me to think about new actionable ideas that I can implement right away.
Your post has accomplished each one of those things for me and is what I strive for in what I write. Of course this does not mean that list posts cannot accomplish this! List posts have developed a bad reputation, but I urge you not to judge a post by its title because it’s what we find inside that counts!
Thanks, Susan!
Sonia
Susan, you have touch on a subject that I also struggle with. The above comments show that there are others with similar thoughts and struggles. I think a contributor to the “oversimplification” trend is the actual tendency of narrowing specialization so much that many people don’t have a clue of things that are outside of their narrow expertise. Therefore, the quest for simplicity in other areas.
As for me, as much as I have tried lists, and “how to” posts, they tend to make it hard for me to write, since my tendency is to draw on my multi-disciplinary training and experience and probably to bring different contexts and ideas together. I keep working at “simplifying” my posts, but it tends to be a struggle. Finding the right balance between too simple or too complex is never easy. Thank you for sharing your thoughts!
Dr. Ada
Appreciate you sharing your thoughts on this Dr Ada. The advice I have gotten that has resonated most is to learn the art of brevity. Seth Godin is masterful at this. That is the best “tactic” I have found in my never ending quest to communicate complex ideas as simply as possible. For what it’s worth I have pinpointed my own challenge in this regard as trying to communicate too many ideas in one post – I have to resist the urge to cram too much into one post!
I love your list of questions to guide our writing – all of which truly put us in the world of the reader/customer.
Point taken about not all lists being created equal. Whatever form we choose, it is ultimately what we do with it that counts. Simple in any form can have great substance.