Coach Boz’s Blog

Final thought on my recent simplicity posts.

I came upon the following quote in a book I’m reading called An Intellectual History of Liberalism.  (BTW, it’s a very interesting read on the history and evolution of geopolitical movements and frameworks such as empires, city-states, oligarchies, monarchies, democracies, etc.) The (relatively small) book is itself a great example of simplicity, given the extremely tedious and voluminous subject. But one quote in particular really hit me as the author was talking about Machiavelli:

I shall confine myself to the idea that everyone, even those who have not read him, has of Machiavelli — that is, to the surface of his work, because it is this surface that influenced men’s minds. With an author of Machiavelli’s rank, the surface contains, so to speak, the depth. (p.13) [emphasis mine]

Take some time to absorb that.  “it is this surface that influenced men’s minds.” I think that is every bit as true today, but it’s not limited to Machiavelli!  It happens to you and to me.  And, likely, we do the same “surface” reading of others.  The real genius is to achieve what he credits to Machiavelli, which is that “the surface contains, so to speak, the depth.”  THAT should be our goal.  That our simple surface — presented through simple, clear, concise communication — is the same as the depth of what we’re trying to communicate.

That is no small challenge.