Complexity kills. Every. Damn. Time.
I came across a post on LinkedIn by Megan Bouton that sums up much of this newsletter in a few little drawings. You can see the original post here. Check it out. I promise, it’s worth it. (And follow her! Her posts are sharp, and she deserves a larger following).
The cartoon is about brand messaging, but it shines a light on a pervasive problem — obfuscation (that’s my SAT word for the day). I don’t have any clients in the socks biz, but a finance client gave me a challenge once. They had a novel approach to wealth building and preservation. They’d built a model to track someone’s financial journey—one that didn’t rely on the usual metrics like age, net worth, or retirement projections.
It was smart. Nuanced. Way more true-to-life than the standard stuff.
But here’s the problem: it was hard to explain.
Eesh.
The math. The variables.
They always resorted to the formula. People got lost. So they shelved it.
They thought the model was the breakthrough. But the model didn’t resonate.
The real insight—the one that actually landed—was this:
Wealth doesn’t move in a straight line.
A 28-year-old might suddenly become rich through inheritance.
A 60-year-old might find themselves back at square one after a layoff or medical event.
When we dropped the algorithm chatter and focused on the human journey, something shifted. Now, the team wanted to share it.
Here’s my point: complexity almost never impresses—it obscures.
Big ideas die from over-explanation.
Ideas collapse under the weight of too many words. Overstuffed explanations. The need to cover every angle until the point gets lost.
And it’s easy to get lost in your own expertise, especially in high-stakes moments when you’re under pressure to look smart.
Here’s what stakeholders are actually scanning for:
✔︎ Strategic relevance – What’s in it for me? Why does this matter right now?
✔︎ Business value – Can this help me? What’s the upside or the impact?
✔︎ Risk exposure – Can this hurt me? What could go wrong?
If your message doesn’t hit those points fast, they tune out. They have a million things competing for their attention and patience isn’t one of them.
People often think stripping things down means dumbing them down. But they’re wrong.
The instinct to over-explain? It comes from fear—and ego.
→ Fear that a simpler message won’t sound smart enough.
→ Fear that stripping things down means losing credibility.
→ Fear that if something sounds too obvious, it must be shallow.
The point: More and clever isn’t always better. Sometimes more is just... more. Sometimes clever is just . . . ambiguous.
A message lands when it’s stripped down to the sharpest, most undeniable version of itself.
It's not about saying less. It’s about saying exactly what matters. (And cutting everything else. Without mercy.)
The thing that feels too simple—the line you almost didn’t say because it sounded too direct?
That’s the hit. That’s the part that leaves a mark.
The stronger the idea, the less it needs around it.
Cut The Crap, Keep The Core: 3 Steps to Strip Your Message Down to What Works
When the point gets lost in the details, nobody cares how clever it was supposed to be.
If they don’t get it, they won’t buy it, fund it, or follow it.
Here’s how to simplify complex ideas without dumbing them down:
1. Cut First. Explain Later.
Most people make this mistake.
They start with context. Background. The setup.
By the time they get to the point, no one's listening anymore.
Flip it.
Start with the punch. The insight they can't ignore.
Success looks like ‘tell me more’, not ‘but what do you actually do?’.
2. Make Complex Ideas Familiar.
New concepts click faster when they’re linked to something familiar. That’s where analogies win.
And when the concept is technical, abstract, or just plain complicated, analogies are your best friend.
You’re not dumbing it down. You’re making it make sense.
🔑 Use Analogies That Fit Their World. Paint a picture they can immediately relate to.
Instead of:
"Our AI platform continuously analyzes operational data to identify inefficiencies."
Say:
"Think of it like having a security camera in your factory - it spots problems the moment they happen, and alerts you so you can fix them right away."
3. Make Every Word Earn Its Place.
Nobody cares what you do. They care what it does for them.
Every piece of communication needs to pass the “So what?” test.
You describe your product, your process, your approach—and if it’s not immediately clear why it matters to them, you’ve already lost them.
You say: “We’ve built a scalable AI platform.”
They’re thinking: “So what?”
If your message doesn’t answer “So what?” before they even have a chance to ask, you’re just talking at them.
Always lead with the impact.
Instead of:
“We help companies improve decision-making with advanced analytics.”
Say:
“We help companies drive revenue growth by making informed decisions, faster.”
🎯 The Messaging Mad Lib
If you can’t explain your message in one sentence, you’re overcomplicating it.
Fill this in:
“We help [WHO] achieve [OUTCOME] [HOW].”
Break it down:
- WHO: Who is this for? Be specific. (e.g., B2B founders, SaaS companies, product teams.)
- OUTCOME: What’s the result they actually care about? (e.g., closing deals faster, cutting costs, retaining clients.)
- HOW: What do you do? No jargon. (e.g., refining messaging, streamlining workflows, simplifying onboarding.)
Keep going until it’s uncomfortably simple. That’s how you know you’ve hit the core.
For example, at Motive3, we help B2B companies unify their messaging with playbooks everyone can use.
🤖 Bonus GPT Prompt:
Copy and paste this into ChatGPT:
“I need you to help me simplify my message. Here's what I need you to do:
- Ask me three questions if my message is unclear.
- Then break my message into three parts:
- What I do
- Who I do it for
- Why it matters
- Rewrite it as one clear sentence (max 12 words) that feels obvious and undeniable. Use plain language—no buzzwords or filler. Prioritize clarity over cleverness.
Here’s my original message: [Insert your message here]”
🔄 Your Turn
What’s your uncomfortably simple one-liner?
Hit me with your Messaging Mad Lib results—I’d love to read it.
