Simple Brilliance

Have you ever taken time to notice and really study something you consider to be brilliant? A person. A sunset. A photograph. A book. A product. A business strategy. Regardless of what it is, all brilliant things share one thing in common. They're usually simple.


Over the weekend, I was reading Guy Kawasaki's blog. I had the good fortune of attending one of his presentations about entrepreneurship. If you ever get the chance to see Guy present in person, do it. He's not only insightful, but pretty hilarious too. (See his presentation on "The Art of the Start" online). He shares a lot of common-sense advice about everything from ditching mission statements for mantras and making sure products have "meaning" above all else. He even shares some practical, simple advice about PowerPoint presentations. A brilliant presentation indeed.

If all brilliant things are in fact simple, the why do so many feel compelled to f' things up by complicating them? You see this happen all the time in PR. Just read any company press release and you'll instantly know what I mean.

Interestingly, I don't blame PR people for this. Despite what many people think, the PR person rarely if ever has the final say. They may write the first draft of the release, but the dateline may be the only thing that remains after going through the internally editing process. In fact, most press releases have to go through several, if not dozens of rounds of editing. Product marketing tweaks it. Legal adds its disclaimers and annoying footnotes. HR may want to chime in. Heck, I've even been asked to have the receptionist read a release. But that's not the worse of it. A release generally gets really complicated once it gets in the hands of the executives. I'm convinced that your average executive can make pouring a glass of water sound complicated.

Unfortunately, PR people answer to executives. But PR people would be well advised to spend time educating executives about press releases and what makes good ones and what makes bad ones. This is your chance to emphasize simplicity. Of course, you shouldn't do this while trying to get a release edited and approved. Do it between announcements when the executives are less interested in being "right" at all costs.

The brilliance of any announcement should be in its simplicity. If what you're announcing is truly brilliant, then keep your press release simple. If what you're announcing isn't brilliant, well, maybe think twice about announcing it at all.