SEARCH

Search

Explore

Blog
Podcast
Free Live Event
Self-Assessment
Manifesto
Book

Work with me

Masterclass
Instant Clarity Call
1:1 Coaching
Keynote

Connect

Linkedin Instagram Twitter Facebook

SUBSCRIBE

A very special pizza

Imagine you’re making a simple, classic pizza. Just sauce, cheese, and a few basil leaves. But then someone leans over and says, “Oh, I love mushrooms on pizza!” So you add mushrooms. Then someone else chimes in, “Pepperoni is a must!” And now, anchovies for the adventurous types. Pineapple, because there’s always someone who wants it. Pretty soon, your pizza’s so loaded it’s about to collapse.

What was once a delightfully simple creation is now a confusing mix of flavors. Every new topping was meant to please someone, but together, they please no-one. Instead of a satisfying bite, it’s just an awful mess of a taste.

Clarity works the same way. When you try to add everything, to appeal to every taste, you end up with something that pleases no one. A message that started off strong and clear gets buried under competing ideas, details, and angles.

Maybe the question isn’t, “What else can I add to make it as complete as possible?” but, “What’s essential to keep to make it as delightful as possible?”

So, how can you make your message so pure that it stands out with irresistible clarity.

Because, just like pizza, the most powerful messages don’t need everything. They just need the right ingredients, passionately selected, and arranged with dedication.

That’s what can turn it into an unforgettable delight — simple and satisfying (sometimes in a very unexpected way).

The Painter’s Overcorrection

Imagine a painter working on a portrait. He’s unhappy with the way the eyes look, so he adds more colors, trying to capture the right shade. Unsatisfied, he then paints additional lines and shadows, hoping to give them depth. The more he adds, the further the eyes drift from his vision. Frustrated, he keeps piling on strokes, shades, and highlights, making the eyes busier and less lifelike.

A fellow artist, seeing his struggle, takes another canvas and paints the same eyes with just a few confident, well-placed strokes. The result? A clear, vivid, and lifelike pair of eyes.

The original painter’s instinct was to add, thinking more detail would solve the problem. In reality, the simplicity and clarity of fewer, well-placed strokes made the difference.

It’s a cliché but it’s true: less is often more.

In our rush to communicate, our instinct is to pile on words and ideas, thinking it’s better. It’s not. One strong argument that sticks easily beats 10 weak arguments that our audience forgets.

Strip it down and keep it simple, subtract the non-essential and amplify the essential …

Your message will be so much clearer.

Would they agree?

When you think that this little detail is crucially important in your communication and can’t be left out under any circumstances, would your customers agree?

I mean there’s no doubt that it’s crucial to building the service but is it crucial for your communication?

Your customers don’t need to know everything you know and neither do they want to. They reached out precisely because you are the expert. They want you to know all the details.

If they cared as much for the details as you do, they’d probably build it themselves. But they chose not to … quite likely for a good reason.

So, what’s crucial when looking with your customer’s eyes?

Attention to detail

Donald Knuth pays $2.56 for every error that you spot in one of his books. Checks are rarely cashed, though, as the receivers prefer to keep the check as a badge of honor. You know, it’s pretty hard to spot an error in one of Knuth’s books. There aren’t many.

And that’s despite the fact that the books are enormous. “The Art of Computer Programming” alone (which, for computer scientists, is similar in status to the bible), has currently more than 4000 pages.

Knuth doesn’t stop there. For any coding error that people find in one of his programs “Metafont” or “TeX” (a widely used document system in academia), Knuth doubled the reward each year until it reached $327.68. Since 1995, no errors were found in TeX.

Perfectionism has a bad reputation today because it’s often misused as an excuse for not shipping your work.

But perfectionism is not the same thing as attention to detail. Knuth does ship and he cares for the details – more than almost anyone else.

My feeling is that we all can use a bit more attention to detail.

What’s attention to detail worth for you?

Who cares?

It’s just details.

It’s just decoration.

It’s just the back side.

It’s just a corner case.

It’s just implementation.

It’s just a meeting.

It’s just a trainee.

Who cares?

And yet, if you’re the one who does care, you’re going to be blown away by the difference that makes.

Accurate beats nice

In data visualisation, accurate beats nice every single time.

The designers of this chart thought it would look nicer to have rounded curves in between data points:

Only that the chart, which visualizes downloads per day, is now inaccurate. It suggests that the peak number of downloads is here:

when, in fact, it’s not. The peak is exactly at the blue spot to the right of the arrow. Since this is a visualization of a discrete data set (downloads per day), in fact, there are not even any data points in between the blue points at all. It just doesn’t make sense to assume that any day could lie between two consecutive days. Therefore, it’s inappropriate to suggest that higher data points exist. They can’t. They don’t. The max number of downloads is at the position of the blue spot to the right of the arrow.

By trying to make the chart look more beautiful, the designers have made it wrong. They’ve compromised accuracy for the sake of making it look nicer. And so they destroy trust in the data.

When in doubt, always choose accuracy. Trust isn’t created by beauty, it’s created by saying what you mean. This chart doesn’t say what it means. (The irony being that to me an accurate chart would look just as nice, just not with rounded curves; clearly a personal taste thing.)

Caring on behalf of your customer

When you’ve got an important story to tell, it can be super-hard to focus on a clear and concise message. It really hurts to leave out the details. After all, it’s precisely because you care for the details that your product is so extraordinary.

It’s also the reason we buy from you. We buy from you because you care for the tiniest pieces and sweat the details.

But I myself don’t need to know all the details. I don’t need to become an expert in your craft myself to appreciate your craftsmanship. I don’t need to become an artist myself to admire your art.

On the contrary: I want you to be the expert so that I don’t have to become one. I want you to tell me the essence of your story so that I can decide for myself whether I want you to dig deeper. What’s easily overlooked: If I don’t want you to dig deeper, it might not mean that I don’t care. It might just mean that I trust you to care on behalf of me.

Spread the Word

Picture of Dr. Michael Gerharz

Dr. Michael Gerharz