Took this photo of Yosemite Falls in June, 2011. I call it Yosemite Falls No. 1 because … well, because it’s the first image I finally got around to editing (look for Yosemite Falls No. 2, No. 3, No. 4, etc., in future posts).
Yosemite Falls is the highest waterfall in North America, and the sixth-highest in the world, measuring 2,425 feet from the top of the upper falls to the base of the lower falls.
I stripped out the color to make a high-contrast Ansel Adams-style black & white image.
Black and white or color? Mouse over the image to compare.
Came across this nugget in Employee Engagement To What End? – High Performing Companies Keep The End In Sight a report from TNS Employee Insights.
What is the end HPCs are keeping in sight? Their customers, of course.
For High Performing Companies, measuring and action planning around employee engagement, compensation, supervisor relationships, and meaningful work is more than a ‘nice to have,’ more than an academic exercise.
It truly is the engine that drives performance and profitability.
The good news is this: employees who are engaged will likely work harder and be less likely to leave the firm.
The better news: if the powerful engine of employee engagement is directed outward, if the ends are the customer and the future, everyone wins in the end.
Communicating effectively requires that communicators eliminate clutter and sharply define the core concept they want to get across. The payoff is a simple, memorable message. Here is a similar, but slightly different vantage point on that notion.
In this TED video, Simon Sinek introduces the Golden Circle (I’ve reproduced his drawing at right). He says most people and organizations start at the outside and work their way in – first describing what they do or make, and how they do it. Why they do what they do gets short shrift.
Simple can be harder than complex. You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple.
– Steve Jobs
Of all the smart and/or inspirational Steve Jobs quotes I’ve seen since his passing, this one might be my favorite. Jobs and Apple certainly mastered the art of making the complex simple. I have no idea what goes on inside an iPod or iPhone, but turning them on and making them do what they do is as easy as falling off a log (which I don’t think I’ve ever done, so the iPod is easier, in my experience).
My only contention with the quote would be the idea of “can be” where the quote applies to my profession. Achieving simplicity and clarity in communication is always harder than leaving things complex and muddled. You whittle away everything but the core message you’re trying to get across — and then you mold what’s left into a memorable creation.
To be memorable, a concept has to be simple, its meaning immediately grasped (one of my all time favorites is “Where’s the Beef?!”). If the idea requires lengthy explanation to achieve meaning — or an eighty-six page PowerPoint deck — the message has no chance of landing.
A colleague chided me a couple years ago for my determination to achieve simplicity in communicating our brand value proposition. “We need to accept that this concept is inherently complex,” she said. Others agreed and a complex approach carried the day. Not surprisingly, the initiative died for lack of support because no one was willing to sit through a lengthy explanation colored by many shades of nuance.
Most people say “Keep it simple.” That makes it sound easy.
You have to make it simple. That’s hard work worth doing, because simple is smart.
“There is a saying: If you’re a “B” player, you’ll hire “C” players to work for you because you don’t want them to look smarter than you. If you’re an “A” player, you’ll hire “A+” players because you want the best result.”
What kind of players do you workwith?
What kind of players do you workfor?
What kind of player are you?
Read more: The Top 10 Lessons Steve Jobs Can Teach Us — If We’ll Listen (Forbes)
