Michael Bergdahl Quotes

In very simple language, Morrie always seems to be able to explain something that other people would take a chapter for, you know.

Any idiot can be complicated. It takes a genius to be simple.

Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex... It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.

Simplicity is the outcome of technical subtlety. It is the goal, not the starting point.

Simplicity does not precede complexity, but follows it.

Simplicity is the most difficult thing to secure in this world; it is the last limit of experience and the last effort of genius.

A rule to live by: I won't use anything I can't explain in five minutes.

As much as we all talk about the future and how so many things are merging, there is a simplicity that is crucial.

Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity.

I am a firm believer that if you can explain it to a kid, you're on the right track.

It's easy to say, 'I'm going to build something that already exists,' but it's difficult to clearly and succinctly describe something new.

My goal is to simplify complexity. I just want to build stuff that really simplifies our base human interaction.

Me is a common sense man. That mean when me explain things, me explain it in a very simple way; that mean if I explain it to a baby, the baby will understand too, you know.

Companies have to be innovative in leading with values the same way they have to be innovative in their products and services.

I speak as simply as possible because the issue is too great to be obscured by eloquence.

The culture is what creates the foundation for all future innovation. If you break the culture, you break the machine that creates your products.

If you can present your case clearly and visually, anyone can understand it. No one has an attention span.

If it's simple simple, it's boring. We try for the idea that is so simple that it will make you think and rethink.

I'd rather not ever make anything overly simple just because I'm scared people won't get it.

I think companies psych themselves out and say, 'Now that we're public, we've got to get all stuffy. We've got to be a certain way,' and the entrepreneurial spirit dies. What you got to keep alive is the intimacy, the energy, this crazed sense of purpose.

Insecure managers create complexity. Frightened, nervous managers use thick convoluted planning books and busy slides filled with everything they’ve known since childhood……. They worry that if they’re simple, people will think they’re simple minded. In reality, of course, it’s just the reverse. Clear, tough minded people are the most simple.

Complexity creates confusion, simplicity focus.

I think something that's very important for us to communicate is usually very simple. Like breathing: Breathing is very simple. You don't do a dissonant 9th harmony or something in breathing. You just breathe, you know. I think that's how it is with very important messages.

As soon as you are complicated, you are ineffectual.

Making the complicated simple is true creativity.