Complicated vs. Complex

We were listening to Antifragile by Nassim Taleb the other evening, and he draws a line between complicated problems and complex ones.

Complicated problems are hard but solvable with enough expertise. A rocket engine is complicated. The right engineers can master it.

Complex problems are different. The variables interact in ways that resist full understanding. Pull one thread and something else shifts. What looks like a surface issue often isn't.

Every founder we work with has an impressive command of the complicated problem their product or service solves. They've lived inside it for years. However, their brand is a complex problem. And most of them feel that difference whether they have a word for it or not.

Sometimes the issue is obvious. Sometimes it's a feeling they can't quite place. Something isn't resonating. A conversation didn't land the way it should have. The company looks right but doesn't feel right.

That's because what looks like headlines, fonts, and colors is underpinned by strategy and positioning that drives the entire organization. It's all connected. Remove one part and the whole thing becomes something else.

It's why the best brands we interact with inspire such strong reactions. They look layered, but underneath there is a single driving force that flows into everything they do. That idea is what either resonates with us or doesn't. It's what inspires us to join an organization or trust a service to make our work better.