Don’t Complicate the Recipe for Ice
I've been blessed to work with some amazing leaders and with a lot of nonprofit organizations that are doing amazing work. Along the way, I've learned a few things that have served me well. These lessons can often be summarized in a well-known quote, a truism, or some other silly combination of words. I want to pass one of these along to you today.
"Don't complicate the recipe for ice."
Lisa Risi, my wonderful former colleague at the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and current Chief Operating Officer at the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, dropped this gem onto the entire executive leadership team at the MS Society near the end of a grueling all-day budget meeting. I hadn't heard this phrase before. I cracked up and just couldn't stop laughing. And yes, I agree with you—it doesn't take much to amuse me.
So, why was Lisa right?
As nonprofit leaders, our most important contribution is our decisions. For example, you may be wrestling with these kinds of complex decisions:
Our CRM vendor isn't meeting our customer service expectations. How can we get our vendor relationship back on course? Should we find a new vendor? What should I do?
One of our affiliates repeatedly implements systems that aren't part of our standard suite of products. They won't return our calls, and they marked all their constituents as deceased on the shared CRM so only they can market to them. What should I do?
We have been in the process of implementing a new CRM for five years. This doesn't seem right. What should I do?
Over time, I thought seriously about what Lisa said, considering some decisions that, at the time, seemed like the most difficult decisions I had faced. When I unpacked those decisions, I realized the true genius of Lisa's quote. (No, she didn't sponsor this blog post!) I realized that the answer to most of these difficult decisions was always right in front of me, and I was complicating the recipe for ice.
It often takes me too long to realize that the simplest answer is usually the right answer. This truism is simply a variant of Occam's Razor. For the most part, issues like the examples above can be resolved with open and honest conversations with your vendors, colleagues, and project teams. They will give you the answers — just listen.
Unfortunately, many of us complicate the recipe for ice by over-complicating the decisions we need to make. Nobody has a perfect track record making decisions. That said, I do believe the right answers are often sitting right in front of us, waiting for us to acknowledge their presence. Once we recognize that the actions we need to take are clear and straightforward, the complexity fades into the background, allowing us to do the right thing.
If you take some time to quietly reflect on a tough decision, you will hear the answer and you will recognize what you need to do. Sometimes acting on the right answer can be difficult, but that is a topic for another blog post.
Trust what you are hearing and don’t complicate the recipe for ice!
My name is David Price, and I help nonprofits with their technology strategy, projects, and operations. To schedule lunch or talk about anything of interest, you can reach me at david@dvprice.com.