By Hiran de Silva
Some of the best questions in business are also the simplest.
At WSP, my sponsor Tom Bower had a favourite expression: “Why can’t we just do this?”
If someone proposed a convoluted method to solve a problem, Tom would calmly point to a simpler alternative and pose that challenge. The brilliance of the question lay not in cynicism, but in clarity. It cut through layers of complexity, forcing everyone in the room to confront the possibility that we might be making things unnecessarily difficult.
Working with Tom, I always tried to anticipate that question. If he ever had to ask it, it usually meant I had missed something obvious. Many times I found myself saying, “Bloody hell, I never thought of that.” That humility was essential. Because why can’t we just do this? is not a question to avoid — it’s a discipline we must apply to our own work before our client, manager, or competitor asks it of us.
When “Just Do This” Exposes the Truth
One memory that shaped me came earlier in my career while working with Richard Desmond in publishing.
I had produced a meticulous three-year, month-by-month cash flow projection in Multiplan (this was 1985, long before Excel became dominant). At a management conference, Desmond handed out my carefully prepared analysis, explained the scenarios, and then — to my horror — tore the entire document into pieces in front of everyone. He threw the scraps into the air and declared: “That’s a load of bollx.”
He then picked up a calculator, ran three multiplications, and arrived at the same conclusion the spreadsheet had shown.
In that moment, his point was devastatingly clear: sometimes we can arrive at the right answer by a much simpler route. He wasn’t rejecting analysis — if the detailed projections had given a different result, he would have respected that — but he was exposing the danger of hiding behind complexity when a direct calculation would suffice.
It was another version of Tom Bower’s question: “Why can’t we just do this?”
Complexity Sells — But Simplicity Wins
This question is especially relevant today, in an age when IT vendors, influencers, and even Microsoft itself promote new features, new tools, and new methods.
Everywhere you look, you see techniques wrapped in layers of explanation:
- A Power Query routine to solve what is really a one-step reconciliation.
- A dozen formulas where one SQL instruction would do.
- A local workbook database that could be replaced by a single table in Access.
When I put myself in Tom’s shoes, I test each of these and ask: Why can’t we just do this?
More often than not, the answer is: we can. It’s just that no one has pointed it out.
The paradox is that complexity has an audience. Social media rewards flashy, intricate demonstrations. They look impressive, they generate views, and they comfort beginners who believe mastery must mean “harder.” But business leaders don’t think that way. When they see a convoluted process, they ask the same question Tom did: Why can’t we just do this?
Two Audiences, Two Paths
In truth, there are always two audiences:
- The audience inside the box — people who want content they can follow step-by-step, even if it leads them into “Excel Hell.”
- The audience outside the box — people who aspire to solve problems at scale, in ways their bosses and their bosses’ bosses will actually value.
For the first group, complexity feels like learning. For the second, simplicity is revelation.
That’s why I advocate presenting both paths:
- Here is the conventional way.
- Here is the simpler, more scalable way.
And then let the business leaders decide which one they would rather see replicated across their organisation. In my experience, the answer is always the same: they want the path that saves time, scales effortlessly, and adds business value.
Leadership by Simplicity
The discipline of asking “Why can’t we just do this?” is not about cutting corners. It’s about:
- Testing assumptions — Is there a more direct route to the answer?
- Avoiding waste — Are we spending time on unnecessary detail?
- Creating scale — Is our solution local and fragile, or global and transformational?
- Speaking management’s language — Does this method add value to the business, or only to the individual?
When applied consistently, this question is both a shield and a sword. It shields you from wasting energy on convoluted methods, and it arms you with the confidence to challenge vendors, consultants, or even senior executives who mistake complexity for progress.
A Call to Action
So I leave you with the same challenge Tom Bower left me with at WSP, and that Richard Desmond hammered home in dramatic style back in 1985:
Next time you see a clever but convoluted method, stop and ask yourself:
“Why can’t we just do this?”
If the answer is “we can,” then you’ve just uncovered the real leadership path.
Add comment