The camera light was a steady, judgmental green. I had just finished a silent, three-minute pantomime of extreme frustration-face in hands, a rhythmic thumping of my forehead against the desk-only to realize the ‘Join Meeting’ button hadn’t just admitted me to the digital lobby; it had broadcast my existential crisis to 48 senior managers. Simon L., the man supposed to be teaching them about ‘Clarity in Communication,’ looked like he was losing a wrestling match with a phantom. It was the perfect, albeit humiliating, prelude to the disaster on my screen. I was trying to compare two enterprise software vendors for a client, and I felt like I was trying to translate ancient Sumerian using a cookery book as a cipher.
Vendor A had presented their pricing in terms of ‘Synergistic User Units.’ Vendor B, not to be outdone in the theater of the absurd, had based their entire quote on ‘Monthly Engagement Vectors.’ I sat there, staring at the 18 columns of data, trying to figure out if three Synergistic Units were equal to eight Engagement Vectors, or if the whole thing was just a mathematical shell game designed to make me choose the one with the prettier logo. This wasn’t an accident. It wasn’t a failure of their marketing department to find the right words. It was a deliberate, calculated effort to ensure that I, the decision-maker, remained completely and utterly in the dark.
The Moat of Complexity
We have been conditioned to believe that complexity is a proxy for rigor. When a report is 88 pages long and filled with charts that require a doctorate in topology to decipher, we assume the authors have done their homework. We think, ‘This is far too complicated for me to understand, so it must be very sophisticated.’
Proprietary Metrics
Comparable Units
In reality, this is often a form of sophisticated obfuscation. It is a moat dug around a product to prevent the customer from ever seeing the actual value-or lack thereof-within. If you cannot compare Product X to Product Y because they use entirely different, proprietary metrics, the market ceases to be a competitive arena and becomes a series of isolated monopolies.
The Cost of Incomparability
I remember 18 months ago when I was working with a logistics firm. They were trying to audit their fuel costs across 8 fleet divisions. Every division used a different reporting standard. One used liters per hundred kilometers, another used miles per gallon, and a third-I kid you not-measured ‘efficiency points’ based on a proprietary internal algorithm that factored in driver mood and humidity.
Division Efficiency (Relative Score)
When I suggested we standardize the data, the head of the third division looked at me as if I’d suggested we sacrifice a goat in the boardroom. ‘Our metrics are more holistic,’ he said. Translation: ‘Our metrics prevent you from seeing that we are 38 percent less efficient than the others.’
The Friction Tax on Daily Life
This isn’t just about software or fuel. It’s a rot that has seeped into every corner of our consumer lives. Have you tried reading a credit card statement lately? Or a hospital bill? The information is presented in a way that is technically accurate but functionally illegible. They give you the facts, but they deny you the truth.
You are beaten into submission by data.
By the time you’ve navigated the 118 different line items, each with a cryptic four-letter code, you’re so exhausted that you simply pay the total. You’ve been beaten into submission by data. You are no longer a customer making an informed choice; you are a product being processed through a system designed to maximize friction.
This erosion of clarity is a direct attack on the foundation of a fair market: informed consent. A market only works when both parties have a shared understanding of what is being exchanged. When one party uses language to hide the reality of the transaction, consent is no longer informed; it is coerced through confusion.
The True Measure of Skill
Early Career (38 Yrs Ago)
Belief: Complexity = Intelligence
The Turning Point
Realization: Simplicity = Skill
Current Rule
If I can’t explain it to my nephew, I don’t know it.
The Value of the Unhidden Truth
I’ve spent the last 38 years as a trainer, and if there is one thing I’ve learned, it’s that true expertise is the ability to make the complex simple. Anyone can make the simple complex. It takes no talent to hide behind jargon.
This transparency is exactly why I find myself returning to providers like Cannacoast Distribution, who don’t hide behind the curtain. When you have a clear Certificate of Analysis, you aren’t guessing. You aren’t trying to translate ‘Synergistic Vectors’ into reality. You simply have the truth. It’s a rare thing in an economy built on the ‘Trust Me, Bro’ model of corporate communication.
The Hidden Cost: Complexity Tax Calculation
Complexity Tax: 58% Higher Cost Found
58%
The ‘Synergistic’ model was hidden 58% more expensive than the baseline transactional cost.
They had used the complexity of their labeling to hide a massive price hike. They weren’t selling a product; they were selling a puzzle that was designed to be unsolvable. This is the ‘Complexity Tax.’ It’s the extra money you pay because you didn’t have the time or the energy to fight through the fog of information.
My Own Past Sins
I’ll admit, I’ve been part of the problem. Early in my career, I used to love using big words and complex frameworks. I thought it made me look smarter.
Ego Protection
I remember giving a presentation to 78 directors where I used the word ‘interoperability’ at least 18 times. At the end, a quiet man in the back stood up and asked, ‘Does it work with our current phones?’ I realized then that all my big words were just a way to avoid saying ‘I don’t know yet.’ I was using complexity to protect my ego, just like these companies use it to protect their margins.
The Defense Against Deception
Nephew Test
(Simplicity Test)
Sentence Rule
(Pricing Explanation)
Simplicity
(The Ultimate Defense)
The Right to Read the Label
Transparency is not a feature; it is a fundamental right.
If we continue to allow ourselves to be treated as ‘products’ rather than ‘customers,’ we lose the power to shape the market. The next time you see a chart that looks like a Jackson Pollock painting or a contract that reads like a spellbook from the middle ages, don’t blame yourself for not understanding it. Blame the person who wrote it.
(Well worth the effort to find the clear provider)
I’m still recovering from that video call incident-my dog still looks at me strangely when I walk into the home office-but at least now, when I speak, I try to make sure I’m actually saying something. Labels matter. Language matters. Don’t let them use yours against you.