The KISS Principle in Communication: Make Complex Ideas Easier to Understand

The KISS Principle in Communication: Make Complex Ideas Easier to Understand

Simplicity is not the absence of complexity. It is the result of deciding which complexity your audience actually needs.

You know the subject.

You know the history.

You know the exceptions.

You know the technical details.

You know what can go wrong.

Your audience may need only three things:

What is happening?

Why does it matter?

What should we do?

This is where the KISS principle becomes useful.

Keep it simple.

Not simplistic.

Not inaccurate.

Not intellectually shallow.

Simple enough that the people who need to understand your message can actually work with it.

What Does KISS Mean?

KISS is commonly expanded as:

Keep It Simple, Stupid.

The principle is strongly associated with Clarence “Kelly” Johnson, the legendary Lockheed engineer who led the Skunk Works.

Lockheed Martin describes KISS as one of Johnson’s favorite maxims.

The original idea came from engineering rather than public speaking:

A good solution should avoid unnecessary complexity.

That principle transfers remarkably well to communication.

When a message becomes harder to understand than the subject requires, complexity begins working against you.

Simplicity Is Not Dumbing Things Down

This distinction matters.

A simple explanation can be sophisticated.

An oversimplified explanation can be dangerously wrong.

Imagine presenting an investment decision.

You could say:

“Option A is better.”

That is simple.

It may also be useless.

A stronger version might be:

“I recommend option A. It requires the larger initial investment, but it reaches break-even earlier and exposes us to substantially less supplier risk.”

Still simple.

Now the simplicity preserves the logic.

Good simplification removes unnecessary complexity. Bad simplification removes necessary information.

The Real Work Happens Before You Speak

People sometimes think clear communicators simply use shorter words.

The more important work happens earlier.

You need to decide:

• What is the central issue?
• Which information changes the decision?
• Which information merely demonstrates how much I know?
• What does this audience already understand?
• What do they need in order to follow the reasoning?
• What can safely be left for questions or supporting material?

Clarity is largely an editorial skill.

You choose what belongs in the foreground and what does not.

Why Experts Often Struggle With Simplicity

Expertise creates a paradox.

The more you know, the more connections you see.

You know the exceptions.

You know why every answer requires qualification.

You know which technical details may eventually matter.

That knowledge is valuable.

It can also make communication harder.

An expert may begin explaining:

the background,

the methodology,

the exceptions,

the limitations,

the alternative interpretation,

before the audience knows what the main point is.

Your audience does not need to follow the same intellectual journey you took to reach your conclusion.

They need enough of the journey to understand and evaluate the conclusion.

Start With the Question Your Audience Needs Answered

Before creating slides or writing your opening, ask:

What question does this presentation need to answer?

For example:

Should we invest?

Should we postpone the launch?

Why are results below plan?

What needs to change?

Which option do you recommend?

Why should this client choose us?

What do employees need to know?

Once the question is clear, information becomes easier to evaluate.

Does this detail help answer the question?

If not, why is it here?

Give the Headline Earlier

A common business communication problem is delayed relevance.

The speaker begins with:

“As you know…”

Then comes history.

Then methodology.

Then several charts.

Eventually, slide 27 reveals the recommendation.

For many executive audiences, a stronger opening is:

“I recommend that we postpone the launch by two weeks. Three findings led me to that conclusion.”

Now the audience knows what the information is helping them evaluate.

Do not automatically make people wait for the point simply because that was the order in which you developed your thinking.

One Message Before Many Details

Ask yourself:

If the audience remembers only one thing, what should it be?

Not five things.

One.

That does not mean your presentation contains only one idea.

It means the supporting ideas serve a recognizable central message.

For example:

Core message:

“We should enter the market now, but through a partnership rather than building our own distribution network.”

Now your:

• market data
• financial analysis
• risk assessment
• implementation plan

all have a clear role.

Reduce the Number of Competing Messages

Many presentations suffer not because the ideas are weak, but because too many ideas compete for equal importance.

Everything is highlighted.

Everything is urgent.

Everything deserves a slide.

Nothing becomes memorable.

Create hierarchy.

Ask:

• What must they know?
• What should they know?
• What can they know if they ask?

This distinction can dramatically simplify a presentation.

Simplicity Reduces Unnecessary Cognitive Load

Human attention and working memory are limited.

When a presentation asks people to process too many competing elements at once, understanding can suffer.

This matters particularly when slides contain:

• dense paragraphs
• several charts
• multiple messages
• decorative images
• spoken information that competes with written information

The lesson is not:

“Never use detail.”

It is:

Do not consume your audience’s mental capacity with elements that do not help them understand the important information.

Your Slides Should Not Compete With You

A slide is useful when it helps the audience:

• see a relationship
• understand a number
• compare alternatives
• follow a process
• remember a key point

A slide becomes less useful when the audience has to choose between:

reading the paragraph

and

listening to you explain the paragraph.

Often the simplest improvement is removal.

Remove the decorative chart.

Remove the paragraph you are going to say aloud.

Remove the third message from a slide that already contains two.

A slide does not need to prove how much preparation went into the presentation.

It needs to help the audience understand.

One Slide, One Primary Job

This does not mean every slide must contain exactly one sentence.

It means every slide should have a clear purpose.

For example:

This slide shows why demand is changing.

This slide compares the two options.

This slide shows the financial consequence.

This slide explains the timeline.

If you cannot explain why a slide exists in one sentence, reconsider it.

Do Not Mistake Data for Communication

More data does not automatically create a stronger argument.

Imagine presenting twelve metrics.

Which one matters?

The audience has to determine that themselves.

A better approach might be:

“Three indicators matter for this decision. Two support the investment. One remains a significant risk.”

Now the data has structure.

Your job is not merely to display information. It is to help the audience understand its significance.

Use Numbers Selectively

Numbers can add precision.

Too many numbers can remove it.

Suppose you say:

“Revenue increased by 7.84 percent, gross margin improved by 1.27 percentage points, customer acquisition cost declined by 3.61 percent…”

Perhaps every figure matters.

Perhaps not.

For the main presentation, you might say:

“Revenue grew by roughly 8 percent, while margins also improved.”

Then provide the exact figures when precision matters.

The appropriate level depends on the decision and audience.

Use Jargon Only When It Helps

Technical language can be efficient among people who share the same expertise.

It becomes inefficient when the audience has to translate it.

Before using specialist language, ask:

Does this term make the idea more precise for this audience — or merely more familiar to me?

You do not need to avoid professional terminology.

You need to know whether your audience speaks the same professional language.

Shorter Words Are Not Always Better

Simplicity is not a contest to use the smallest vocabulary possible.

Sometimes one precise technical term replaces an entire paragraph.

If everyone understands it, use it.

The objective is:

minimum unnecessary effort for maximum necessary understanding.

Use Concrete Language

Abstract business language can hide surprisingly little meaning.

Consider:

“We need to leverage cross-functional synergies to optimize our strategic implementation capabilities.”

What should actually happen?

Perhaps:

“Sales and product development need to review the top ten customer requests together every month.”

Now people can picture the action.

Concrete language becomes especially valuable when discussing:

• responsibility
• deadlines
• decisions
• behavior
• next steps

Turn Nominalizations Back Into Actions

Business language often turns verbs into nouns.

Instead of:

“The implementation of the optimization of the decision-making process…”

say:

“We need to make decisions faster.”

Instead of:

“An evaluation of the proposal will be conducted…”

say:

“The board will evaluate the proposal on Friday.”

Active language often makes responsibility and action clearer.

Use Examples to Make Abstraction Concrete

Sometimes an idea remains difficult even after you simplify the words.

Give an example.

Instead of spending five minutes defining a concept, show what it means in practice.

For example:

“By unclear decision rights, I mean this: last month, both managing directors separately approved different solutions for the same client.”

Now the abstract problem becomes visible.

Analogies Can Help — If They Clarify the Right Thing

An analogy can make an unfamiliar idea easier to grasp.

It can also distort it.

Ask:

• Which similarity does this analogy clarify?
• Where does the analogy stop working?
• Could the audience take it more literally than I intend?

A good analogy reduces explanatory effort.

A poor analogy creates a second explanation problem.

Simplify the Structure

A clear message benefits from a clear route.

Many business presentations can be organized around a small number of questions:

What is happening?

Why does it matter?

What do you recommend?

Why?

What should happen next?

You may use another structure.

The point is that your audience should sense where the presentation is going.

→ The Five-Finger Speech Structure

Use Signposts

Simple verbal signals reduce orientation effort.

For example:

“There are three reasons.”

“The first issue is financial. The second is operational.”

“Let me separate what we know from what we are assuming.”

“My recommendation comes down to one point.”

“Before I finish, there is one risk we need to discuss.”

These phrases may feel obvious to the speaker.

They are useful to the listener.

Repeat the Important Point

Simplicity does not mean saying something once and hoping everyone remembers it.

Strategic repetition can help.

You might:

• introduce the core message
• support it with evidence
• return to it at the conclusion

That is different from repeating the same content because the presentation lacks editing.

Repeat the message. Remove redundant explanation.

Simple Communication Can Still Contain Nuance

You do not need to pretend that reality is clearer than it is.

You can say:

“I recommend option A. It has the strongest expected return, although supplier concentration remains a significant risk.”

That is simple and nuanced.

Or:

“We do not yet know whether demand will justify the full rollout. That is why I recommend a six-month pilot.”

Again:

simple.

honest.

decision-oriented.

Clarity does not require false certainty.

Do Not Hide Trade-Offs

Simplicity becomes dangerous when it removes the cost of a decision.

Every serious strategic choice has trade-offs.

If you say:

“This option gives us greater flexibility.”

perhaps add:

“The price is a higher operating cost during the first two years.”

Now the audience can make a better decision.

Simple communication should reveal the decision, not sell it by concealing complexity.

Simple Does Not Mean Short at Any Price

A ten-minute explanation can be simpler than a confusing two-minute explanation.

A detailed diagram can be simpler than a vague slogan.

A four-page briefing can be simpler than a one-page document that leaves every important question unanswered.

The relevant measure is not:

How little did I say?

It is:

How much effort did the audience need to understand what matters?

KISS in Executive Communication

Senior decision-makers often operate under severe attention constraints.

They may move from:

a financial review,

to a personnel issue,

to a customer escalation,

to your presentation.

Do not assume that their seniority means they want more detail immediately.

Often they want:

• the issue
• your recommendation
• the reasoning
• the major risk
• the decision required

Supporting detail should be available.

It does not all need to arrive before the central message.

The Executive Summary Test

Before an important presentation, answer these five questions in one sentence each:

1. What is happening?
2. Why does it matter?
3. What do I recommend?
4. What is the strongest reason?
5. What decision or action do I need?

If these answers remain difficult, more slides may not solve the problem.

Your thinking may need further clarification.

KISS in Board Presentations

Board communication benefits particularly from clear hierarchy.

A board often needs to distinguish quickly between:

• information
• interpretation
• recommendation
• risk
• decision

Make those differences visible.

Do not bury the decision request inside background information.

For example:

“Today I am asking for approval of an additional €1.2 million. The reason is a capacity constraint that otherwise moves the launch into next year.”

Now the board knows why it is listening.

KISS in Pitches

A pitch can become complicated because the presenter wants to demonstrate everything the company can do.

The client usually has a narrower question:

Why should this matter to us?

A simple pitch connects:

their situation

to

your proposal

to

a relevant result.

Everything else supports that connection.

→ How to Start a Pitch

KISS in Difficult Conversations

Simplicity matters even more when emotions rise.

Long explanations can create new arguments.

Defensive detail can blur the issue.

For example:

Instead of:

“There have been several occasions over the last few months where I have had the impression that communication around responsibilities may perhaps not have been completely aligned…”

say:

“We agreed that both managing directors approve investments above €50,000. That did not happen in these two cases. I want us to clarify how we handle this from now on.”

Clear.

Specific.

Discussable.

KISS in Negotiations

Negotiations can become overloaded with arguments.

More arguments do not always strengthen your position.

Sometimes they reveal:

• uncertainty
• defensiveness
• lack of prioritization

Know your strongest points.

Know your interests.

Know your limits.

Ask clear questions.

And avoid filling silence simply because silence feels uncomfortable.

KISS in Crisis Communication

When people are worried, complexity becomes particularly expensive.

They want to know:

What happened?

What do we know?

What do we not know?

What are we doing?

What should I do?

When information is uncertain, say so.

Simple crisis communication does not eliminate uncertainty. It organizes it.

Seven Questions for Simplifying an Important Message

1. What is the one central message?
2. What does this audience need to know in order to understand it?
3. Which details can move to questions or supporting material?
4. Where am I using jargon that does not help this audience?
5. Which slide, sentence, or argument can disappear without harming understanding?
6. Which uncertainty or trade-off must remain visible?
7. What should the audience think, decide, or do next?

The Deletion Test

When editing a presentation, ask of every element:

What happens if I remove this?

If the answer is:

“Nothing important.”

remove it.

If the answer is:

“The audience loses essential context.”

keep it.

If the answer is:

“They might ask about it.”

perhaps move it into backup material.

This simple test can improve presentations dramatically.

Use Layers Instead of Dumping Everything at Once

Simplicity does not require throwing information away.

You can organize information in layers.

Layer 1: the central message.

Layer 2: the essential reasoning.

Layer 3: supporting evidence.

Layer 4: technical detail and documentation.

Different audiences can enter at different depths.

This is particularly useful for:

• board presentations
• technical proposals
• investor communication
• strategy discussions

Do Not Oversimplify for Senior Audiences

Keeping something simple does not mean treating intelligent people as though they cannot handle complexity.

Decision-makers may need sophisticated analysis.

They may challenge assumptions.

They may ask for detail.

Prepare it.

The KISS principle concerns the route into the complexity.

Give people a clear map before asking them to inspect every street.

The Best Simplification Often Comes From Better Thinking

Sometimes a presentation is complicated because the situation is complicated.

Sometimes it is complicated because the speaker has not yet decided:

• what matters most
• what they recommend
• which argument is strongest
• which trade-off they accept

Editing slides will not solve that.

You need to clarify the thinking.

Confused thinking often produces complicated communication.

Simplicity Requires Courage

Complexity can provide protection.

You can hide behind:

• technical language
• dozens of slides
• large amounts of data
• multiple qualifications

A simple statement exposes your thinking.

“I recommend option B.”

Now people can challenge it.

“I do not know yet.”

Now uncertainty is visible.

“The project failed because we underestimated implementation risk.”

Now responsibility becomes discussable.

Clarity creates accountability.

That is one reason it can require courage.

When Complexity Is Necessary

Some subjects really are complex.

Legal questions.

Financial models.

Technical systems.

Scientific evidence.

Corporate governance.

Risk analysis.

Do not simplify these until important distinctions disappear.

Instead:

• structure the complexity
• define important terms
• separate major from minor issues
• use layers
• make uncertainty visible
• provide supporting material

The goal of KISS is not minimum complexity. It is minimum unnecessary complexity.

A Better Version of “Keep It Simple, Stupid”

The historic phrase is memorable.

For communication, I prefer a more useful interpretation:

Keep the message as simple as the situation allows — and as detailed as the decision requires.

Those two standards belong together.

The Bottom Line

Simple communication is not shallow communication.

It requires you to:

• understand the issue
• identify what matters
• create hierarchy
• remove distraction
• preserve relevant nuance
• make uncertainty visible
• lead the audience toward a useful conclusion

So before adding another slide, another argument, another technical term, or another piece of background, ask:

Does this make the important thing easier to understand?

If yes, keep it.

If no, reconsider it.

Simplicity is not about saying less for the sake of saying less. It is about making what matters easier to grasp.

Preparing an Important Presentation, Pitch, or Executive Communication?

When the message matters, simplifying it can require more than shortening slides.

We can work directly with your actual situation:

• audience and stakeholders
• objective and core message
• structure and argumentation
• complex information
• executive summaries
• slides and visual communication
• opening and conclusion
• questions and objections
• voice and presence
• realistic rehearsal
• professional feedback

I work primarily with business owners, managing directors, executives, and senior leaders.

In person in Berlin. Online throughout Germany.

→ Presentation & Speech Preparation

→ High-Stakes Communication

→ Professional Impact Analysis

→ Fees & Booking

→ Discuss Your Upcoming Presentation

Research Note

Research on cognitive load and multimedia learning supports an important part of the simplicity principle: human cognitive capacity is limited, and unnecessary information can compete with the material people actually need to process.

Reviews of instructional design research therefore recommend reducing nonessential information, signaling important content, integrating related information, and segmenting complex material where appropriate.

This research comes primarily from learning environments rather than executive presentations, so it should not be treated as a direct formula for business communication. The underlying principle is nevertheless useful:

Do not make people spend limited attention on information that does not help them understand the issue.

About Karsten Noack

I work with business owners, managing directors, executives, and senior leaders on important presentations, speeches, pitches, professional impact, decisions, and communication under pressure.

My background combines engineering, management, business consulting, marketing, psychology, communication, and more than 25 years of coaching and consulting work.

→ About Karsten Noack

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For more than 25 years, I have worked with speeches, presentations, pitches, and other important professional communication. My feedback focuses on what matters most in your specific situation — not on a generic checklist.

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P.S.

Do you sometimes wish others would explain complex concepts in a more understandable way?

Articles

Published: June 21, 2008
Author: Karsten Noack
Revision: November 19th, 2024
German version: