Is that thorny challenge before you complicated or complex? Because it can’t be both.

While there is a tendency to use those two words interchangeably, they really mean very different things. Complicated challenges are hard. They can be difficult to figure out. But once you identify the parts and how they interact, complicated challenges are predictable. You can develop systems around them. There is an order, a logic, to complicated things. They can be repeated. Yes, it may take a specialized level of skill or expertise, but complicated challenges can be solved. Sending a rocket to the moon is complicated. Writing computer code is complicated. But there is a formula for success.

Complex challenges, on the other hand, are unpredictable. With complex challenges, you cannot look at the individual parts and find a linear cause and effect chain.  You have to consider the ever-shifting whole. For complex challenges, there is not predictability or a single right answer. Complex challenges require one to be agile, willing to experiment, fail and adapt. Complex challenges are a moving target. They are ambiguous. You don’t “solve” complex problems. You have to lead your way through them.

If you are a leader, you need to find really smart people to focus on your complicated challenges so you can spend your time on the complex ones. For example, what is the best strategy to expand your market share? Well that depends on what your competitors do. That depends on what happens to the price of your raw materials. That depends on how people react your offerings . . . you get the picture. You have to consider the interplay of all the moving parts to make the best decision at that moment in time. A week from now, the variables may be different. Are you willing to experiment and fail? Are you comfortable continually recalibrating based on new information, while also recognizing that you have to get a product to market?

Don’t limit your impact by approaching a complex problem like a complicated one. Too many leaders get stuck because they think if they just gather more “data” they will find the right path forward. Complex challenges are not like a math problem. There is not a single right answer. And the minute one of the variables change, the options before you change as well. With complex challenges, you need to consider the information before you and take the next best step. Then reassess, recalibrate, and take the next best step. Yes, be clear on where you are trying to get to, but you cannot chart your entire path before you start because the “best” way forward is constantly shifting.

Complex challenges require confidence . . . to make a decision that doesn’t come with a guarantee. They require humility . . . to know that you most likely need to course correct.

They require agility . . . because you have to quickly assess the situation and decide.

Complex challenges require leadership . . . it’s really no more complicated than that.