(Image by Arek Socha from Pixabay)
Why are we afraid to state the obvious? We’ve all prefaced a sentence before with some version of “At the risk of stating the obvious…”, hedging ourselves because we don’t want to appear stupid. We don’t want to be the person to say the basic, unoriginal thing. But is this really what we’re risking when we state the obvious? I don’t think so. I think stating the obvious is an underrated and overlooked tool utilized by the smartest people in the room. I think that what we risk when we don’t state the obvious is much greater than looking stupid, we risk making no progress at all.
It’s been said, often by Silicon Valley types, that innovation is taking two existing concepts and combining them in a new way. This was never more apparent than in the early 2010s tech boom. During this period a founder could take just about any existing idea, combine it with mobile, and they had an instant hit. This is how we got Uber (taxis+mobile), AirBnB (bed and breakfast + mobile), DoorDash (food delivery + mobile), and so many more. Today, the new platform, if you will, is AI and founders are looking to innovate using the same formula. Take two existing ideas and combine them in a new way. If this is considered innovative in a business context, why not also in conversation?
Don’t get me wrong. You can definitely state the obvious and be, and sound, stupid while doing it. The critical component is the follow-up. The ‘so what?’, after you’ve stated the obvious. When conversational innovators state the obvious they do it to set the stage, with a plan to move the conversation forward in a new, productive, and interesting way. The obvious constitutes what everyone knows, a shared set of facts, upon which all conclusions must be drawn.
Newton couldn’t have given us gravity without first stating the obvious, nor could Einstein have given us relativity. The theories these men generated were not obvious to anyone else at the time, but the shared set of facts they used to generate their theories was available to every one of their contemporaries. And still, nobody else developed the theories of gravity and relativity, only Newton and Einstein. Even bonafide geniuses start from the obvious and work their way out.
Stating the obvious, or forming an argument from a shared set of facts, is a necessary pre-condition to saying something extraordinary. Not all statements of the obvious result in something extraordinary, but nothing extraordinary came to be without an obvious set of shared facts. Next time you feel the need to preface yourself, stop. Don’t be afraid to state the obvious if by doing so you can create a new conclusion. All innovation and originality must be precipitated by the obvious. There is no genius, progress, or innovation without the obvious.
We’ve all heard someone say that what’s obvious to you may not be obvious to someone else. This is true, of course. We each have a unique perspective on the world that has been molded by our thoughts and experiences. So when you see something but say nothing because you think it’s obvious, you could be depriving us of a valuable insight that has occurred to nobody else.
By stating the obvious you are meeting a precondition for extraordinary invention, insight, and innovation. You are risking progress. When you state the obvious you might even risk changing the world.
MW 