Speed, Simplicity, Self-Confidence

Speed, Simplicity and Self-Confidence is one of the corporate mantra's of General Electric Company.  Every company has them.  Federal Express has "Peace of Mind", Google, "Don't do evil", Barack Obama, "Change You Can Believe In" and Hillary Clinton, "Solutions not Speeches".  The list goes on.

Slogans are used in political, educational, commercial or religious settings and are carefully selected to elicit a response and a call to action.  It might be to purchase a product or service or to provide a product or service.  If the slogan is effective people respond. 

In music it is called a hook.  Hooks are phrases in a song that are repeated and are catchy so people remember them and most cases don't remember the rest of the song.  That's the problem with slogans.  People often forget the idea or purpose behind the slogan. 

Let's consider speed, simplicity and self-confidence.  These words and their meaning are pretty straightforward.  Speed is doing things with a sense of urgency and be responsive.  For simplicity, I think of resisting bureaucracy, breaking down barriers and KISS (keep it simple stupid).  Self-confidence is standing firm even in the face of adversity, being bold and adventurous when traveling new terrain.  All these are great characteristics to exhibit, right?  What can be wrong with speed, simplicity and self-confidence?  Well, too much speed can create problems plus things are more complex then they seem and too much self-confidence has resulted in many a broken bone. 

The moral of the story is that speed is not a problem or simplicity.  The problem is when self-confidence becomes arrogance.  You then have Arrogance, Speed and Simplicity and you know what that spells.