Obfuscation opportunism

I think I just created a new term: obfuscation opportunism.

The practice of making things more complicated than they are or need to be in an effort to justify all the reasons why we are unwilling or unable to do something about it.

My world is government relations and politics-perhaps one of the most misunderstood realms in modern life.

Except it does not have to be…politics and government is actually relatively simple to interpret once you understand the rules of the game and a bit about human nature.

I hear people talk all the time about how it is “too complicated” or “controlled by the powerful” to justify a lack of investment or resources allocated to anticipating, interpreting, and mitigating political risk.

That take is not congruent with reality: political decisions are made in the exact same way as any other decision in life and business (i.e., in a group chat).

If politics seems too complicated, invest in learning key concepts like you would with any other business risk (finance, human resources, marketing, etc.) and resist the temptation to overcomplicate it if you do not immediately understand it.

I suppose there is in oversimplifying an important concept like politics, but then again…why do we believe it was all that complicated in the first place?

✨ Inspiration: The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans by Jeffrey Goldberg in The Atlantic