Differentiating the Complex from the Complicated

A new language of leadership and governance, prompted by social communication and digital access to knowledge

The first time I came across the difference between the words complex and complicated was several years ago. I had just come through a difficult bond campaign in a fast-growing Iowa school district where I was superintendent. The $80 million bond referendum in 2017 was voted down by the community.

I learned a lot from that experience — notably that whether a bond campaign will be successful or not mostly depends on a good plan and a good communication campaign. In the Iowa district, we had a communications campaign that involved gathering input and holding community forums. I received some feedback from the community, but something in my DNA was telling me there was more than just traditional public communication at work.

When I subsequently encountered research literature about complex versus complicated decisions, it was as though a bell went off in my head, signaling to me this is where we had messed up. I believe I’ve now changed in how I lead with my board of education as superintendent of a 14,000-student district in south Texas and in the language we use.