On Clarity
Clarity isn’t certainty or more data—it’s bedrock insight that turns complexity into confident action.
Clarity is more than data. It's more than certainty. Clarity is bedrock.
When I talk about "clarity," I don’t mean having all the facts or feeling 100% sure. Certainty can be misplaced. Facts can be irrelevant. Clarity is that eureka moment when the fog lifts and you see the whole picture at once. It feels simple. Obvious. Undeniable. Maybe even inevitable.
Mark Twain once said, "I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead." Clarity is that shorter letter—the distilled, undeniable essence.
Clarity vs. Complexity
We live in an age of complexity. For leaders, that complexity multiplies as organizations scale. The hunger isn’t for more dashboards or more meetings —- it’s for clarity:
- What’s really happening?
- Why is it happening?
- What should we do next?
Clarity doesn’t guarantee you’ve found the perfect solution. But it gives you a foundation to know whether your actions move the needle forward, backward, or not at all. Clarity creates confidence.
Think of clarity like panning for gold: you sift through a lot of noise, but when you find the nugget of truth, it shines unmistakably.
A Story of Clarity: Mapping the Schools
One of my clearest experiences came in technology support for a school district. Nearly 30 technicians were supporting 70,000 students across dozens of schools. The system was messy: some teams overwhelmed, others underutilized.
So I pulled a year's worth of ticket data, mapped it by school, and compared it to analyst productivity. Then I redrew the support map to rebalance demand.
The clarity was undeniable. On a single spreadsheet, side by side, the mismatches jumped out. Anyone could look at it and say, "Why didn't we do this already?" And because it was so clear, both my team and my leadership got on board immediately.
That's clarity: reducing something messy into a truth that feels self-evident.
Read the full case study: Data-Driven Decision Making at Volusia County Schools
A Story of No Clarity: The Nonprofit Losing Trust
On the flip side, I worked with a nonprofit where members’ payments weren’t being credited to their accounts. It was a knot of technical glitches, process gaps, and misinformation. People kept thinking they had the answer—until new exceptions surfaced.
In reality, no one truly knew what was happening.
It took months of peeling back layers, cleaning data, and building dashboards before clarity emerged. Only then could the organization start rebuilding trust with its members.
The absence of clarity was costing them money and credibility.
How I Create Clarity
Clarity doesn’t fall from the sky. It takes deliberate work. My process is a lot like detective work:
- Listen — Start with people: who they are, what they want, how they’re incentivized.
- Detect — Look for abnormalities; where do the patterns break?
- Dig — Keep asking "why" until you hit bedrock truth.
- Follow — Trace the evidence, even if it disrupts the status quo.
- Frame — Translate the insight so others can see it too.
Because clarity is only useful if it can be shared.
Personal Clarity: The Avalanche Inside
I’ve had moments of clarity in my own life. Getting laid off was one. At first, it could have felt like a loss of identity. Instead, it became a rare chance to pause, reflect, and realign with my strengths and values.
One of my favorite songs is "Avalanche" by Matthew Good, where he sings, "Avalanche, start inside of me." An avalanche begins with stillness—then, suddenly, it cascades with immense force. Often triggered by something small, it becomes unstoppable.
Clarity works the same way. It starts quietly, then cascades into action with immense leverage.
Clarity to Value
This is why my personal brand is built on Clarity to Value. Clarity is the foundation—the bedrock truth. Value is the destination. You need both.
- Clarity without value is trivia.
- Value without clarity is luck.
When I work with a client, "delivering clarity" doesn’t feel like endless analysis. It feels like confidence. It looks like a crisp dashboard, a clear talk track, or a decision that suddenly feels obvious.
Key Takeaways
- Clarity is bedrock. It’s the foundation beneath decisions, not just more information.
- Clarity scales trust. When people can see the truth, alignment follows.
- Clarity creates leverage. Once the signal is clear, action compounds.
The takeaway: In a world drowning in complexity, clarity isn’t a luxury. It’s the avalanche waiting to start inside of us—a force that, once released, changes everything.