Leadership is complex; the secret is utilizing strategies to simplify it. Successful leaders have the ability to streamline the numerous responsibilities and interacting dynamics that comprise leadership (Uhl-Bien et al., 2007). Streamlining empowers influential leaders to produce the clarity needed to move people forward as a unified force.

The power of simplicity is a time-tested principle. In his 1973 collection of essays, Small Is Beautiful, E. F. Schumacher stated, “Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius—and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction” (p. 22). The touch of genius to which Schumacher refers is found in leaders who understand the power of gratitude and staying grateful for the opportunity to positively affect the people they lead and the world in which they live.