Today my mother asked me what my plans are for the day. I said that I would be working on communicating something complex in simple terms. To which she replied, well, tell me, I’m as simple as they come.

Me: Explaining the product and what it achieves

Her: What’s wrong with that – say it just like that

Me: I can’t say all of it – I only have a few seconds

Her: Snaps her fingers – that’s a second – and you can’t

Me: Hence my plans to figure out how

Her: Then just say “AI”

For someone “simple” and outside of the tech community – to say exactly what the entire tech community does – made me laugh and realize that we’re all just operating under impossible tasks to explain things until they’re built and can be shown.

The expectation to explain earth-changing innovation in under 30 seconds creates inertia.

What can be explained in under 30 seconds probably isn’t changing the world, and if people only have 30 seconds to listen, it’s likely they aren’t changing the world either.