The German word ‘Verzicht’ doesn’t find an easy home in the English language. A combination of sacrifice, abdication, waiver, rejection; its roots are close to ‘withdrawal.’ An active ‘drawing away’ of support, effort or rights.
Actively choosing ‘less.’
Less says more
When we walk into an empty room, our presence sounds an echo. Reflection from the empty space resounds with a sense of presence. How different when we walk into a room full of clutter and noise. The signal of our entry/exit passes without registering against the noise.
Over the last couple of years the mindfulness trend has encouraged more and more people to seek the council of silence. To dive into 7+ day silent retreats. In the quiet reflection, the echo scribes the outlines of our thoughts, fears and ambitions more clearly.
Instead of emptiness we find a space full of wisdom drowned out by the busy-ness of everyday noise and complexity. By withdrawing from the noise we find clarity and profile.
The ancient practices of lent and ramadan are yearly reminders of ‘Verzicht’s’ clarifying value.
Circumscribing clarity
Most people think of design as an additive process. Adding one line to the next until you have a shape that is pleasing and functional. True design happens in omission, subtraction and reduction.
Still the best example of how brands mess up subtraction (© Microsoft, yes it was an internal video)
What we leave out, powers what we leave in.
Framed in the language of art theory: “Negative space traces the outline of a subject to reveal its form. For more complex subject matter—like the human figure, crowded scenes, or still lifes—it’s easier to look at the space around the subject in order to figure out its proportions and placement. By looking at these negative areas, our brains will turn them into simple shapes.”
Grandfather and Grandson, 2018. From Eric Pickersgill’s series ‘Removed.’
What is missing often reveals the true nature of what we see. The hand that was not extended in greeting, the junior person who was not given a chance to speak. We can tell a lot about people based on what they don’t do.
Behaviour as the ‘negative space’ of character.
Rejecting Outrage/Embracing Boundlessness
Recently Wynton Marsalis made me aware of a more profound implication of ‘Verzicht.’ In his interview with Bill Maher, he talked about how “cancel culture is a bizarre form of imitating elite forms of oppression.”
“People who have been victims of oppression, create that same form of oppression when they get some kind of agency.”
‘Verzicht’ is the pattern breaker.
By choosing to withdraw from the ping pong of retribution, you open a new path forward. Untainted and not defined by what has gone before. When you are not simply re-acting, you enter a space of boundless opportunity.
Many people hold up Nelson Mandela as the supreme example of this strategy. By choosing not to give in to the impulses of revenge, a new paradigm was created. Not owned or beholden to the past.
In his words:
“As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn't leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I'd still be in prison.”
Less becomes more
Can we use the pattern breaking and clarifying power of ‘Verzicht’ to move beyond the current paradigm of destructive growth? Transform a world where we have destroyed 68% of life since 1970, by relinquishing and letting go in order to find a new boundLESSness?
Let’s take that leap into silence and opportunity.
Operational update. I’m slowly emerging from parental leave this month. Drop me a line of you’d like to say ‘hello’ or have a conversation about your business challenges.