Simplify: How the Best Businesses in the World Succeed Hardcover – October 11, 2016

It has been a while since I have read such a great business book. Most give advice that seems obvious. This book has high level strategy with data to back up their advice. It gets you thinking of how you can possible change your business to make it better for your customers. There is two types of simplification that can grow your business. Read and find out which type of strategy works best for your company and how to implement the strategy. The funny part was that there is a chapter on why managers won't agree. When I announced that we are going to change our strategy to my team, they objected. I said, "You objections are address in the book." Everything my team was concerned about, he addressed and answered in the book. I was prepared to discuss each concern they had, prior to the meetings. That was cool.

The need to simplify your personal life as well as your business, is not new. Every second year I have brought to readers’ attention another book on the subject, so here is my biennial contribution.What makes this book valuable is that it focuses directly on sustainable economic growth. The authors have identified two types of growth that flow from the exercise of simplification: proposition-simplification and price-simplification. These two methods of growing the company are fundamentally different and the decision to pursue one form of simplification over another must be made on reliable grounds.The decision must take cognizance of the culture of the company and its appetite and ability to pursue one type of simplification over the other. Further, the nature of both the company’s offering and the nature of the market will affect the decision-making process.I will describe how the two types of simplification unfold through the descriptions of some of the well-known businesses used in the book as examples.Price simplificationThe sole objective of price-simplification is to slash the costs of the product or service to the consumer.Henry Ford achieved price-simplification by reducing the variety of cars his company initially offered down to one, and in only one colour –black. The very design of the car was aimed at giving people what they needed and nothing more – a way to move faster than on horseback. Ford worked constantly on redesigning his factories so that more cars could be produced ever more cheaply. The company’s success was directly correlated to the constantly dropping selling price.IKEA, the mass retailer of affordable, attractive furniture, redesigned their products so that they could be flat-packed, saving the company transport and storage costs. This price-simplification model also involved co-opting customers into the sales process to further reduce costs. Not only are there no salespeople for you to discuss your decorating needs with, you select the furniture yourself, but you even take it home yourself in a flat-pack. Then, you assemble the furniture from their remarkably clear instructions.McDonald’s reduced the price of their burgers by reducing variety, and automating processes wherever possible. They also speeded up the delivery of the food, so allowing for a faster flow-through of customers, and eliminated the cost of waiters. Customers essentially serve themselves.Honda entered the American market by reducing the power of the motor-cycles they offered, and scaling down their offering to the larger segment of small motor-cycle users. Honda also lowered their costs of labour, their most expensive component, through efficiencies of production and management.Proposition-SimplificationProposition-simplification differs from price-simplification with its focus on making the product or service a joy to use. The price is not a factor and many who are proposition-simplifiers are more expensive than their competitors. This category benefits from people’s willingness to pay more, if that is what it takes to own something that is easier to use, or more useful or more aesthetically pleasing.Apple Macintosh effectively created the high-end customer segment by manufacturing products that were more intuitive for the user, more user-friendly and more beautiful.Uber has made the experience of using a taxi quicker through the software that hails the drivers closest to you. The newer cars required for use by Uber drivers are expected to be more reliable, comfortable, and the whole experience is often cheaper than conventional taxis. This combination of the speed of getting a ride and the convenience of not having to pay cash, are among many features that have made Uber hugely successful, and an extremely valuable company.The computer scientists at Xerox PARC invented the modern PC, the mouse and much, much more. However, they failed to capitalize on their inventions partially because they never focused on process simplification. “They snatched defeat from the jaws of victory because they liked complexity more than they liked simplicity,” the authors explain.Process-simplification and the monetization of these technological innovations were left to the late, great Steve Jobs. He brought Apple back to profitability by focusing on just two models of the Mac and producing the easiest-to-use, most fun personal computer on the market.Then came the iPod, another extraordinary example of proposition-simplification. Existing MP3 players were “horrible, absolutely horrible.” They were difficult to use and held about sixteen songs. Jobs and the team devised a far simpler player that had a drive that would hold a thousand songs, with a FireWire connection to sync the thousand songs in under ten minutes, and a battery that would last through a thousand songs.Apple is a prime example of a proposition-simplifier.What tactics your context requires to use the principle of simplification, will be completely unique. The value of this book is the awareness of the power of simplification, and the guidance it offers to the process: the rest is up to you.Readability Light -+-- SeriousInsights High --+-- LowPractical High +---- Low*Ian Mann of Gateways consults internationally on leadership and strategy and is the author of the soon to be released ‘Executive Update’.

I'd give this a 4.5 if I could but it was well worth the read. This book is highly applicable to building "unicorn" type industry disrupting business lessons. It focuses on mainly on 12 companies as the case studies so it's in the medium range as to real world examples. If you like "Good to Great" type books, this is for you.

Generally, well written. The author presents several examples of companies that have profited greatly from a simplifying strategy. While these are all terrific examples of his theories, the heart of the content regarding the actual process of simplifying is a bit short and shallow. Much of the book relies on relaying information about these same company's successes as opposed to outlining the process itself. All in all, though, well worth it for anyone thinking of creating or expanding a business.

I read it after I read the Blue Ocean Strategy books, and it helped me to see the whole picture in a more holistic view and to fill in some gaps in my thinking. I highly recommend it.

This is one of the best perspectives on simplicity in business I’ve read. The examples of price simplicity and product simplicity really resonate. Ultimately we crave ease of understanding and ease of decisioning and the book hits on that reality to show a road to business success.

Often we hear entrepreneurs talking about the big valuations of companies. Ex. why Facebook bought WhatsApp for billions and we dream....Now this book was the first book who really explained why some events happens in the business world. Even i am many years in busines, the book was an eye opener and today we start reviewing our company with this book in mimd.

This book takes what is "obvious" and distills from the hindsight(s) of the last 100 + years, a Process whereby one may become the next 'disruptor' of the status quo; the window where fortunes are made.The steps are deceptively simple. The key? Knowing what questions to ask. That is what this book teaches.Look beyond the 'hindsight' mentality to the principles taught; those are the timeless essence this book reveals and presents.Is this of any value? Only if one incorporates the principles & questions to identify the opportunities ever unfolding in our highly complex & inter-dependent economy.