Success Secrets:

Working Smarter

The Power of Simplicity

Achieving More with Less – What Is It and How It Works

"You can't believe how hard it is for people to be simple, how much they fear being simple... Clear tough-minded people are the most simple."

– Jack Welch

16 Ways to Avoid the Hassle of Commercializing University Technology

By: Terry Collison

• If you have a technology policy and a procedure, make sure nobody in the university community actually understands what it is. Complexity is good... More

Why Simplicity Works

"Simplicity works because it is based on human nature and common sense."¹ It helps people work smarter.

18 Leadership Lessons from Colin Powell

• Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate and doubt, to offer a solution everybody can understand. The result? Clarity of purpose, credibility of leadership, and integrity of organization.... More

The Universal Problem

In today's era of over-communication, the avalanche of news about the rapid changes of modern life and management issues is turning people off. "The universal problem seems to be how hard people have to work just to figure out what to do.

Task work has been streamlined, but knowledge work has become more cluttered and confusing. Making the right choices – fast, while everything is changing – is now the toughest part of getting our work done."¹

Most management training teach you to deal with every variable, seek out every option, and analyze every angle. "Unfortunately, when you start spinning out all kinds of different solutions, you're on the road to chaos. You end up with contradictory ideas and people running in different directions. Simplicity requires that you narrow the options and and return to a single path."²

The Growing Avoidance of Complexity

The psychologist Dr. Carol Moog states that in our culture, there's is a "paranoia of omission". There's a sense that you have to cover all your options because you could be attacked at any moment. You can't miss anything or it could be fatal to your carrer.² This leads to maddening complexity. The best way to deal with these natural fears is to focus on the right problem. That's the power of simplicity.

Besides, people don't want to spent too much time on thinking. By simplifying a complex issue, you are making it easier for people make a decision faster, without too much thought.

Apply 80/20 Rule to Your Business

"Because business is wasteful, and because complexity and waste feed on each other, a simple business will always be better than a complex business". To succeed in managing change and transforming your business by applying the 80/20 Principle, you need to demonstrate that simple is beautiful and why. Unless you understand this, you will never be willing to give up underperforming 80% of your current business and overheads. "The way to create something great is to create something simple... Progress requires simplicity; and simplicity requires ruthlessness," writes Richard Koch.⁶... More

80/20 Principle: 10 Golden Rules for Successful Carriers

5. Identify where 20% of efforts gives 80% of returns... More

Learning Power

In learning, we want things fast, but we don't have time to study. "The world is changing so rapidly that by the time we learn something, it has often changed in some way, shape or form... We want satisfaction, proof that even though life is moving quickly, we are gaining on it and we are making a difference."⁵ Simple ideas from people who have done simple things and achieved great results make this high-speed race more manageable. They enable you to get started in small, immediate ways that make a difference, confident that you will make progress if you take the initiative to act.

 Case in Point  General Electric (GE)

Jack Welch summed up his prescription for winning in three words:

• Speed

• Simplicity

• Self-confidence.

Simplicity is one of the keys to business. It is an art form, with many definitions: "To an engineer, it's clean, functional design with fewer parts. For manufacturing it means judging a process not by how sophisticated it is, but how understandable it is to those who must make it work. In marketing it means clear messages and clean proposals to consumers and industrial customers. And, most importantly, on an individual, interpersonal level it takes the form of plain-speaking, directness – honesty."

The Four Powerful Questions...

Fast Decision Making...

Establishing Guiding Principles...

Unpacking Proposals...

Behave Like a Small Company...

 Case in Point  Google...

 Case in Point  Buffett's Teachings on Investment...

 Case in Point  Dell Computer Corporation...