How the Best Businesses in the World Succeed

DV Weekend Pick Up #43

Okay, this was sort of a god send if there ever was one.  All year I had been working on the concept of "simplicity" in conjunction with groundupSALES.  Then seemingly out of nowhere as I am further researching the 80/20 Principle (Richard Koch classic) I stumble across this upcoming release...

Simplify by Richard Koch & Greg Lockwood

What I like best:  I literally had my Amazon cued for pre-order on the October '16 US release.  In a weird way I felt slighted because this was a concept that I had been researching for the last year. On second thought, it felt like validation - FINALLY a book - devoted to a concept that I am absolutely sure of - Sweet!

I'll admit Koch and Lockwood are not the most graceful writers so at times you are challenged throughout the book.  However, Koch is a tremendous business mind and understands business strategy better than most so what you ultimately get is an education.  If you work in a corporation today you probably will enjoy the chapter, The Weakness of Strong Firms: 5 Bad Reasons Managers Don't Simplify.

This book is  packed with great case studies, knowledge, and structure which depicts the power of simplifying.  Specifically...

  1. Proposition simplification
  2. Pricing simplification

...you will hear profiles on the greatest companies in the world like - Apple, Southwest, Google, Amazon, IKEA - plus many more.  Even more importantly why and how each company chooses each model.  If you consider business strategy to be an interest than this is must read.  If you don't you'll probably wonder why you even picked it up.  

Best quote:  "A designer knows he has reached perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to takeaway." - Antoine de Saint Exupery

Crush the day!

DV