The Power of Simplicity - Hardcover

Trout, Jack; Rivkin, Steve

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0070653623 ISBN 13: 9780070653627

Publisher: McGraw-Hill, 1998

Synopsis

Presents guidelines that show managers how to cope with complexities by focusing on essentials in areas such as management, leadership, marketing, long-term planning, and motivation

About this title

From the Back Cover

Some of the Simple Truths Found in This Book. Chapter 2: "Trust Your Common Sense. It Will Tell You What To Do." Chapter 3: "Big Ideas Almost Always Come In Small Words." Chapter 7: "If Your're Not Different, You Better Have A Low Price." Chapter 8: "It's Not About Knowing Your Customer. It's About Your Customer Knowing About you." Chapter 11: "A Mushy Mission Statement Is An Indication That A Company Doesn't Know Where It's Going." Chapter 17: "Goals Are Like Dreams. Wake Up and Face Reality. Chapter 22: "The Best Revenge Over Critics Is Being Correct."

Reviews

It's back to the basics, and Trout says simplifying a business--any business--can save a businessperson big dollars and maximize profits. To start, Trout derides things that appear to streamline companies but in reality only muddy up the works, such as "mission statements." He also takes potshots at such things as Covey's "Seven Habits," being of the opinion that the use of words such as paradigm only introduces more complexity when it should be reduced. In fact, Trout says the biggest problem everywhere today is too much information; when it takes more than a few minutes to answer e-mail (he suggests checking the headers for stuff actually worth reading), it is obvious that the information supposed to help is actually drowning the entrepreneur. The most successful companies have eschewed showy trappings in favor of simplifying (he cites Southwest Airlines, Intel, and Kohl's department stores, among others), and with basically straightforward prose (naturally), he makes a compelling case for KISS (keep it simple, stupid.) Joe Collins

Edition details

• Publisher: McGraw-Hill
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0070653623
• ISBN 13: 9780070653627
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 205