Why Simple Wins: Escape the Complexity Trap and Get to Work That Matters QUOTES

1 " Scott Barry Kaufman, scientific director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Science of Imagination Project at the Positive Psychology Center, has found that 72 percent of us come up with new, creative ideas when we’re showering. Why? According to Kaufman, “The relaxing, solitary, and non-judgmental shower environment may afford creative thinking by allowing the mind to wander freely, and causing people to be more open to their inner stream of consciousness and daydreams.”8 In other words, simplifying your environment so that you can be alone with your thoughts makes it more likely that you’ll tap into your own creativity. "

― Lisa Bodell , Why Simple Wins: Escape the Complexity Trap and Get to Work That Matters

2 " Organizations and leaders are very good at talking about mission, values, and purpose. They post high-minded statements in the lobby, on their social media pages, on the home page of the company website. Many leaders wouldn’t miss a beat if asked precisely how a young accountant’s job helps their firm contribute to the social good. But this rings hollow if excessive rules, processes, or bureaucracy get in the way. Nothing separates individuals more from a sense that their work is worthwhile than the curse of complication. "

― Lisa Bodell , Why Simple Wins: Escape the Complexity Trap and Get to Work That Matters

3 " With the best of intentions, we value addition, not subtraction, more, not less. "

― Lisa Bodell , Why Simple Wins: Escape the Complexity Trap and Get to Work That Matters

4 " Simplicity won’t just well up naturally from lower in the organization (although, as we’ll see in the next chapter, everybody at all levels can play a role). You have to make it a strategic priority. You have to give it energy and attention. You have to send the right messages. It’s one of the key things leaders do, and it’s an essential skill to learn if you want to become a leader. "

― Lisa Bodell , Why Simple Wins: Escape the Complexity Trap and Get to Work That Matters

5 " We can even speak in terms of a new “Golden Rule”: make others’ lives as simple as possible, just as you would like them to do for you. "

― Lisa Bodell , Why Simple Wins: Escape the Complexity Trap and Get to Work That Matters

6 " Many people think that culture is paramount. Not true. If you get the work right, you get the culture right. "

― Lisa Bodell , Why Simple Wins: Escape the Complexity Trap and Get to Work That Matters

7 " In some ways, achieving simplicity is harder for top executives than it is for others in the organization. But it’s also more important. "

― Lisa Bodell , Why Simple Wins: Escape the Complexity Trap and Get to Work That Matters

8 " As Jack Welch once said, “For a large organization to be effective, it must be simple. "

― Lisa Bodell , Why Simple Wins: Escape the Complexity Trap and Get to Work That Matters

9 " In a famous study of the defense contractor Raytheon, sociologist Ronald Burt found that those employees who had a hand in more than one department were more likely to innovate. As he put it, the employees who spanned “structural holes” were at “higher risk” for coming up with good ideas.9 Today, many people don’t have the bandwidth to span “structural holes.” They’re so bogged down in complication that they confine themselves by necessity to their own domains. "

― Lisa Bodell , Why Simple Wins: Escape the Complexity Trap and Get to Work That Matters

10 " I’ve found that organizations, while well intentioned, tend to approach innovation incorrectly. The very things they put in place to drive innovation—meetings, reports, policies, procedures, task forces, and governing bodies—wind up constricting it. While some structure is important, the best approach to change and innovation usually isn’t to do more, but to do less. Get rid of things that aren’t working to make space for new things that are. "

― Lisa Bodell , Why Simple Wins: Escape the Complexity Trap and Get to Work That Matters

11 " Originating at the top, simplification requires a leadership quality that’s often in short supply: courage. It requires a leap of faith, the belief that freeing people to do higher-level thinking will pay back dividends. And it requires a mindset—the will, foresight, and fortitude to push simplicity through. Do you as a leader have these things? If not, why not? "

― Lisa Bodell , Why Simple Wins: Escape the Complexity Trap and Get to Work That Matters

12 " Albert Einstein is famous for having argued that “everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler. "

― Lisa Bodell , Why Simple Wins: Escape the Complexity Trap and Get to Work That Matters

13 " Strelsin asked CEOs an easy question: “How would you describe the most important aspect of your role in the organization?” The CEOs whose companies were inconsistent in their performance prioritized creating a vision, building a specific corporate culture, and developing a specific business strategy. But when Strelsin posed the same question to CEOs of industry-leading companies, most said that they had made it their personal mission, above all else, to simplify the lives of those who worked below them. They pursued simplification in a number of ways: they simplified their strategies so their peers and subordinates could focus on the most important challenges. They simplified their hierarchies, so that their companies could execute their strategies more effectively. They made it a priority to communicate in clear prose that inspired everyone to join in their company’s respective mission. In short, the most successful executives in Strelsin’s study excelled in their jobs because they regarded themselves not merely as CEOs, but as chief simplifiers. "

― Lisa Bodell , Why Simple Wins: Escape the Complexity Trap and Get to Work That Matters

14 " a great deal of complexity arises because it’s easier to build on top of the things that we’ve already established than to blow up what exists and replace it with something simple. "

― Lisa Bodell , Why Simple Wins: Escape the Complexity Trap and Get to Work That Matters

15 " Our failure to take time in the moment to get down to what really matters sets us on the path to complication. When we opt time and again to add more to what exists, we wind up with a web of complexity we can’t even begin to fathom. "

― Lisa Bodell , Why Simple Wins: Escape the Complexity Trap and Get to Work That Matters

16 " Bain did a study of a manufacturer that instituted a simple rule, halving the default length of meetings to a half hour and mandating that no more than seven employees attend any company discussion. The results were powerful: employees who were left alone to attend to their own responsibilities were much more productive. "

― Lisa Bodell , Why Simple Wins: Escape the Complexity Trap and Get to Work That Matters

17 " Use More Extreme Criteria. Think of what happens to our closets when we use the broad criteria: “Will I wear this someday?” The closet becomes cluttered with clothes we never wear and probably never will. If you ask, “Will I absolutely wear this in the next six months?,” you’re more likely to get rid of an item to make space for something better. Simplification works especially well when you use extreme criteria to challenge how things are done. Some examples: • To solve this problem, give me a solution that would shock people. • To solve this problem, give me an idea that would get you fired. • To solve this problem, give me an idea that would eliminate all or a seemingly impossible amount of something. Example: A group within a telecom company wanted to cut meetings, so they challenged each business unit to eliminate 50 percent of their meetings, knowing full well that this would be near impossible. In the end, managers reporting cutting 15 percent of their meetings, greater than the 5 percent they originally expected. "

― Lisa Bodell , Why Simple Wins: Escape the Complexity Trap and Get to Work That Matters

18 " Delete Toxic People: Delete them from your social networks, contact lists, and phone—right now. Stop hanging out with people who suck your energy, are rude, add no value, or make you feel lousy each time you interact. Say good-bye to bad clients, business partners, and team members. Some guidelines: • If the person is distracting or continually sucks up your time—delete. • If it’s a one-way relationship in the other person’s favor—delete. • If people don’t appreciate you for who you are or what you have to offer—delete. • If you can’t remember who they are or where you met them—delete. • If they communicate with you too much or they clog your inbox—delete. "

― Lisa Bodell , Why Simple Wins: Escape the Complexity Trap and Get to Work That Matters

19 " At that point, Gilfoy redefined her mission as addressing Vancity’s overreliance on technological complexity to solve process and people problems. The cure indicated for this diagnosis—simplification—was not esoteric or highly technical. Everyone could intuitively understand what it meant to pare back needless processes and steps, and everyone could help do it. "

― Lisa Bodell , Why Simple Wins: Escape the Complexity Trap and Get to Work That Matters

20 " To administer the ongoing rapid cycling process, Gilfoy created a small office led by Seema Dhanoa, the “director for simplicity.” This manager led a three-person team that included a senior consultant, Christina Fai, whose job it was to be a key facilitator and coach others at Vancity to lead the methodology, and a consultant, Ali Anderson, to coordinate workshops, capture ideas, manage the details, and work on the implementation of the rapid cycles. Rather than staff the team with permanent employees who again would come to “own” simplicity, she rotated employees in and out of the team on temporary assignments to facilitate workshops. Team members were volunteers selected on the basis of their cross-organizational experience, ability to facilitate discussions, ability to learn new processes, and overall curiosity. As they left and went on to other assignments, they would take their simplification experiences with them, helping to build a simplification mindset, competency, and culture within the organization. "

― Lisa Bodell , Why Simple Wins: Escape the Complexity Trap and Get to Work That Matters