Book Note — Insanely Simple — The Obsession That Drives Apple’s Success (Ken Segall)
- Simplicity’s evil twin, complexity.
- Simplicity is the love child of two of the most powerful forces in business: Brains and Common Sense.
- Think Brutal — be brutally honest and expect same from others; to settle for second best is violation of the rule of simplicity;
- Think Small — always work with small group of the smartest and most creative people; simplicity is ultimate efficiency.
- Think Minimal — trying to please everyone is a good way to please no one; pick the most compelling feature and present it in the most compelling way; when is doubt, minimize.
- Think Motion — to achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan and not quite enough time; aim realistically high, never stop moving.
- Think Iconic — Think different campaign; Apple’s core value ‘we believe that people with passion can change the world for the better’; rather than saying a hundred things quietly instead of one thing loudly; part of the idea is to win you over before you even touch it; zero is the only number that’s simple than one; Steve avoided using people in ads cause actor who seemed cool to one viewer might be turnoff to another; Susan Alinsangan came up with iPod Silhouettes commercials; when you are underdog directly compare yourself to leader.
- Think Phrasal — Phil Schiller came up with MacMan. Ken Seagall came up with iMac (i for internet). Simplicity is singularity, one work is always better than two.
- Think Casual — don’t go for style over substance on presentations; lay out the agenda, lay out the facts for each topic, then summarize each topic before moving on to the next. At the end of the show, he’d summarize the high points on the entire show all over again. If he had a thought he wanted you to remember, he’d repeat it. Over and over.; never asked for formal presentation, only our best thinking.
- Think Human — iPod ad simply said ‘1000 songs in your pocket’, no technical specs; human-speak is a hallmark of simplicity; Steve recognized the difference between a fact and an emotion. he understood that the intangible and the unprovable can be the most important parts of building a brand; Henry Ford:’If I asked people what they wanted, they’d say a faster horses’;
- Think Skeptic — A true friend of Simplicity will at least remain open to the possibility of rejecting an expert’s advise after considering other factors, as opposed to reflexively implementing it; he would shoot first and ask questions later; Death threats work wonders — “If you guys can’t do it, I’ll bet Arnold can figure out how to do it pretty quick”;
- Think War — It’s good to have enemies — war with IBM, Intel and PC was good for Apple. Mac vs PC campaign also helped Apple.
- Think Ahead — Steve Jobs said that iPhone would not run third-party apps, period. He ultimately changed his mind.
- Think Different — “Simple can be harder than complex. You have to work hard to get your thinking clean and make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end, because once you get there, you can move mountains.”
