Simplify: How the Best Businesses in the World Succeed

by Richard Koch, Greg Lockwood Narrated by Roger Davis

Overview

For the past forty years, Richard Koch has worked to uncover simple and elegant principles which govern business success. To qualify, a principle must be so overwhelmingly powerful that anyone can reliably apply it to generate extraordinary results.

Working with venture capitalist Greg Lockwood and supported by specially commissioned research from OC&C Strategy Consultants, Koch has now found one elemental principle that unites extraordinarily valuable companies: simplifying. Some firms simplify on price - consider budget flights stripped of all extras that still take you from A to B - creating new, huge mass markets for their wares. Others, such as Apple, simplify their proposition, bringing a beautifully easy-to-se product or service to a large premium market.

How can your business become a simplifier? With case studies of some of the most famous firms of the last hundred years, from finance to fast food, this enlightening book shows how to analyse any company's potential to simplify, and enrich the world.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

I've read countless business books and have attended dozens of business conferences and mastermind groups. But nothing has been as powerful for shaping the vision for my business as Simplify. All ambiguity has disappeared since I learned the Simplify model! True to its name, it's a very simple model for identifying a clear path for growth, providing a frame in which all other business knowledge and decisions can snap into place.
—Susan Kruger, M.Ed., CEO of SOAR Learning, Inc. and author of SOAR Learning & Soft Skills for College & Career Success

There are few books and even fewer concepts that can truly revolutionize a business, a product, and an industry. The concept of positioning a company or its products in such a way that will forever change the landscape of business is here. Richard Koch’s Simplify is that book. It is strategy on steroids, with a twist. Simplify guides you through the process of what so many have attempted to do and yet only so few have ever achieved. Now with this book as your guide, you too can achieve extraordinary results and positioning in the market place you serve. Don’t read this book, study it and then master it!
—George Contos, CEO of World Wide Metric and author of Growing Up Metric

Several key executives from our company attended the Star Principle Seminar in Chicago and it truly changed our business. Above all else, we left with a renewed focus that clearly showed us the path to creating a Star Business. By applying the 80/20 Principle to both our marketing efforts and product lines, we simplified the business and we are now seeing huge growth from considerably less work. Richard Koch and Perry Marshall really ‘get the math’ in a way few others do!
—David Jellins, CEO of Adrenaline, Inc.

Whether fast food, furniture, or Ford, only Richard Koch could take the timeless ideas from history’s greatest companies and “simplify” them so well that any entrepreneur young or old could grasp them easily. As soon as we put the book down, we instantly began coaching our team on the Simplify ideas, and they took off within days. Even a co-ed kickball league can learn from the greats like Google, Ikea and McDonald's through Richard’s words. One can only wonder how many great new companies like Slack, Stripe, and Square are proving themselves ahead of their time by tapping into these grand ideas on proposition simplification.
—Shawn D. Madden, Founder and ambassador of Fun Underdog Sports Leagues

If you are in any doubt about the value of simplifying your business, read this book. We all know it takes time and effort to do it, but in Simplify you will find more than enough examples of what companies have done and the benefits to them (with all the facts and figures to back it up) to be convincing. Every time I dip into it, I realize there is more that I can and must do, I was working on simplifying our offering based on the information you will find here just yesterday and I'm doing more on it today. One excellent feature of the book that I love is that there are handy summaries of all the key points so you can find the information you want really quickly whenever you need it. This book is provides you with the tools and the inspiration to simplify your business and so become more successful quickly.
—Nancy Slessenge, Founder and CEO Vinehouse

This book opened my eyes to the powerful idea of simplicity. My small business has doubled over the last year by applying the principles it teaches. Richard's genius is observing the principle, distilling it down to its simplest components, and communicating it simply.
—Damon Janis, Do-founder Dentma

When the modern-day Godfather of 80/20 speaks, we should all pause to listen. In Simplify, Richard Koch reveals the formula followed by history's most successful businesses - from Ford and Wal-Mart, to Amazon and Uber - to transform industries and sell billions. What industry will you revolutionize?
—Tim Francis, Founder of ProfitFactory.com and NYU Guest Lecturer

Product Details

BN ID:	2940177991320
Publisher:	Little, Brown Book Group
Publication date:	07/27/2017
Edition description:	Unabridged

Videos