Insanely simple
by Ken Segall
Segall was Steve Jobs’ ad agency creative director and helped create landmark campaigns for Apple. He also claims to have named the iMac. In this book he articulates the principles that guided Steve Jobs as he built Apple into the company it is today. In particular Jobs’ obsession with simplicity.
For clarity, it's about making things simple, not simplistic i.e. dumbed down. I have long thought that the big brains take complexity and simplify until they get to the essence. Like that wonderful moment when somebody, usually senior, who has been listening quietly to a discussion, suddenly says "So what we're saying is this…" and absolutely nails what's important. It's very much linked to the sentiment behind the quotation that’s often attributed to Winston Churchill "I apologise for writing you a long letter, I didn't have time to write a short one."
For many years I’ve been working to get better at identifying what's important and capturing its essence. And it’s something I encourage many of my clients to do. This book is a really insightful aid to cultivating that habit.