Lockdown Readings : Insanely Simple by Ken Segull

Lockdown Reading : Insanely Simple

Apple Story by Ken Segall 

Ken Segall, the author of the book, had been an advertising person and had worked as Steve Jobs' agency creative director for 12 years spanning from NeXT to Apple days, and he also served as worldwide creative director at agencies for Dell, Intel and IBM.

Ken was responsible for Apple’s branding campaign and "i" naming strategy; keynote speaker; simplicity advocate.

Of all of the books jumping on the Steve Jobs bandwagon, Ken’s book is perhaps the one that’s most of value.

This is perhaps the one management book which has really resonated with me since Don Peppers and Martha Rogers’ The One-To-One Future.

Yes, Steve is mentioned aplenty and is the centre of the many examples given. It touches on many of the facets of Steve’s character which made him so successful, it focuses on one thing which almost anyone can do to improve their business – yet, will find an incredibly difficult and elusive concept to implement: simplicity.

Steve was often regarded as ruthless. Although there’s some truth in that, it’s probably better to say that he was single-minded. He wanted to get things done – and he often wanted to get them done fast. He didn’t like to hear the word ‘no’.

Well, we’ve all worked with officials who think that’s the right way to move an organization forward, that without their aggression, people simply wouldn’t do their best. But mind it, Steve’s single-mindedness wasn’t like that. He often knew that there was a better way and he provided a means to get there. He demanded simplicity.

Steve himself said that simplicity is hard to achieve. Segall’s book tells the journey of a marketing man working with Steve Jobs as he struggled to rebuild his massively broken former empire.

In big-company terms, some of the stories are amazing – such as when Steve returned to Apple and decided that it needed a branding campaign. After all, the company’s brand was in the gutter. Yet Apple had never run a campaign that was only about brand, ever. What was aired was one of the greatest campaigns of all time – the Apple ‘here’s to the crazy ones’ commercial, which was the spearhead for the company’s ‘think different’ brand campaign. 

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The rebels. The troublemakers. The ones who see things differently. While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

On my own experience of a brand campaign of the top Bank in India, I know how hard it can be. First, the company has to understand its own values. Then, it has to work out the smartest way to communicate them. Steve wanted, needed, his campaign to be done fast. It took around a month – a simply astonishing amount of time.

This book contrasts this with Dell, who, after six months, still hadn’t worked out what it stood for; it hadn’t even got off the starting blocks. The book also contrasts Apple with Intel, which stifles creativity and strong ideas with the overuse of focus groups, which dilute ideas until they are not only inoffensive, they are ineffective. Or, the excessive use of testing analytics to remove any element of risk – and most elements of impact.

Apple never uses focus groups. Ever. It’s smart enough to know a good idea when it sees one and has the confidence to run with it. When it makes a mistake (such as the round ‘puck’ mouse), it admits that mistake – and moves on quickly. This sounds arrogant, but the point is that not only does Apple trust itself, it knows how to keep things simple. It runs major meetings as conversations, not as presentations. Decision-making teams often number just two or three people; if you’re not absolutely needed at a meeting, you won’t be invited. If you turn up anyway, you’ll be ejected. Apple – not just Jobs – is ruthless about simplicity.

On the other hand , other companies believe that large project teams mean more brains on the job. Apple knows that this means more points of view, more conversations, more meetings, more cost, more delays – and a watered-down concept. 

Other companies believe in inclusivity. That getting the ‘wider view’ will win hearts and minds. Apple believes in secrecy – that they have the knowledge, the smarts, the energy needed to make something really great that will win hearts and minds all on its own. Apple knows that the wider your outside involvement, the more people you have to please – and the less focused the idea.

Apple has an obsession to reach  into every aspect of what it does, including having teams working in secret to create packaging that delights people before the product is even pulled from the box. Other companies simply buy the cheapest brown pulp boxes they can.

Steve is no more but Apple is still racking , became now one of the most profitable companies in the world. It makes more money than most other computer companies combined, despite not having the largest market share. Its products reshape markets. That isn’t magic – it’s damned hard work and a passion about one thing: simplicity.

This is one book every business man as well as business thought leader should read. Many may probably read it with envy, unable to envisage how they can possibly change the culture of their organisation into one that’s both as empowered and as empowering – and therefore so effective. 

Ken has given  an instance in the book , ‘Apple’s package-design team had just returned from their interaction with  to Steve Jobs, and their faces told the story. There were no visible signs of carnage. They just had that “things didn’t go exactly as we planned” look.

I felt bad for them, because I knew they’d been pouring their hearts into a project for several weeks, trying to solve a thorny packaging issue. I was working on an unrelated project in the building and had been invited into their high-security, hermetically sealed chamber at several points to join the brainstorming.

While the team was decompressing after their Steve meeting, I crossed paths with the project leader in the creative group’s kitchen.

“The suspense is killing me,” I said. “How’d it go this morning?” “Well,” he said, “Steve hit us with the Simple Stick.”

Translation: Steve had rejected their work—not because it was bad but

because in some way it failed to distill the idea to its essence. It took a turn when it should have traveled a straight line.

In this case it hadn’t even been the creative effort that bothered Steve—it was the project itself. The person leading the project had directed the team to create packaging for two versions of the same product. Steve had decided this was brain-dead. “Just combine them,” he said. “One product, one box.” There was no need to explore the idea of a second package.

He was right. It was simpler, quicker, better. The conversation was over in minutes, and it left one very smart and talented group of people wondering why they hadn’t thought of that before.’ 

Ken writes that The Simple Stick symbolizes a core value within Apple. Sometimes it’s held up as inspiration; other times it’s wielded like a caveman’s club. In all cases, it’s a reminder of what sets Apple apart from other technology companies and what makes Apple stand out in a complicated world: a deep, almost religious belief in the power of Simplicity.

As those who have worked with Apple will attest, the simpler way isn’t always the easiest. Often it requires more time, more money, and more energy. It might require you to step on a few toes. But more times than not, it will lead to measurably better results.

Simplicity has been a driving force at Apple since the earliest days of the two Steves, Jobs and Wozniak. It inspired them to create a computer that could actually help a human being accomplish something wonderful—as opposed to just processing data in the dark basement of some faceless corporation.

And of course , Simplicity was the guiding light for Macintosh, which introduced the biggest leap in the history of computers: a graphical interface controlled by a mouse. (Now, don’t get all technical with me about who really invented this. Macintosh was the first computer to popularize it.)

When Steve Jobs took the stage to announce Macintosh in 1984, he used words that would resonate for decades to come. He called it “insanely great.”

It was the kind of insanity that caused people to line up around the block to get a closer look at this technology milestone. When Steve returned to Apple after eleven years in exile, so did the insanity—and the lines started forming once again. First he reignited computers (iMac), then he revolutionized music (iPod and iTunes), then smartphones (iPhone), and most recently computers all over again (iPad).

Every one of Apple’s revolutions was born of the company’s devotion to Simplicity. Each new device either created a new category or turned an existing category on its head—all because, as an old iMac ad put it, the technology was “simply amazing, and amazingly simple.”

While Apple’s love of Simplicity started in the mind of Steve Jobs, it’s now burned deep into the company’s DNA, serving as a guide for legions of employees around the world. It pays off in the satisfaction that comes with sparking revolution after revolution. It also pays off in a more traditional way— with massive piles of cash.

To appreciate that, you need only look at the size of Apple’s profits versus those of any one competitor. Better yet, look at the size of Apple’s profits versus those of all of its competitors combined. Apple’s 4 percent of the smartphone market accounted for over half of the entire industry’s profits. In PCs, Apple’s small market share (about 5 percent worldwide) also rakes in a greatly disproportionate percentage of the total industry’s profits.

It’s Apple’s devotion to Simplicity that forms an unbreakable connection with its customers and inspires customers to evangelize to colleagues, friends, and family.

Simplicity not only enables Apple to revolutionize—it enables Apple to revolutionize repeatedly. As the world changes, as technology changes, as the company itself adapts to change, the religion of Simplicity is the one constant. It’s the set of values that allows Apple to turn technology into devices that are just too hard to resist.

There’s nothing subtle about Apple’s love affair with Simplicity. It’s everywhere you look. It’s in the company’s products, its ads, its internal organization, its stores, and its customer relationships. Inside Apple, Simplicity is a goal, a work style, and a measuring stick.

But all of this leads to a very good question: If Apple’s obsession with Simplicity is so obvious, and the financial results are equally obvious, why on earth aren’t other technology companies simply copying Apple’s methods to achieve the same level of success?

The quick answer: It ain’t easy.

Simplicity is not merely a layer that can be grafted onto a business. It isn’t available in a prepackaged version. It doesn’t work with an on/off switch. Yet it’s there for absolutely anyone to take advantage of, if only they have the determination and knowledge.

Simplicity doesn’t spontaneously spring to life with the right combination of molecules, water, and sunlight. It needs a champion—someone who’s willing to stand up for its principles and strong enough to resist the overtures of Simplicity’s evil twin, Complexity. It needs someone who’s willing to guide a process with both head and heart.

As you can imagine, it’s a lot more fun to wield the Simple Stick than it is to get whacked by it. By embracing the values of Simplicity, you will be the one who promotes change, keeps colleagues on course, and proves your value to the company day by day. The Undeniable Truth

This is a book about the obsession that drives Apple’s success: Simplicity. But to truly understand Simplicity—to appreciate how it’s implemented,

maintained, and enforced at Apple, to learn how you can use its power to achieve your company’s goals—you need to see it in context. And in the organization that Steve Jobs built, marketing is the context for just about everything. It’s not an exaggeration to say that marketing is as critical to Apple’s success as the devices the company makes.