005: Relentless simplicity
The power of cutting through complexity in business and life
Look around you. Endless choices. Infinite scrolling. The relentless tug of notifications, emails, and obligations. In an age where more is always within reach, we rarely stop to ask: what if less is actually the answer? The overload isn’t just personal—it’s everywhere, shaping how businesses operate, how decisions are made, and how attention is divided.
Simplicity—a term that echoes through the corridors of high-performing companies and efficient organizations—holds a power that few leaders fully appreciate. At its core, it’s the art of stripping away the unnecessary to focus on what truly matters. It’s about maintaining clarity, purpose, and efficiency, even when the world around us grows increasingly chaotic. In business, as in life, simplicity is not just a luxury—it’s an essential survival tool.
The most successful companies have learned this the hard way. The ones that once worshipped scale at all costs are now reckoning with the reality that complexity isn’t just inefficient—it’s a liability. Those that survive, let alone thrive, are the ones that master the discipline of cutting through the noise, refining their core, and operating with relentless simplicity. It’s not just about efficiency; it’s about clarity.
Like those companies, I had to learn this the hard way too. For years, I equated complexity with success. A packed schedule felt like a badge of importance. A never-ending to-do list meant I was accomplishing something. But underneath it all, I was drowning—distracted, overwhelmed, and constantly spinning my wheels. When I finally stepped back and started stripping away the excess, something remarkable happened. I was left with focus. Impact. Work that actually mattered.
That’s when I also started paying attention to businesses that were doing the same. Apple, Netflix, Tesla—giants that didn’t try to do everything but instead became legendary by doing less, better. Their secret wasn’t just innovation; it was relentless prioritization.
In this essay, I set out to explore how businesses thrive by embracing simplicity—and how we, too, can harness the power of simplicity in our daily choices. That said, beyond efficiency and clarity, there’s a deeper question to consider: what are the ethical consequences of this pursuit? In stripping away excess and optimizing for productivity, do we risk losing something essential—human nuance, creativity, or even jobs? The balance between simplicity and responsibility is another conversation worth having, one that extends far beyond boardrooms and into the fabric of our personal and collective lives.
The power of doing less, better
There’s a well-known moment in Apple’s history that illustrates this idea perfectly. When Steve Jobs returned to the company in 1997, Apple was floundering. It had bloated product lines—dozens of computers, printers, digital cameras—all competing for attention with no clear focus. Jobs took one look at the mess and slashed nearly everything. He famously drew a four-quadrant grid—consumer and professional, desktop and portable—and decided Apple would only make one product in each category. Everything else was eliminated.
That single act of ruthless prioritization transformed Apple from a struggling company into an innovation powerhouse.
This same relentless focus is what separates great businesses from mediocre ones. Netflix made the bold move to abandon its DVD rental business and go all in on streaming. It was a risk, but by focusing entirely on the future, it became the leader in digital entertainment. Tesla refused to follow the traditional dealership model, choosing instead to sell directly to consumers. This simplified operations, gave them more control over the customer experience, and helped them scale faster than legacy automakers.
The lesson is clear: success doesn’t come from doing more—it comes from doing less, with greater precision. When I finally applied that same principle to my own work, it changed everything. I stopped mistaking busyness for progress. I eliminated distractions dressed up as productivity. And for the first time in a long time, I had clarity.
The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.
— Hans Hofmann