Simple
Conquering the Crisis of Complexity
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
For decades, Alan Siegel and Irene Etzkorn have championed simplicity as a competitive advantage and a consumer right. Consulting with businesses and organizations around the world to streamline products, services, processes and communications, they have achieved dramatic results.
In Simple, the culmination of their work together, Siegel and Etzkorn show us how having empathy, striving for clarity, and distilling your message can reduce the distance between company and customer, hospital and patient, government and citizen-and increase your bottom line.
Examining the best and worst practices of an array of organizations big and small-including the IRS, Google, Philips, Trader Joe's, Chubb Insurance, and ING Direct, and many more-Siegel and Etzkorn recast simplicity as a mindset, a design aesthetic, and a writing technique.
In these illuminating pages you will discover, among other things:
Why the Flip camera became roadkill in the wake of the iPhone What SIMPLE idea allowed the Cleveland Clinic to improve care and increase revenue How OXO designed a measuring cup that sold a million units in its first 18 months on the market Where Target got the idea for their "ClearRX" prescription system How New York City simplified its unwieldy bureaucracy with three simple numbers By exposing the overly complex things we encounter every day, SIMPLE reveals the reasons we allow confusion to persist, inspires us to seek clarity, and explores how social media is empowering consumers to demand simplicity.
The next big idea in business is Simple.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this enjoyable paean to the virtues of simplicity, Siegel and Etzkorn offer their wisdom on simplifying the delivery of information. As they point out, "the principles of simplicity apply to every interaction whether printed, electronic, verbal or visual." Their information-delivery philosophy can be summed up in three words: empathize, distill, and clarify. Using real-world examples such as the thinking behind Oxo's bestselling measuring cup, N.Y.C. Mayor Michael Bloomberg's creation of the 311 telephone system, and the Cleveland Clinic's patient-centered care model the authors break those three words down into workable business strategies. They advise executives to perceive other's needs and expectations; make their offerings easy to understand, use, and benefit from; and boil down and customize what's being offered to meet needs. The authors also sound a rallying cry to consumers to demand clear, concise information, and illustrate that while corporatespeak may be popular with lawyers, without plain, easy-to-understand offerings, corporations will have to battle for customer satisfaction. This practical guide should be required reading for businesses large and small.