Do Simpletons Run Apple and Google?
Mon, November 28, 2011 | Post a Comment | 
What’s the common thread between Apple and Google?
Why is it that these two companies have exploded over the last decade?
The obvious answers are leadership, timing, superiors products, but there’s something more.
Their tenacious determination to keep things simple for their consumers has been a big part of making them popular and keeping them popular.
Steve Jobs became famous for insisting that his devices have only one button.
Google went so far as to create a high level executive position so they would have one person in charge of making their search page simple.
At Google you have to fight and win many heroic battles to get your new feature, word, or idea added to their main search page. It’s no accident their search page is so clean and simple.
It’s designed to be that way and stay way no matter how many other things they offer they’re not going to clutter up their primary function.
The leaders at these companies are simply recognizing reality.
- They know the world is a complicated place.
- They know that their customers want results.
- They don’t need to read a manual.
- They don’t want to look up instructions.
- They want to be able to get what they want as quickly and simply as possible so they can get on with their lives.
Other companies are not that smart.
They think the public wants features, extras, those are wonderful to have but not if it clutters up and confuses and complicates using the product.
No one needs more hassle.
As the great philosopher Chuck Berry once sang “too much monkey business.” People have complicated lives that seem to get more cluttered and complicated every day. Things to do, things to learn, things to get, it never ends. The last thing they need is more confusion and a product that is a frustrating hassle to use. They want to get the main thing done as quickly and simply as possible. It’s great to have the ability to do extra but minor things but it’s not great if it frustrates and confuses getting the main thing done. A simple clean page—one button. These companies get it and they have exploded with success.
How about your product?
Your training programs, your system, your service. Are you making the main thing you offer simple and easy to understand, easy to use? The simpler you make it, the more powerful your impact will be. That’s the underlying approach these companies have used with so much success. I wonder if that kind of thinking would pay off for you. Like the leaders at Apple and Google focusing on simplicity doesn’t make you a simpleton it makes you simply brilliant.
This determination helped make them popular and kept them popular.