Powerful ideas from top nonfiction
Try Blinkist to get the key ideas from 5,500+ bestselling nonfiction titles and podcasts. Listen or read in just 15 minutes.
Start your free trial
Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
Listen to the Intro
Think Simple summary
Ken Segall
How Smart Leaders Defeat Complexity
4.2 (250 ratings)
24 mins
8 key ideas
Audio & text
What is Think Simple about?
Think Simple (2020) shows us how simplicity is the key to successful businesses, from Hyundai to Whole Foods. Here, Apple insider Ken Segall teaches us how to combat complexity and focus on what really matters in a winning organization.
About the Author
Ken Segall is the author of the New York Times best-seller Insanely Simple. Working with Steve Jobs as Apple’s creative director for twelve years, he led the brand’s Think Different campaign, and named the iMac, leading to the legendary i-branding for products like the iPod and the iPad.
Table of Contents
Think Simple
summarized in 8 key ideas
Audio & text in the Blinkist app
Key idea 1 of 8
Simplicity is not about being simple – it’s about giving the impression of being simple.
We can’t help but make things complex. The more we discover, invent, and grow as a species, the more complicated our lives become. From labyrinthine bureaucracies to the maddening instructions that come with appliances, we complicate things.
The irony is that we love simplicity. We prefer easy-to-use products. We gravitate toward people who express themselves clearly. We love companies that have a distinctive, simple brand. So why do we overcomplicate things?
Well, mainly because simplicity is really hard to attain.
The key message here is: Simplicity is not about being simple – it’s about giving the impression of being simple.
Take an Apple MacBook. It's a beautifully simple bit of technology, but a lot of complexity went into it. Ask most MacBook owners to explain the advanced technology powering their computers and they’d be stumped. Or consider Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. Ice cream surely can’t be that complicated, right? Well, what appears to be a straightforward, delicious confection – with big chunks of cookie dough, candy, and swirls – is actually the result of a complex process.
In fact, when the company first started, classic ice cream machinery could only handle small ingredients. But to get their signature ice cream flavors, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield invented a way to add those big chunks and hefty swirls. Then, to make things even more complicated, they had to figure out how to mass-produce it – large chunks and all.
Simplicity, then, isn’t simple. But companies benefit by giving the impression of simplicity, which is precisely what Foolproof does. Foolproof is a fast-growing digital-design agency based in the UK. They design websites for major tech firms, airlines, banks, and media companies. And their ability to make the user experience as simple as possible is what sets them apart.
To do this, they strive for what they call “flow,” a concept attributed to the Hungarian psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. In a state of flow, the user moves seamlessly through a website and isn’t aware of his actions because everything is so intuitive.
This means that things like booking flights, which can be frustrating, become uniquely simple, pleasant experiences. And though the web designers at Foolproof have worked extremely hard to achieve this simplicity, the user won’t know a thing about it.
Simplicity, then – it’s something that looks easy on the outside, but is extremely tricky on the inside.
Want to see all full key ideas from Think Simple?
Key ideas in Think Simple
More knowledge in less time
Read or listen
Get the key ideas from nonfiction bestsellers in minutes, not hours.
Find your next read
Get book lists curated by experts and personalized recommendations.
Shortcasts New
We’ve teamed up with podcast creators to bring you key insights from podcasts.
Who should read Think Simple
- Business leaders looking to simplify their complex organizations
- Start-up entrepreneurs who want to preserve their initial simplicity
- Anyone interested in Apple’s business philosophy
Categories with Think Simple
Books like Think Simple
What our members say
Sven O.
It's highly addictive to get core insights on personally relevant topics without repetition or triviality. Added to that the apps ability to suggest kindred interests opens up a foundation of knowledge.
Thi Viet Quynh N.
Great app. Good selection of book summaries you can read or listen to while commuting. Instead of scrolling through your social media news feed, this is a much better way to spend your spare time in my opinion.
Jonathan A.
Life changing. The concept of being able to grasp a book's main point in such a short time truly opens multiple opportunities to grow every area of your life at a faster rate.
Renee D.
Great app. Addicting. Perfect for wait times, morning coffee, evening before bed. Extremely well written, thorough, easy to use.
Start growing with Blinkist now
25 Million
Downloads on all platforms
4.7 Stars
Average ratings on iOS and Google Play
91%
Of Blinkist members create a better reading habit*
*Based on survey data from Blinkist customers