Book Review: Simply Brilliant
Simply Brilliant: How Great Organizations Do Ordinary Things In Extraordinary Ways by William C. Taylor
The status quo endures for a reason. The world accepts it and we often tolerate it. “Despite our fascination with digital disruption, radical reinvention, and the merciless logic of survival of the fittest, countless organizations endure for decades in the face of bland results. The status quo is surprisingly powerful, and not always fatal” (p. 4). Some of our industries endure for decades merely protecting the status quo. And the world awaits someone to shake it up. Simply Brilliant tells the stories of organizations in some unexpected industries who not only raise the bar for their customers and competitors, but who redefine expectations and industries. Taylor writes, “The most successful organizations aren’t the ones with the most cutting-edge technology or the most radical business plans. They’re the ones that champion the most compelling ideas, craft the most memorable experiences, attract the most fervent customers, and recruit the most loyal allies. That is, the organizations that position themselves as an alluring alternative to a predictable (albeit efficient) status quo” (p. 21).
Taylor’s Simply Brilliant sets out to push the reader to open their eyes to the comfort of the status quo and consider the possibilities of leveling up for themselves, their organization and their customers. It’s the people that do something with the information they have that separates the status quo with industry leaders. Those who look at themselves, their organization and their industry and are able to see beyond perceived limitations or accepted norms and find paths to innovation. Pay attention to what’s happening around you and be prepared to see opportunities to do what others can’t or won’t do.
Are you “permanently failing”? Are you “a company that has survived for years without exciting anyone”? Have you accepted the status quo? Are you ok doing enough to survive? Enough to be profitable? Enough maintaining what made you interesting in the first place? Can you see where you’re stuck? Do you use the word innovation loosely and apply it to a slight iteration of what you’ve always been doing? Are you missing opportunities? You’ll learn more about the “paradox of expertise” and the challenge faced by those closest to an industry, organization or a problem.
Taylor will challenge you to question your assumptions, to find ways to stay creative, to find opportunities to make influential waves in your organization, industry and for your customers. “The most creative leaders I know are not just the boldest thinkers; they are the most insatiable learners” (p.104). Your bold and creative ideas may have launched you to where you’ve arrived, but it’s by continuing to learn that you are able to build on that initial creativity and move from where you are to new opportunities.
The final third of Simply Brilliant focus not just on what you do, but how you do it. Taylor notes the importance of taking are or customers as people, rather than numbers. To express human to human kindness to those you serve and with whom you work. Taylor writes, “create the conditions for unscripted acts of connection and compassion that deepen the sense of affiliation with customers” (p.159). He lays out the social and financial benefits of shared ownership and lifting the entire organization with share of profitability.
If you are looking to break out, take a leap and lift your organization then spend some time with Simply Brilliant.
Quotes:
“The job of leadership today, the essence of strategy and competition, is about more than introducing marginally superior products or providing better-than-average service. It is about developing a set of deeply held principles that challenge received wisdom, and helping your organization get to the future first.” P. 36-37
“As a company or as an individual, the goal is no longer to be the best at what lots of other people do. It’s to be the only one who does what you do.” P. 41
“Leaders who break new ground are those who are willing to make promises that other leaders won’t make, because they have a point of view about the future that other leaders don’t share.” P. 37
“The frustrating reality that the more deeply immersed you are in a market, a product category, or a technology, the harder it becomes to open your mind to new business models that may reshape that market or promising ways to leapfrog that technology.” P. 72-73
Quoting a John Gardner speech, “We have to face the fact that most men and women out there in the world of work are more stale than they know, more bored than they would care to admit.” P. 103
“Civility is not the enemy of productivity—although far too many companies and their leaders at as if it were.” p. 132
“The leaders with the biggest impact will be the ones who figure out how to enlist the most allies, not the ones who issue the most commands or exert the most power.” P. 176
“Winner-take-all economics is not just an unsustainable way to organize an economy, it’s a bad way to run a company.” P. 205