Axios C-Suite: Simplify everything
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Cover: Penguin Random House
There's a big reason Anthropic beat OpenAI and others to superhuman AI coding skills: simplicity.
- It simplified its AI obsession to mastering coding and business needs first. This was its organizational obsession and public messaging: perfect symmetry.
- OpenAI tried to solve countless problems for hundreds of millions of consumers, creating drift and confusion in product focus and messaging. It's now simplifying its focus, with coding and business atop the list.
Why it matters: Simplicity is like magic. It makes every company, product, design or process better.
- It's been the Axios obsession for years, starting with how we convey information — and culminating with a new, better way to run our company.
- In an AI world, it's a killer differentiator.
- Simplify your focus ... your team sizes ... your layers ... your process ... your internal comms. What is the fewest number of people meeting the fewest number of times with the lowest number of process hurdles to do everything?
My leadership team uses three simple questions to help simplify every person's job (and spot waste):
- What are the three things, in order of importance, you must do to meet or exceed expectations in your gig?
- What are the three things you think you're supposed to be doing that make no sense or could be done better (or not at all)?
- What are three things AI could do better or 10x your output?
These work for any size company or team.
- Worst case: You force clarity and alignment.
- Best case: Each person kills dumb stuff and fills their days with truly vital work.
📖 I'm such a believer this will separate success and failure in an AI world that I co-authored a book on how to do this in every part of your company (and life).
- It's called "Simplify: Do 50% More with 50% Less." My co-founders, Mike Allen and Roy Schwartz, are the co-authors. It's out Sept. 15.
In the months ahead, I'll share how to make this mentality a reality. In the meantime, there's a new book out that shows how Elon Musk put this into practice: Jon McNeill's "The Algorithm."
- Love him or hate him, Musk's algorithm boils down to the same brutal idea: most of what companies do is unnecessary — and nobody has the guts to delete it.
✔️ How Elon operates, per McNeill:
- Question every requirement.
- Delete every possible step in a process (or part).
- Simplify and optimize.
- Accelerate cycle time.
- Automate.
📈 If you're a CEO or on a CEO's team: Ask to join Jim's new weekly Axios C-Suite newsletter.
