The Simplicity Survival Handbook: 32 Ways To Do Less And Accomplish More

321 Pages·2003·18.24 MB·English

by  Bill Jensen

Do
Less...
of the corporate silliness.
Ignore more of the noise and senseless
stuff that comes your way.
You deserve better.
You deserve to spend more of your time
and talent
on what truly matters.
This page intentionally left blank
The Simplicity Survival Handbook
also by Bill Jensen
Simplicity: The New Competitive Advantage in a World of More, Better, Faster
Work 2.0: Building the Future, One Employee at a Time
for more: www.simplerwork.com
Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their
products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book
and Basic Books was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been
printed in initial capital letters.
Copyright © 2003 by William D. Jensen
Published by Basic Books, a member of the Perseus Books Group.
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written
permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles
and reviews.
For information: Basic Books, 387 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016.
Books published by Basic Books are available at special discounts for bulk
purchases in the United States by corporations, institutions, and other
organizations.
For more information, please contact the Special Markets Department
at the Perseus Books Group, 11 Cambridge Center, Cambridge MA 02142,
or call [phone], or [phone], or e-mail [email protected]
Jacket design by Rick Pracher, Basic Books
Text art direction by Bill Jensen, design by Aimee Leary/Final Art
Text set in 12 pt. Times. Display type, subheads, sidebars and tables set in
Helvetica. Royalty-free clip art on interior pages courtesy of Dover Publications
(Master Clips) and Getty Images (Creatures; Creatures, Features & Faces;
Directions in Technology; Eye on Technology; Pop Life)
Cataloging-in-Publication data is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 0-7382-0912-0
First printing, October 2003
03040506/1098765432 1
The Simplicity Survival Handbook
32 Ways to Do Less and Accomplish More
Bill Jensen
BASIC
BOOKS
A Member of the Perseus Books Group
New York
The Simplicity Survival Handbook: 32 Ways to Do Less and Accomplish More
Choose Your Own Adventure
Radical simplicity: Read only what you need and ignore the rest
• Create your own 50-page book
• Select only three to four chapters
• Tear out the Do-Less Toolkit
Contents
Introduction 1
Section 1: Daily Rituals 9
1. How to Ignore Most Corporate Communications 12
2. How to Delete 75% of Your Emails 18
3. How to Quickly Prepare for Any Communication 26
4. How to Leave Shorter Voicemails for Better Results 31
5. How to Write Shorter Emails for Better Results 35
6. How to Do Less and Still Deliver an Awesome Presentation 44
7. How to Go to Fewer Meetings and Get More Out of Them 53
8. How to Do Less and Still Run a Great Meeting 60
9. How to Give Executives Less Information and Keep 'Em Happy 69
10. How to Say "No" to Anyone in Any Situation 78
11. How to Use One Question to Do Less and Deflect More 86
12. How to Deal with Bosses Who Just "Don't Get It" 90
13. How to Never Again Need a Time Management Course 102
Section 2: Career Milestones 113
14. How to Figure Out If Your New Employer Will Work You Harder, 116
Not Smarter
15. How to Get the Orientation You Deserve 126
16. How to Clarify Your Goals and Objectives More Quickly 134
17. How to Deal with Managers Who Pile It On: MoreMoreMore, Now! 142
18. How to Deal with Teammates Who (Unknowingly) Pile It On 152
19. How to Track Your Success: Are You Really Doing Less? 159
20. How to Customize Training Programs: Getting What You Need 168
21. How to Continuously Improve your Do-Less Skills 176
22. How to Deal with the Stupidity of Performance Appraisals 184
23. How to Get Better Budgets with a Lot Less Effort 194
24. How to Be a Trusted Advisor to Senior Execs 202
25. How to Measure Respect in a World of MoreBetterFaster 209
26. How to Decide: Stay or Go? How Much is Too Much? 222
Section 3: Leader Essentials 227
27. How to Fix Leadership Development 230
28. How to Fix Your Worktools 236
29. How to Turn Transparency Into an Advantage 239
30. How to Fix Performance Management 246
31. How to Fix Training and Development 251
3 2. How to Spot Tomorrow's Great Places to Work 257
Do-Less Toolkit 265
One-page tear-out summaries of key tools and ideas
Endnotes 297
Acknowledgments 300
Indexes: Subject, People, Organizations 303
This page intentionally left blank
For those who want a...
Cut-to-the-Chase Introduction
You could write a more scathing, bold, and brilliant introduction
than me — because you've lived through every problem I've studied,
and have the skid marks on your back to prove it.
All you need are the tools.
Fast.
And all you want are the stripped-down to-do's.
OK...
1. Go to the Do-Less Toolkit on page 265
2. Rip out those 15 pages, and toss the rest of this book
3. Use the tools. Follow the LawOLess
•
The Toolkit reduces everything in the book to summary checklists.
Of course, you'll miss out on BlahBlahBlah — (fill in with whatever
authors say about every word they write being important) — but
you'll still get a huge return on whatever you paid for this book.
for more