Here is a brief excerpt from an article by Guy Kawasaki, featured by Google+, in which he shares his thoughts about Matthew May’s latest book, The Laws of Subtraction: 6 Simple Rules for Winning in the Age of Excess Everything.

To read the complete article, please click here.

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[Here are the first three and the last of ten key points that Guy discusses.]

My friend, Matthew May, recently published a new book called The Laws of Subtraction. This is an interview in which he explained the power of subtraction and why less is better.

What is subtraction?

Subtraction is defined simply as the art of removing anything excessive, confusing, wasteful, unnatural, hazardous, hard to use, or ugly…and the discipline to refrain from adding it in the first place.

What are some examples of companies that use subtraction effectively?

We tolerate the intolerable: stupidly standing in some silly line, searching for what we want through the convoluted floor plan of the local mammoth warehouse store, or struggling through the maze of whatever automated voice mail system we’re up against…opening a package of D-cell batteries, even.

You’d think that if we hate all the excess as a consumer, we would absolutely detest it as a producer. But we don’t. The reason we don’t is that we see no clear and immediate path to turning things around. Twitter, Instagram, Southwest, Google, and Pinterest are all examples of disruptive companies that pared back an existing concept to defeat an excessive feature of an incumbent.

What advice would you give to politicians about subtraction?

My advice would be two-fold. First, take a lesson from Clare Boothe Luce, the playwright, journalist, and Republican Member of Congress, who in 1962, met the young JFK, and told him: “A great man is one sentence.” Lincoln’s sentence was: “He preserved the union and freed the slaves.” FDR’s: “He lifted us out of a great depression and helped us win a world war.” I’d challenge politicians the the same way Luce challenged JFK: what’s your sentence?

What are the first steps to applying a subtractive mindset?

First, create a “stop-doing” list to accompany your to-do lists, in the following way: give careful and thorough thought to prioritizing your various goals and projects and tasks, then eliminate the bottom 20 percent of the list . . . forever.

Second, play “World’s Worst.” It’s the “anti-elegant solution” game. Whatever you’re contemplating, whatever experience you’re working on or trying to create, first paint a picture of the world’s worst whatever-that-is.
Let’s say you’re trying to create the most effective and engaging new-hire experience at your company. What would be the world’s worst experience look like. When I do this with clients, they’re surprised not only at how much of that bad experience they presently deliver, but also how easy it is to identify what to eliminate or stop doing.

Third, constantly ask and answer three questions:

o What would my customers love for me to eliminate or reduce or stop adding?

o What is it that my competition would struggle with if I were to cease?

o What would those who matter most love for me to stop doing?

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To read the complete article, please click here.

Guy Kawasaki is the author of Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions. He is also the co-founder of Alltop.com, an “online magazine rack” of popular topics on the web, and a founding partner at Garage Technology Ventures. Previously, he was the chief evangelist of Apple. He is the author of nine other books including Reality Check, The Art of the Start, Rules for Revolutionaries, How to Drive Your Competition Crazy, Selling the Dream, and The Macintosh Way. He has a BA from Stanford University and an MBA from UCLA as well as an honorary doctorate from Babson College.