In his latest book, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, Greg McKeown affirms the value of becoming and then remaining an essentialist, one who is committed “to the relentless pursuit of less but better. It does not mean occasionally giving a nod to the principle. It means putting it in a disciplined way. Essentialism is not about how to get more done; it’s about how to get the right things done.”
These are among the quotations that McKeown inserts throughout his lively and eloquent narrative:
o “Most of what exists in the universe — our actions, and all other forces, resources, and ideas — has little value and yields little result; on the other hand, a few things work fantastically well and have tremendous impact.” Richard Koch
o “Strategy is about making choices, trade-offs. It’s about deliberately choosing to be different.” Michael Porter
o “Without great solitude no serious work is possible.” Pablo Picasso
o “Each night, when I go to sleep, I die. And the next morning, when I wake up, I am reborn.” Mahatma Gandhi
o “No is a complete sentence.” Annie Lamott
o “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will take the first four sharpening the axe.” Abraham Lincoln
o “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead
I agree with McKeown: “The overwhelming reality is: we live in a world where almost everything is worthless and very few things are exceptionally valuable.” I also agree with Steven Wright: “You can’t have everything. Where would you put it?”
Business leaders need to understand how to supervise an essentialist:
1. Be ridiculously selective when hiring people.
2. Debate until you have established a really clear (not pretty clear) essential intent.
3. Go for extreme empowerment.
4. Communicate the right things to the right people at the right time.
5. Check in often to ensure meaningful progress.
Here is one of the passages of great interest and value to me: “The Greeks had a word, metanoia, that refers to a transformation of the heart.. We tend to think of transformations as happening only in the mind. But the proverb goes, ‘As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. Once the essence of essentialism enters our hearts, the way of the Essentialist becomes who we are. We become different, the better version of ourselves.”
The choice is ours. It always has been and it always will be.