Why am I passionate about this?

As an organizational consultant, and a business writer, I’ve always been fascinated by Mark Twain’s comment that he would've written a shorter letter if he had more time. It’s a wonderful reminder that simplicity and clarity require hard work and won’t happen by itself. As part of the consulting team that worked with Jack Welch to transform GE in the 1990s, I saw firsthand that leaders actually have the power to simplify their organizations, and that it can make a huge difference. What they need is a playbook for how to do this, and that was my intention when I wrote Simply Effective. Since then I’ve seen “simplicity” become a driving force for business success. 


I wrote

Simply Effective: How to Cut Through Complexity in Your Organization and Get Things Done

By Ron Ashkenas,

Book cover of Simply Effective: How to Cut Through Complexity in Your Organization and Get Things Done

What is my book about?

If you’ve ever been part of an organization, even a small one, then you know that things can get complex…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Visual Leadership: Leveraging the Power of Visual Thinking in Leadership and in Life

Ron Ashkenas Why did I love this book?

One of the keys to simplifying your organization, and your life, is the ability to communicate clearly, quickly, and powerfully.

Todd Cherches, the author of Visual Leadership, is a master at doing this. In his book, he makes the saying “a picture is worth 1000 words” come alive. Without needing to be an artist, Todd shows you how to use diagrams, sketches, visual metaphors, simple graphs, and all sorts of visual imagery to make your communications more powerful, fun, and memorable. 

Not only that, but Todd also practices what he preaches – so the book is filled with stories and anecdotes that make it not only a useful read, but an enjoyable one as well.  

By Todd Cherches,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Visual Leadership as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

VisuaLeadership [noun]: The art and science of applying visual thinking and visual communication tools, tips, and techniques, in order to turn your vision into reality.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, and finding the right words takes time, and time is money, then wouldn’t it follow that business leaders could make more money—in less time—if they simply took a more “visual” approach to how they manage and lead?

Okay, it’s not quite that simple…but VisuaLeadership will forever change the way you think and communicate by showing how you can quickly and easily leverage the power of visual imagery,…


Book cover of Why Simple Wins: Escape the Complexity Trap and Get to Work That Matters

Ron Ashkenas Why did I love this book?

Lisa Bodell is a fanatic about eliminating mundane and unnecessary tasks from your everyday routines.

In Why Simple Wins, Lisa provides a playbook to help you do just that – from getting control of your calendar to setting priorities to cutting back on meetings and emails. Having worked on some common clients with Lisa, I’ve seen the power of what she helps managers do – and I’ve seen how much synergy there is between our approaches. 

It’s the kind of book that you’ll have no regrets about buying.

By Lisa Bodell,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Why Simple Wins as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Imagine what you could do with the time you spend writing emails every day. Complexity is killing companies' ability to innovate and adapt, and simplicity is fast becoming the competitive advantage of our time. Why Simple Wins helps leaders and their teams move beyond the feelings of frustration and futility that come with so much unproductive work in today's corporate world to create a corporate culture where valuable, essential, meaningful work is the norm. By learning how to eliminate redundancies, communicate with clarity, and make simplification a habit, individuals and companies can begin to recognize which activities are time-sucks and…


Book cover of The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

Ron Ashkenas Why did I love this book?

I first read The Structure of Scientific Revolutions when I was in college many (many) years ago, and it fundamentally changed the way I think about organizational change and innovation. 

Written by a physicist, the book is about the philosophy and history of science and how we make advances in knowledge. Kuhn argues, and provides plenty of examples, of how science isn’t just the slow accumulation of data, but is actually influenced by “paradigms” that help us make sense of the data. Every so often however data emerges that doesn’t fit the paradigm. 

At first this kind of anomalous data is disregarded or its integrity is questioned. Eventually, after much struggle, the data that “doesn’t fit” becomes the starting point for a new and revolutionary paradigm which changes how we see the world.

OK, this sounds pretty theoretical. But think about organizations and simplicity. Many of our standard organizational practices are based on the paradigm of “control” – that the purpose of an organization is to make sure individuals behave within certain norms. Over time however, these norms can become bureaucratic straightjackets that severely limit innovation and creativity. 

One of the keys to simplification is to question these kinds of paradigms: Do we really need to keep track of how much time anyone works? Do we need to do our work in the office? Do we need to do key tasks with full-time internal people, or can we find partners?

Reading The Structure of Scientific Revolutions has helped me ask these kinds of questions over the years – and can help you to do so as well.

By Thomas S. Kuhn,

Why should I read it?

14 authors picked The Structure of Scientific Revolutions as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A good book may have the power to change the way we see the world, but a great book actually becomes part of our daily consciousness, pervading our thinking to the point that we take it for granted, and we forget how provocative and challenging its ideas once were-and still are. "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" is that kind of book. When it was first published in 1962, it was a landmark event in the history and philosophy of science. And fifty years later, it still has many lessons to teach. With "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions", Kuhn challenged long-standing…


Book cover of How Stella Saved the Farm: A Tale about Making Innovation Happen

Ron Ashkenas Why did I love this book?

Yes, Stella is a book – but it’s really a fable about how to cut through corporate inertia and bureaucracy to drive innovation.

When I first read it, I was blown away – a story about farm animals saving their farm from bankruptcy – with lots of clear and compelling messages. And it was actually fun to read. Since I first learned about it from one of the authors (we were working with a common client), I’ve recommended it to lots of other executives, and it’s made a difference.

One of the key lessons from Stella is that truly transformative innovation often needs to be separated from the core business – with different resources, budgets, metrics, and expectations. Otherwise it’s going to be in competition with the core business – and it will end up getting the short end of the stick in terms of money and people.

Then when the innovation is on more solid ground, it can be re-integrated into the company for purposes of scaling it.  All of this is easy to say – but Stella makes it come alive.

By Vijay Govindarajan, Chris Trimble,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked How Stella Saved the Farm as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Inspired by George Orwell's Animal Farm and the international bestseller Our Iceberg is Melting, How Stella Saved the Farm is a simple parable about embracing change and managing innovation in difficult times.

Bankruptcy, or the grim prospect of being acquired by a hostile human competitor, threatens Windsor Farm. But when a young sheep called Stella comes up with a bold idea, will the other animals be able to respond to her ambitious call to action?

Grounded in over a decade of academic research, How Stella Saved the Farm will resonate for organizations of all types, from global corporations to small…


Book cover of Fear Your Strengths: What You Are Best at Could Be Your Biggest Problem

Ron Ashkenas Why did I love this book?

It’s not easy to reduce complexity and drive simplification with your team or organization. 

To do so you need to become the best leader you can be. For many managers this means working on their deficiencies, bolstering their weaknesses, and trying as hard as possible to learn new behaviors. 

What Kaplan and Kaiser recommend in Fear Your Strengths however is not to focus first on weaknesses but rather to start development by becoming aware of strengths that you might be overdoing.

This is an incredibly simple, but counter-intuitive approach to leadership development.  In essence, it suggests that leaders often get into trouble by dialing up what they do well. For example, a manager who is good at strategy sometimes makes the strategy so complex that it becomes difficult for others to understand it or carry it out. 

Conversely a manager who is good at execution can sometimes get caught up in the details and not be able to communicate the larger picture.  

Having known Bob Kaplan and Rob Kaiser for many years, and seen how effective this approach can be, I can’t recommend this book enough. It’s clearly written, has lots of good examples, and gives the reader practical tools for dealing with their strengths, and becoming a better leader.

By Robert E. Kaplan, Robert B. Kaiser,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Fear Your Strengths as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Once you’ve discovered your strengths, you need to discover something else: your strengths can work against you.

Many leaders know this on some intuitive level, and they see it in others. But they don’t see it as clearly in themselves. Mainly, they think of leadership development as working on their weaknesses. No wonder. The tools used to assess managers are not equipped to pick up on overplayed strengths—when more is not better.

Nationally recognized leadership experts Bob Kaplan and Rob Kaiser have conducted thousands of assessments of senior executives designed to determine when their strengths serve them well—versus betray them.…


Explore my book 😀

Simply Effective: How to Cut Through Complexity in Your Organization and Get Things Done

By Ron Ashkenas,

Book cover of Simply Effective: How to Cut Through Complexity in Your Organization and Get Things Done

What is my book about?

If you’ve ever been part of an organization, even a small one, then you know that things can get complex and convoluted pretty quickly. Sometimes it can feel like you’re working around the clock and still not getting anything done. And what’s worse, many managers themselves unwittingly add to the complexity, which puts their organizations in jeopardy.  

But it doesn’t have to be this way. In Simply Effective I draw on my extensive consulting experience to show you how complexity gets created – and what you can do about it.  Illustrated by cases from well-known companies, the book provides practical tools and guidelines to take back control – and develop a mindset that will help you to be a force for simplification both in your organization and in your career. 

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From One Cell: A Journey into Life's Origins and the Future of Medicine

By Ben Stanger,

Book cover of From One Cell: A Journey into Life's Origins and the Future of Medicine

Ben Stanger Author Of From One Cell: A Journey into Life's Origins and the Future of Medicine

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a Harvard- and MIT-trained physician-scientist, and I am drawn to research problems that bridge the basic and the practical – how a better understanding of cells and tissues can inform new therapies for cancer and other diseases. As children, we are all scientists – mini-hypothesis generators trying to make sense of the world. I suppose I never outgrew that curiosity. My list of best science books credits writers who bring to life the excitement that comes from looking at the natural world in a new way, a spirit that I try to emulate in my own writing. I hope you enjoy these books as much as I have!

Ben's book list on science written by scientists

What is my book about?

Everybody knows that all animals—bats, bears, sharks, ponies, and people—start out as a single cell: the fertilized egg. But how does something no bigger than the period at the end of this sentence give rise to the remarkable complexity of each of these creatures?

FROM ONE CELL is a dive inside the cell and its evolutionary prerogatives to explain how these "endless forms most beautiful," as Charles Darwin called them, come about. Along the way, we learn about the scientific process, filled as it is with serendipity, as the story is told through the eyes of the scientists who informed…

From One Cell: A Journey into Life's Origins and the Future of Medicine

By Ben Stanger,

What is this book about?

Every animal on Earth begins life as a single cell. From this humble origin, the nascent creature embarks on a risky journey fraught with opportunities for disaster-yet with astounding regularity, it reaches its destination intact. From One Cell illuminates this epic transformation-still one of nature's most mysterious feats-to show where we all come from and where we're going.

Through the eyes of the scientists unraveling the secrets of development, we see how all the information needed to build a human fits into a fertilised egg, and how the trillions of cells that emerge know what to become and where to…


5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in leadership, management style, and innovation?

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