The Art of Minimalism

by John Kennedy

Past:

Years ago, I had a deep realization that quantity never outweighs quality…

It was in the early days of consulting in the hospitality/tourism industry and I was facilitating a corporate retreat for my former employer--pro bono.

We brainstormed all of the great ideas to drive revenue, relevance and relationships with the diverse customer base in a full-service hotel in the Washington, DC market.

With a wide range of market segments—government, military, social, associations, family, leisure, sports, college, and a few others, we rolled up our sleeves and went to work on strategy and tactics. 

At the end of the two days, the conference room was wallpapered with ink and incredible insights.

Idea after idea for each of the segments, and an executive & leadership team who were excited and ready to execute the plan—total buy in.
I was stoked!
They were stoked!
It was the 90’s when we used the word stoked!

After a week of catch up and final summarization, we met again to review the fruit of our immense efforts. Our first follow up meeting to identify next steps moving forward.

And then…reality hit…the Wile E. Coyote meets anvil kind of reality. That “Oh $#!t” moment.

Who? Who’s going to do all of this?
When? When are we going to do all this? 
How? How are we going to do all of this?
Why? Why are we doing all of this?
What? What were we thinking?

The speedboat momentum from the week before quickly turned into a sail boat floating out in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay… flailing in the wind—rudderless…a rude awakening.

I created a monster of a mess…an unachievable plan littered with good ideas and intentions but also a pile of rubbish with no real road map for success. 

That was 1997—a very tough lesson and a jagged little pill for this guy to swallow.

I had focused on quantity and not quality.

I focused on efforts and not outcomes.

And, although we navigated success through the mess and posted the right outcomes once we trimmed it down-- dramatically, I learned a valuable lesson---never underestimate the art of minimalism.

Present:

God gave me two hands for a very good reason—to make decisions much easier.

Right or Wrong?
Paper or Plastic?
Orioles or Dodgers?
Sweet or Savory?

And, so it should be with your strategic plan moving into 2025.

This is the time of the year many IGC’s are setting up for success for the new year. Planning conferences, assessing new hiring needs, setting sales goals, and closing the books on 2024.

When working with clients in many industries, we start with the Rule of One—
One “Mountain” Goal—"Start Moving Mountains”
One BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal)—"Good to Great”
One WIG (Wildly Important Goal)—"The Four D’s of Execution”

Whatever you want to call it, focus on one master goal that all efforts lead up to and then break that mountain goal into the Rule of Two—

Two Boulders:

People and Processes
Revenue Generation and Cost Management
Effectiveness and Efficiency
Attraction and Retention
Culture and Cash Flow
Talent and Technology

These are just a few examples over the years of clients mastering the art of minimalism.

As I wrote in a previous posting for GROUPtalk this Summer, letting go of all of the overthinking, bringing simplicity into the forefront, and traveling light will be a big breath of fresh air in 2025 as you learn to become nimble and quick based on the art of minimalism.

Less things done better vs more things not done well at all…

Epilogue:

In 1998, I was asked to facilitate a vision and planning meeting for a new client in the automotive aftermarket industry. After the lessons learned from the previous year, we focused on simplicity.

We facilitated their overall vision for the next five years that was simple yet profound—

Make Money And Have Fun Doing It!

Sounds like a great plan for 2025, too don’t you think?  I’d be stoked to deliver on that vision!

Have an amazing Christmastime and a super start to the new year.

Hope to see you at MANTS!