How to add value through subtraction

Simplicity In Business series: Why leading businesses add value through subtraction—and how you can too.

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” – Leonardo da Vinci

Can you make something better without adding more to it? When people try to solve a problem, they tend to focus on what they might add and rarely consider what they might take away.

The same is true in business. The constant addition of new products, features, systems and processes over time can make it difficult for businesses to run efficiently..

Subtraction, although overlooked, is powerful. It can help you better allocate resources, increase profit, improve customer satisfaction, and more. Sometimes referred to the Law of Elimination, ‘valuing subtraction’ is a principle that can be transformative to any business. 

Steve Jobs is an example of someone who valued subtraction. 

On his return to Apple in 1997, Jobs began his transformation of the company by simplifying the entire product line. At the time Apple was making a heap of different products for a wide variety of different people, and none of it made any sense. The company was just two months away from bankruptcy. 

Jobs gathered his product team together and drew out a simple 2x2 product grid: Pro, Consumer, Desktop, and Portable. He tasked the product team with creating only one product per category. All other products, projects and other peripherals in were removed.

It was a brutal constraint, and it worked.

Four products is all it took to turn Apple around from near bankruptcy to an iconic success. Today it’s one of the most valuable companies in the world. When you walk into an Apple Shop, anywhere in the world, simplicity still reigns.

Apple is not the only company to embrace subtraction as a formula for success: Tesla and Toyota reinvented manufacturing, Google won search with it's clean user experience — the list goes on. 

Why we overlook subtraction

So why don’t we subtract more often? Psychology studies indicate that we tend to view subtraction as a negative action and addition as a positive one. We default to addition because we perceive it’s the only way to add value. But that’s not the always the case. 

Gabrielle Adams, a researcher from the University of Virginia, conducted experiments alongside UVA colleagues that revealed people often overlook simpler, subtractive solutions in favour of more complex and additive ones. 

In a Lego building challenge, participants were asked to stabilise an unsteady platform by either subtracting bricks or ‘purchasing’ to add additional bricks. 59 percent of people chose to purchase additional bricks, rather than taking away a brick. The subtractive solution was both more efficient and profitable, but most participants didn't notice it at first. They were focused on addition.

This bias towards addition persisted across various other experiments, including improving essays, recipes, travel itineraries, and even miniature golf. “In almost every instance,” Adams observes, “people were more likely to add.” Even when reminded in the lego challenge that “removing pieces is free and costs nothing,” 39 percent still opted for addition over subtraction.

Subtraction as a business strategy

The experiments from University of Virginia highlight the value of subtraction as a strategic approach that can be applied in business.

Regularly evaluating and removing unnecessary processes, features, or even products (as Jobs did) can streamline operations and improve efficiency in a business.

Embracing subtraction, as Adams’ research suggests, unlocks hidden efficiencies and drives innovation, ultimately adding value by focusing on less rather than more.

What could you subtract in your business starting today?

• Simplify user interfaces

• Slim down product lines and choices

• Eliminate redundant procedures and processes

• Reduce the number of meetings

• Reduce the number of features

• Remove parts ("The best part is no part" - Elon Musk)

• Niche down on your target customer

When you focus on subtraction, you are voting for quality over quantity. You realise that to do what's important requires eliminating what's not. By simplifying your business, removing the unnecessary, you can be free to focus on what truly matters. Businesses that adopt this principle can create products and services that are more efficient, user-friendly, and valuable to customers.

Here are some tips to help cultivate a focus on subtracting in your business:

• Remind people that subtraction is an option

• Reward people who add value through subtraction

• Add new things slowly, but remove them quickly

• Regularly ask your team "does this add value?" and "is there a simpler way?"

• Allocate more time to thinking — getting to less requires thinking more

The following was an except from my upcoming book Simple Business. Subscribe for more Insights on subtraction and simplifying your business.

Books on this topic: Insanely Simple: The Obsession That Drives Apple's Success / Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less.

Further Reading: First Principles thinking in business.