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Backstory
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You can call me Matt. I'm a blogger for the American Express OPEN Forum Ideas Hub, which I reprint here. I've written three books, with the fourth, The Laws of Subtraction, coming out in a few months. I run a small ideas agency called Edit Creativ (formerly Shibumi Creative Works...practicing subtraction...and no, it isn't a typo in the name).
I spent 8 years as an independent advisor to the U.S. corporate headquarters of Toyota. It changed my outlook on work and life. I learned how to learn and solve problems. I learned to "think lean". I learned the power of less. I took those lessons on the road to other organizations. Now I write, speak, coach others on creativity, innovation, and design strategy.
You can read more on my About page, or connect with me on my Contact page.
Why Subtraction?
Lao Tzu said: "To attain knowledge, add things every day. To attain wisdom, subtract things every day."
When you remove just the right thing in just the right way, something good happens.
That's my go-to philosophy, and this blog is dedicated to sharing it along with all the amazing things that amazing people are doing to improve the world by waging "war on more" through subtracting from our collective experience anything obviously excessive, wasteful, complicated, unnatural, hazardous, hard to use, or ugly. Or better yet, refraining from adding those things in the first place!
I've just finished a new book entitled The Laws of Subtraction, which are these 6 simple rules for winning in the age of excess everything:
#1: What isn’t there can often trump what is.
#2: The simplest rules create the most effective experience.
#3: Limiting information engages the imagination.
#4: Creativity thrives under intelligent constraints.
#5: "Break" is an important part of any breakthrough.
#6: Doing something isn’t always better than doing nothing.The book will be out October 26, 2012. I've asked some of the most brilliant people I know to contribute short insights on these laws. Almost everyone said yes...54 to be exact. You'll be amazed and inspired by their stories of how subtraction has played a role in their work and life.
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Category Archives: Zen
Artistry At Work: Checking The Ego
This entry marks the midpoint (at least according to my planned outline) of my Artistry At Work series. If you recall, I started back in January, saying that when I’m in the throes of writing a book (which I completed … Continue reading
10S: The Steve Jobs Code
The only authorized biography of the late, great Steve Jobs, is, as everyone knows by now, barely three weeks old and penned by Aspen Institute CEO and former Time magazine editor Walter Isaacson. I’m generally skeptical of “authorized” biographies, because they … Continue reading
The Zen Master of Subtraction: Steve Jobs
It’s no secret that Steve Jobs was a practitioner of Zen Buddhism. I believe his teenage sojourns to India not only broadened his perspective, but had everything to do with his eventual design aesthetic, one of clean simplicity and uncluttered … Continue reading
Kill The Butterflies, Kill The Dream
Jonathan Fields understands the potential power of uncertainty. He gave up a six-figure income as a lawyer to make $12 an hour as a personal trainer. Then, married with a 3-month old baby, he signed a lease to launch a … Continue reading
What Isn’t There
I just received a copy of the Mandarin translation of my first book, The Elegant Solution: Toyota’s Formula for Mastering Innovation. I was blown away by the cover, shown here. They got it! They got that the pursuit of elegance … Continue reading
