USA TODAY
No. 118 of 150
USA TODAY's Best-selling Booklist
List dated
Sales week of Monday, September 21 to Sunday, September 27, 2026.
The list is published online and ranks 150 titles.
See the list ↗A USA TODAY bestseller from the authors of Smart Brevity: Simplify: Do 50% More With 50% Less. Order your copy
Three programs
Three ways to bring Simplify in
Give your people a shared method for deciding what is worth doing, and your managers a system for running leaner, more focused teams.
Program 1 · Simplify Fundamentals
60 minutes · Up to 100 attendees · Best for a whole organization at once
Introduce the basics of a Simplify mindset to your organization.
Why it matters
To simplify at scale, your organization needs a shared way of thinking about radical simplicity.
✓
The problem
We're drowning in complexity. AI hasn't eased this; it's mass-producing more options, drafts, and decisions than anyone can process, and the average worker is already losing a quarter of the workweek to wasted meetings and tasks.
✓
The solution
Deciding what's worth doing. Machines can execute almost anything now, but only people can decide what's worth executing. That judgment call runs on three simple tools: Confront, Delete, Amplify.
✓
AI as your Chief Simplicity Officer
How to make AI a tireless partner in simplifying. Used right, it becomes a mirror for confronting habits, a filter for deleting noise, and a force multiplier for amplifying strengths. Used wrong, it just generates more noise to wade through.
✓
Come with
Last week's calendar.
✓
What you get
The session deck and Simplify reminders.
Program 2 · Simplify Workshop
2.5 hours · Up to 15 attendees · Best for one team that needs to align
Identify and overcome areas of misalignment on your team. Come away a more aligned team, with a clear list of what to delete and what to amplify.
Why it matters
Without a shared understanding of the team's top three priorities, everything downstream is misaligned.
Before
- →Two weeks out — each attendee lists out their top three priorities and sends them to us
- →Two weeks out — we analyze the results and diagnose areas of misalignment and opportunity
- →One week out — we walk your team leader through what we found on a 30-minute prep call
Live · 150 minutes
- →60 min — Simplify fundamentals
- →30 min — Playback of intake results
- →30 min — Facilitated discussion and alignment building: what stays and what goes
- →30 min — Q&A
What you get
- →The session deck
- →Your three priorities (what stays)
- →Your kill list (what goes)
Program 3 · Simplify for Management
Two-day bootcamp · Up to 15 attendees · Best for managers running teams
Equip managers to get the best performance from their teams in the simplest way.
Why it matters
When managers can focus on amplifying strengths, performance rises by 35%; without this focus, talent is just expensive chaos.
The two days
✓
Foundations
How to apply the Simplify fundamentals to management specifically.
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Module 1 · Time
Run an audit on your calendar and how you're currently spending time on managing your team. Come away with a clear sense of where your time is spent poorly and what can be improved.
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Module 2 · Talent
Learn how to unlock your team's strengths and your own using user guides, and how to get your team thinking about priorities in a shared way.
✓
Module 3 · Feedback
Master how to give feedback in a way that is simple, effective, and memorable, and how to create a culture of healthy feedback on your team.
✓
Module 4 · Communications
With your priorities in place, you need a plan for recurring communications with your team that is simple and cuts down on wasted time. Build a Smart Brevity communications plan that creates reinforcement, not redundancy.
Simplify in the news
Jim, Mike, and Roy on the launch of Simplify, on TV, radio, podcasts, and in print.
On the bestseller lists
Publishers Weekly
No. 19 of 25
Hardcover Frontlist Nonfiction
Sales week ended
Ranked on Circana BookScan sales, first week on the list.
Published in the September 28, 2026 print edition.
The ranking is behind PW Pro, so no link is given.
ArticleFortune
“The Axios founders on how AI ruined your inbox, why the '90s really were different and how to succeed through 'Simplify'”
With Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen, and Roy Schwartz
PodcastBeyond The Prompt
“How Do You Run a Company When You Can’t See Six Months Ahead? - with Axios CEO Jim VandeHei”
With Jim VandeHei
Talk to us about Simplify training →
Each program is quoted per session, not per person. The Talk to us page says where training pricing starts.
The method
Confront · Delete · Amplify
Machines can execute almost anything now, but only people can decide what's worth executing.
Confront
Identify your North Stars in work and outside of it. Before changing anything, participants pause on habits they've never questioned, like the recurring meeting or the report nobody reads, and ask why they're doing it and whether it would matter even if done well.
Delete
Declutter your schedule. The two tools are “no” and “delete.” Participants build a kill list of meetings, reports, and tasks that add no value, then put hard limits on the length or frequency of what survives.
Amplify
Make daily time for what matters. Once the clutter's gone, the goal isn't balance, it's obsession. Participants pick the one or two things they're genuinely great at and protect daily time to do more of it.
Common questions
What to know before you talk to us
Which Simplify program is the right fit for my team?
It depends on how far you want to go. Simplify Fundamentals is a 60-minute session for up to 100 people that introduces the mindset across an organization. The Simplify Workshop is 2.5 hours for up to 15 people and ends with an aligned set of team priorities and a kill list. Simplify for Management is a two-day bootcamp for up to 15 managers, covering time, talent, feedback, and communications.
How much do the Simplify programs cost?
Each program is quoted per session at the group size listed, not per person, so cost tracks which of the three you choose. Simplify Fundamentals is the smallest commitment. The Simplify Workshop adds a two-week intake and analysis before the live session. Simplify for Management is a two-day bootcamp. Our Talk to us page says where training pricing starts, and we will send a quote from there.
What is the Confront, Delete, Amplify framework?
It is the three-step method behind Simplify. Confront means identifying your North Stars in work and outside of it, and questioning habits you have never questioned. Delete means building a kill list of the meetings, reports, and tasks that add no value, then putting hard limits on what survives. Amplify means protecting daily time for the one or two things you are genuinely great at.
How does a team prepare for the Simplify Workshop?
Two weeks out, every attendee sends us their top three priorities and we analyze the results to diagnose where the team is misaligned. One week out, we walk your team leader through what we found on a 30-minute prep call. Simplify Fundamentals asks less of attendees: bring last week's calendar.
Do we need to have read Simplify first?
No. The programs stand on their own, and our coaches teach the same Confront, Delete, Amplify framework the book is built on. Simplify was published by Crown Currency, an imprint of Penguin Random House, on September 15, 2026.