"Occam's scissors theory" is also called "Occam's razor way of thinking"

700 years ago, a Christian priest named William was praised for his erudition. Known as the "Irrefutable Doctor", he was also called "William of Occam" because he was born in Occam, England. He wrote a lot of books, but he is famous for his motto outside of his books: "Don't add substance unless necessary." Because he was tired of the endless quarrels about empty abstract concepts at that time, and believed that everything was useless. All nonsense and encumbrances should, according to his dictum, be ruthlessly "cut out". People call his seemingly extreme way of thinking "Occam's razor." This "razor" once threatened his church, which regarded him as heresy and imprisoned him. However, over the past 700 years, every scientist who has used this "razor" has become a scientific master with brilliant achievements.

Copernicus felt that the "Geocentric Theory" was too complicated, so he used "Occam's razor" to shave off those extra circles, imagining the "Copernican Universe", thus creating the "Heliocentric Theory" , "shaved" the beginning of modern science.

Newton was woken up by an apple, and the "razor" was also found. It cut off all his original thinking process with one knife, leaving only the simplest fact of "an apple fell to the ground". This was the initial point of research and the discovery of the law of universal gravitation. Countless scientists have missed out on the title of "genius" because they lack the courage and ability to use "Occam's razor".

Before Einstein, no one dared to use "Occam's razor" on Newton again, but he bravely raised it and shaved off the "weed" that had "grown" on Newton's head for more than 200 years. ”, opening up the virgin land of modern physics.

Occam’s razor is also known as the “economic principle of thinking”. This way of thinking only recognizes things that really exist, and those empty and useless burdens should be ruthlessly “removed”, which is the so-called "Don't add entities unless necessary." This law has been deepened into the "Law of Simplicity and Complexity" in corporate management, which means that when thinking and dealing with problems, we must grasp the essence and mainstream of the matter and grasp the most fundamental issues. Don't complicate things artificially. Because it is easy to make things complicated, but not easy to make things simple.

Occam’s razor has been applied by many entrepreneurs to business management and has achieved good results. Kodak launched a new camera that was small in size and easy to use, and sold 10 million units within 3 months of its launch. Because it is extremely simple, it is favored by the world. As the slogan goes: "You just press the button and I do the rest." The "economic principle of thinking" has brought huge profits to Kodak.

Known as the "world's number one" CEO, Welch's highest management principle is to "simplify things", which has become the biggest secret to his success. He said: "Management is to simplify complex problems and standardize chaotic things."

Buffett, second only to the world's richest man, is famous for his simplicity in doing things. His famous quote is: "Simple actions are often more effective." However, simplicity and effectiveness come from his painstaking research on affairs, and painstaking research is inseparable from reading and thinking. He read an astonishing amount, and as a result of his extensive reading, he developed his own style of investing.

With the development of human society, new content will continue to be added to this world. Some of these "contents" are beneficial, and some are unhelpful. Many people think that "everything that exists is reasonable." "Occam's razor" challenges this, to eliminate those things that are actually harmful and unhelpful. If not, we will be overwhelmed by the "trouble" we create. Eliminating "superfluous" things should be the core of "Occam's razor".

At present, enterprise organizations are becoming more and more expanded, various systems are becoming more and more cumbersome, various documents are becoming more and more lengthy, and work efficiency is getting lower and lower. Not only are many managers unaware of these problems, but they are also intoxicated with the fact that they are doing "complex things" and are enjoying themselves, thinking that they are "working hard" for "imminent success". Some managers realize the seriousness of the problem but don't know where to start. "Occam's razor" provides you with a powerful tool, which is - keeping things "simple" is the most effective way to deal with "complexity and cumbersomeness". As Coker and Gordon pointed out: The continuous expansion of company size makes management increasingly complex at its expense. The solution to the problem is to simplify management. To this end, they put forward the philosophy of "simple is beautiful", allowing the company to focus its energy on profitable people or things, greatly reducing the cost of recurring expenses and complexity of management forms, and making the company's structure become Much simpler. In modern management, this is an important part of the "post-management company" ("doing nothing" management).

Qin Mengzhu