- Hardcover: 192 pages
- Publisher: Prentice Hall; 2 edition (9 Nov 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0273694456
- ISBN-13: 978-0273694458
- Product Dimensions: 22.8 x 15.4 x 1.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 486,336 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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More About the Author
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
You need Fergus O'Connell's Simply Brilliant. Are you needlessly complicating your business decisions by paying too much attention to skill, management knowledge, experience or philosophies? None of these things, argues O'Connell, can hold a match to good old common sense.
You may have come across the expression 'it's not rocket science'. Launching, flying and returning the space shuttle is rocket science, and requires the application of complex scientific thought. But most of us aren't flight directors at NASA and the things we do aren't rocket science. Too often, we look for complex solutions when simpler ones would be more appropriate, easier to find and simpler to implement.
This gem of a book is the perfect antidote to the endless tomes about how to leverage your core competencies and think "outside the box". Instead, it advises you to look for simple problems, simple solutions and direct approaches. If there's a philosophy here, it's this: be nice to people you work with, and try to see problems from their point of view. O'Connell, who also wrote the classic business guide The Silver Bullet, has a wonderfully dry sense of humour, and pokes fun at any reader who dares to take themselves too seriously. A series of questionnaires are designed to reveal how able you are to see simple solutions to business scenarios, from a drop in customer satisfaction to overdue projects.
This is a manual of sorts: covering how to plan, how to prioritise, how to see projects through, how to remember the customer's needs. This is simple stuff, simply written. But don't underestimate Simply Brilliant's value--much of this stuff is forgotten in the rush of everyday business. As O'Connell says--the thing about common sense is that it isn't all that common in reality. --Sally Whittle --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
Reviews of first edition
Shortlisted in the business book category of WHSmith’s Book Awards 2002.
"For a change this guide tears down management as a complex science, reducing it to life saving basics. This book does a good job - it may just help to simplify your working life." Evening Standard, London
"Simply Brilliant is brilliantly simple... offers salvation"
Financial Times
"This gem of a book is the perfect antidote to the endless tomes about how to leverage your core competencies and think "outside the box"...This is simple stuff, simply written. But don't underestimate Simply Brilliant's value"
Amazon.co.uk official review
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
24 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I'm often criticised by my partners for the amount of business books I read, which I inevitably present to them with the exhortation:
"You have to read this - it'll change your life."
But this time I'm right.
Mr. O'Connell's book is project / time / life management summarised in a series of seven principles. It could have saved me ten years of management development and six years of business management.
It's also the first business book I've ever put down and immediately started reading again from the beginning.
Sorry for gushing, but the book does work.
You have to read this - it'll change your life.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I usually think that if I can learn just two applicable things from a business book, then it's been a worthwhile read. I liked the idea presented here, keep things as simple as they can be, so I guess that's one thing to remember. The other is not to attend meetings unless you're sure why you're going and what you expect to get out of them. Given that attending meetings has become an everyday occurrance (passtime?) for managers, turning down a few might be a good idea!
The style is somewhat disjointed, however, and I don't think the layout is all that simple in itself. One of the concepts, the dancecard, which suggests you almost itemize and prioritise your whole day ahead may be a simple enough concept, but how simple will it be to apply on a day-to-day basis? You may also feel that you've read many of the principles in this book before, and you probably have, but this book has the saving grace of being rather short and snappy where many similar texts are not. This latter fact meant that I finished Simply Brilliant, and I don't finish many such books! I also came away with my two applicable ideas, so I can't complain really.
The style is somewhat disjointed, however, and I don't think the layout is all that simple in itself. One of the concepts, the dancecard, which suggests you almost itemize and prioritise your whole day ahead may be a simple enough concept, but how simple will it be to apply on a day-to-day basis? You may also feel that you've read many of the principles in this book before, and you probably have, but this book has the saving grace of being rather short and snappy where many similar texts are not. This latter fact meant that I finished Simply Brilliant, and I don't finish many such books! I also came away with my two applicable ideas, so I can't complain really.
19 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I waited until I had taken the chance to put into practice some of Fergus O'Connell's suggestions before I came back to post this review, and yes they work. Simply Brilliant is witty, inuitive (yes, it's not rocket science, but too many management books dress simple ideas up as rocket science)and very easy to read and apply. I've actually read Simplicty and 80/20 Principle too, and they're both one-trick ponies; taking a whole book to explain one idea (80/20 even helpful graphs showing you what 80% and 20% look like!). Simply Brilliant is full of useful, implementable techniques and it does what it says on the tin.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Fair to average stuff..
The title will make you curious and even hopeful you have found 'The' book on time management. But alas no. Read more
Published on 5 May 2009 by Dubbie
Simply Brilliant - but this is not
Was there ever a book whose title didn't reflect its contents & promise?
Yes you can read it in an hour or 2, enjoy doing the little quizzes with as much pleasure as doing the... Read more
Yes you can read it in an hour or 2, enjoy doing the little quizzes with as much pleasure as doing the... Read more
Published on 28 Oct 2003 by Keith Appleyard
Simplistic Ideal
As suggested in this far-too-basic manual, all that is required for brilliant management is a "simple" approach to everyday workplace problems. Read more
Published on 18 Jan 2002
7 Habits from Covey does this better ...
I read a lot of business books and many of those in Fergus' bibliography - Covey, Buzan, De Bono and Chopra all very good authors of books in this field. Read more
Published on 10 Jan 2002 by Sam Sethi
OK - but there are better books on this
Quite interesting. And some stuff worth noting. But mostly... erm... common sense! There are better books on simplicity ("Simplicity") and better books on management... Read more
Published on 24 Oct 2001 by Bobby Elliott
Good philosophies, but overcomplicated application
I completely buy into the basic principle of Furgus O'Connell's book - that common sense is a hugely valuable management tool that's sadly underused in today's business world. Read more
Published on 15 Oct 2001 by TC
Essential reading for those seeking to enhance common sense
This is the foundation for success. Fergus O'Connel has given the reader a wonderful tool you can use at work and/or at home. Read more
Published on 4 Sep 2001
does what it says on the tin
I really did think this book was brilliant - it's so easy when you are under pressure to overcomplicate what you are doing and needlessly make life difficult for yourself - this is... Read more
Published on 30 July 2001 by adrianrgeorge@yahoo.com
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