In May 2025, a study of eight Nordic ISD consultancies revealed something striking. By ditching traditional hierarchies and embracing minimalist models, these consultancies managed to attract senior experts and outpace their legacy rivals in growth. They streamlined operations, focusing on delivering unique value propositions to both workforce and customers.
The modern professional landscape? It’s drowning in complexity. Organisations are buried under an avalanche of tools and platforms. Professionals spend their days swimming through busywork instead of doing actual work. Focus gets diluted. Accountability disappears. Performance tanks across sectors.
Even regulators are swamped by backlogs, struggling to keep pace with basic demands. But here’s what’s emerging from this chaos: quality over quantity. Leaders across fields—from lean consultancies to minimally invasive surgery—are discovering that by stripping away non-essential processes and tools, they unlock sharper focus, faster execution, and more human-centred results.
You can see this shift in action when you dig into the science of why even one extra meeting chips away at our clarity.
Why Precision Pays Off
Decision-making studies consistently show the same thing. Each additional meeting or project fragments focus into smaller, less meaningful parts. Cognitive overload doesn’t just erode individual performance; it kills organisational effectiveness.
The ‘less but better’ philosophy offers a different path. Pioneered in design and tech circles, it advocates for focusing on essentials to restore clarity and impact. You eliminate unnecessary elements. You concentrate on what truly matters. Innovation and effectiveness follow.
Industries as varied as consultancy, creative services, governance, professional services, and medicine are all converging on this solution. They’re trimming the fat, honing in on core strengths, and finding new ways to thrive in an increasingly complex world.
A prime example of this ‘less but better’ mindset emerges from a handful of forward-leaning consultancies in northern Europe.
Building Lean Consultancies
Those same Nordic firms adopted stripped-back structures and an entrepreneurial DNA. Result? They’ve accelerated their scale by making every expert’s contribution visible and valued. Fewer approval layers. Narrow service portfolios. Reduced overhead. Sharpened accountability. This approach doesn’t just streamline operations – it enhances the ability to respond swiftly to client needs.
But here’s the thing: this drive to cut internal complexity isn’t limited to consultancies. It’s reshaping creative powerhouses too. The same minimalist principles that work for Nordic start-ups are being applied to established creative agencies facing their own challenges with focus and direction.
Next, we’ll see how a leading design outfit has recast its mission from the ground up.
Creative Vision Reset
Derek Robson’s leadership at IDEO shows how minimalist thinking transforms creative organisations. He’s refocused the company’s mission on ‘future makers,’ eliminating competing internal agendas. This strategic shift has united teams behind a single, compelling vision for purposeful innovation. When you narrow the focus to core objectives, you align efforts with minimalist principles that emphasise clarity and purpose.
Robson’s career reflects broader industry trends towards minimalism in creative practices. At Goodby Silverstein & Partners, he served as Managing Partner and later President, overseeing growth that led Ad Age to name the agency Comeback Agency of the Year in 2018 and Fast Company to list it as Most Innovative Agency. His time at GS&P highlights the value of refining core offerings.
He’s extended minimalism into talent development by co-founding a tuition-free advertising school. This initiative addresses diversity by teaching core skills rather than peripheral programmes. It aligns with the minimalist philosophy of focusing on essentials. You concentrate on fundamental competencies. Your talent pool becomes equipped to meet future challenges effectively.
Governing bodies face a parallel challenge. Too many concurrent initiatives dilute stakeholder buy-in. When you simplify governance, you get more effective outcomes because efforts are concentrated where they’re most needed.
It’s a reminder that not even regulatory bodies escape the pitfalls of piled-on priorities.
Simplifying Governance
Peter Reilly’s critique of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) reveals a backlog of 27 projects and 143 comment letters. The queue’s longer than the line for the latest iPhone release – and about as fast-moving. These stretched timelines weaken investor engagement and indicate a desperate need for more focused regulatory efforts.
Reilly argues that imposing disciplined limits on concurrent standards work yields clearer outputs and faster implementation. You concentrate on fewer projects at a time. The IASB enhances its efficiency. Investor confidence in the standard-setting process improves.
Sure, some critics fear this could lead to overlooked niche issues. But the benefits of streamlined processes in governance are clear. Minimalism drives efficiencies in professional workflows too – especially through smart tool selection.
And that principle of ruthless prioritisation shows up again when teams pick the digital helpers they really need.
Digital Tools and Expertise
At HBK CPAs, CoCounsel has transformed workflow efficiency. Zachary Iannotta, CPA and Assurance Associate at HBK CPAs & Consultants, says: ‘CoCounsel has revolutionized the way our team approaches our daily workload. Not only does CoCounsel save us countless hours of manual work, but it also allows us time to hone in on the more thought-intensive tasks we perform to enhance, strengthen, and optimise the way we serve our clients. CoCounsel doesn’t replace our expertise – it amplifies it.’ This selective AI tool shows how automation can free professionals for higher-value work by handling routine tasks efficiently.
The key? Pilot testing and strict feature reviews ensure that only proven tools remain in use. This prevents process bloat. It’s like owning a Swiss Army knife that actually remembers it’s not a full kitchen – useful for specific tasks, not trying to be everything to everyone.
This disciplined approach ensures that digital tools enhance rather than complicate professional practice. From high-level processes to digital solutions, the minimalist impulse extends even to the most delicate forms of professional practice.
You’ll even find that ‘do less, do it better’ mantra under the scalpel in top hospitals.
Precision in Spine Care
Dr Timothy Steel’s practice at St Vincent’s Hospitals shows the benefits of minimally invasive spine surgery. He’s performed thousands of minimally invasive spine procedures and complex surgeries, such as disc replacements and fusions. Smaller incisions and fewer interventions yield superior patient outcomes. This mirrors broader trends in medical precision where less invasive techniques are increasingly favoured for their effectiveness.
Steel’s meticulous planning and selective adoption of technology – only when evidence proves patient benefit – embody the discipline of ‘less is more’ in the operating room. His approach serves as a benchmark for industry standards in surgical precision. Every decision gets guided by patient welfare.
The data supports this method. Minimally invasive techniques result in reduced trauma, faster recovery times, and fewer complications compared to traditional open surgeries.
Avoiding Over-Simplification
Concerns at the IASB about overlooked niche issues and cautionary tales from creative teams show the danger of over-pruning. True precision requires balancing simplification with sufficient breadth to avoid blind spots.
Practical guardrails help detect necessary complexity. Regular audits of processes. Stakeholder feedback loops. Phased roll-outs. These measures ensure that minimalism doesn’t compromise essential functions.
These calibrations themselves represent minimalist practices – targeted checks rather than wholesale reversals. You maintain this balance. You harness the full potential of precision over proliferation.
Unveiling Potential
From consultancy boards to operating theatres, the principle of precision over proliferation reveals true capabilities and delivers superior human outcomes. When you focus on essentials, you achieve sharper focus and faster execution.
Remember those Nordic consultancies from our opening? They stripped away hierarchies and found their competitive edge. The IASB’s backlog shows what happens when you don’t. Dr Timothy Steel’s surgical precision proves the principle in life-and-death situations.
The path forward isn’t about doing less for the sake of it. It’s about doing what matters, brilliantly. So where will you carve out your own ‘do less, do it better’ edge?
