Interesting article from the Economist about how humans* can struggle to see how to add value from taking away rather than adding to what is already there. The vast majority of people see the potential for adding more things to add value or merit but most of us struggle to see how removing something can often be of benefit.

It put me in mind of the most important challenge when formulating a strategy and plans - namely what you leave out. Prioritizing what you are going to do only makes sense if you agree not to do some things. The challenge is that those things will often be important and offer value - the risk is you spread yourself too thinly and don't achieve the things that are of even greater value.

*N.B. haven't checked but this work was probably done on people from WEIRD societies - ones that are Western Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Educated and Democratic - so may not apply to everyone