How to Subtract: The Most Underrated Skill of the AI Era - with Leidy Klotz

Leidy Klotz has spent years studying a simple but overlooked phenomenon: when we try to improve something, our first instinct is to add rather than remove. He shares the Lego bridge experiment that sparked his research and explains how this additive bias scales from small design decisions to entire organizations. Over time, companies accumulate reporting lines, meetings, software, and policies without questioning what no longer serves them.

Henrik and Jeremy explore how AI tools intensify this pattern. When generating ideas, launching projects, writing code, or producing content becomes effortless, the temptation to add grows stronger. The cost of producing information drops, but the cost of consuming it rises. Without guardrails, organizations risk what Leidy calls “organizational indigestion.”

The discussion moves from insight to implementation. Leidy outlines practical ways to counteract additive bias, including stop-doing lists, default kill dates on projects, and designing environments that make subtraction visible and acceptable. In a world of accelerating AI output, leaders must intentionally decide what to remove, what to protect, and what truly matters.

Key Takeaways: 

• We default to adding, not subtracting
  When faced with a problem, our instinct is to introduce something new. Subtraction rarely occurs to us, even when removing something would improve clarity and performance.
• Generative AI amplifies additive bias
  AI makes producing content, code, and ideas easier than ever. Without constraints, this frictionless creation can accelerate complexity instead of progress.
• More organizations die from indigestion than starvation
  Over time, companies accumulate tools, processes, and policies that quietly slow them down. The real risk is often not too few ideas, but too many unexamined additions.
• Architecture beats willpower
  Rather than relying on discipline alone, leaders can design systems that encourage subtraction. Stop-doing lists and default expiration dates make removal expected instead of exceptional.
• Protect what matters before adding more
  Before introducing new tools, workflows, or AI systems, leaders must define what is already working and worth protecting. Subtraction requires clarity about what should stay, not just what should go.

Subtract: amazon/Subtract-Untapped-Science-Leidy-Klotz
In a Good Place: amazon/Good-Place-Spaces-Where-Thrive/
Leidy's Speaking: https://leidyklotz.com/
Clip from Bear: Subtract - this is how you do better

00:00 Intro: Our Instinct to Add
00:28 Meet Leidy Klotz
01:15 The Subtract Idea
02:56 Organizations Get Bloated
03:49 Scandinavian Design Mindset
04:32 New Book: In a Good Place
05:59 AI Abundance and Indigestion
08:12 Curate Context, Not More
11:38 Cues and Stop-Doing Lists
15:00 Default Debt and Kill Dates
17:10 Odysseus Contracts and Biases
21:28 Reengage the Physical World
29:17 Bike Shedding and Priorities
36:10 Making Is Thinking
49:16 The Debrief

📜 Read the transcript for this episode: how-to-subtract-the-most-underrated-skill-of-the-ai-era-with-leidy-klotz/transcript

 

For more prompts, tips, and AI tools. Check out our website: https://www.beyondtheprompt.ai/ or follow Jeremy or Henrik on Linkedin:

Henrik: https://www.linkedin.com/in/werdelin
Jeremy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremyutley

 

Show edited by Emma Cecilie Jensen.