Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries

by Peter Sims

Overview

Now in paperback, “An enthusiastic, example-rich argument for innovating in a particular way—by deliberately experimenting and taking small exploratory steps in novel directions. Light, bright, and packed with tidy anecdotes” (The Wall Street Journal).Little Bets has sparked a firestorm of discussion about thinking and working in a whole new way that Peter Sims introduces. Sims has been invited to speak at high-profile venues from Google and Amazon to the National Conference on Volunteering and Service, and the book has been featured in a Fast Company excerpt and pieces in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Economist, Harvard Business Review, Inc., and it was selected for the prestigious JP Morgan Summer Reading List.

Through extensive research, Sims discovered that the most productive creative thinkers and doers across the full range of pursuits—from Thomas Edison, to architect Frank Gehry and the creative team at Pixar—practice a set of simple methods—such as failing quickly to learn fast, trying imperfect ideas, and engaging in highly immersed observation—that free their minds, unshackling them from the constraints of conventional planning and analytical thinking and opening them up to making unexpected connections and perceiving invaluable insights. They make a methodical series of “little bets” about what might be a good direction, experimenting their way to extraordinary outcomes. Brimming with engaging stories about breakthrough innovators at work, from comedian Chris Rock to U.S. army counterinsurgency teams, Little Bets is as entertaining as it is mind changing.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781439170427
Publisher:	Free Press
Publication date:	04/19/2011
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Peter Sims is the coauthor with Bill George of the Wall Street Journal and BusinessWeek bestselling book True North. His work has appeared in the Harvard Business Review, Fortune, and TechCrunch and he is a contributor to the Reuters and Harvard Business Review blogs. He received an M.B.A. from Stanford Business School where he and several classmates established a popular course on leadership. He has spoken or advised at such organizations as Cisco Systems, Eli Lilly, Current Media, Molson Coors, Qualcomm, and Frost & Sullivan. Previously, Peter worked in venture capital with Summit Partners, a leading investment company, and was part of the team that established the firm’s London Office.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

1 Big Bets Versus Little Bets 19

2 The Growth Mind-set 35

3 Failing Quickly to Learn Fast 51

4 The Genius of Play 65

5 Problems Are the New Solutions 77

6 Questions Are the New Answers 97

7 Learning a Little from a Lot 117

8 Learning a Lot from a Little 131

9 Small Wins 141

10 Conclusion 153

Further Readings and Resources 163

Notes 179

In Gratitude 203

Index 205

What People are Saying About This

Alan M. Webber

"'Little Bets' is a big idea. Here's my bet: if you're passionate about innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship, you need to read this book!

Chip Heath

“Want a big idea? Start little. Whether you’re an entrepreneur or an artist, Peter Sims shows you how big breakthroughs start with little bets.”

Daniel H. Pink

"With examples that range from traditional businesses to stand-up comedians, Peter Sims shows that the path to big success is lined with small failures. Behind every breakthrough idea is often a host of experiments that flopped — and Sims shows how to leverage these "little bets" to produce lasting results. This is a powerful and practical book.

Peter Georgescu

"Little Bets is a timely and compelling book that will change the way you think, a roadmap to success in the 21st century. And, a very enjoyable read.

Wendy Kopp

“I really can't say enough about this book; Little Bets rings so true to my own experience at Teach For America. Peter Sims does a huge service by showing the world how big entrepreneurial and innovative successes come to be — and in the process reveals ways of thinking that aren't the product of anything elusive or enigmatic but rather of traits we can all learn and foster, such as openness, inquisitiveness, and perseverance.”

From the Publisher

"Diverse and uplifting—-a veritable gumball machine of memorable anecdotes to inspire creativity." —-Kirkus

Howard Schultz

"I have always believed that constant innovation is core to success. The methods Peter Sims provides in the highly engaging Little Bets will help you challenge the status quo and discover extraordinary new possibilities in whatever endeavor you're engaged in.

Robert I. Sutton

“Peter Sims buries the myth that big talkers with brains and big ideas move industry and science forward. This modern masterpiece demonstrates that the most powerful and profitable ideas are produced by persistent people who mess with lots of little ideas and keep muddling forward until they get it right. Little Bets is easily the most delightful and useful innovation book published in the last decade.”

Bill George

“Peter Sims’ exciting new book, Little Bets,is replete with stunning insights about innovation and the remarkable benefits of backing many creative initiatives that yield the big breakthrough. Corporate leaders everywhere can benefit from his sound advice.”

Jonah Lehrer

“In Little Bets, Peter Sims convincingly argues that we need a new model of creativity, focused around gradual improvement and constant innovation. If you're not learning while doing, Sims points out, then you're probably doing it wrong.”

Editorial Reviews

"'Little Bets' is a big idea. Here's my bet: if you're passionate about innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship, you need to read this book!"

Alan M. Webber

Peter Sims’ exciting new book, Little Bets,is replete with stunning insights about innovation and the remarkable benefits of backing many creative initiatives that yield the big breakthrough. Corporate leaders everywhere can benefit from his sound advice.

Bill George

In Little Bets, Peter Sims convincingly argues that we need a new model of creativity, focused around gradual improvement and constant innovation. If you're not learning while doing, Sims points out, then you're probably doing it wrong.

Jonah Lehrer

"With examples that range from traditional businesses to stand-up comedians, Peter Sims shows that the path to big success is lined with small failures. Behind every breakthrough idea is often a host of experiments that flopped — and Sims shows how to leverage these "little bets" to produce lasting results. This is a powerful and practical book."

Daniel H. Pink

Peter Sims buries the myth that big talkers with brains and big ideas move industry and science forward. This modern masterpiece demonstrates that the most powerful and profitable ideas are produced by persistent people who mess with lots of little ideas and keep muddling forward until they get it right. Little Bets is easily the most delightful and useful innovation book published in the last decade.

Robert I. Sutton

I really can't say enough about this book; Little Bets rings so true to my own experience at Teach For America. Peter Sims does a huge service by showing the world how big entrepreneurial and innovative successes come to be — and in the process reveals ways of thinking that aren't the product of anything elusive or enigmatic but rather of traits we can all learn and foster, such as openness, inquisitiveness, and perseverance.

Wendy Kopp

Want a big idea? Start little. Whether you’re an entrepreneur or an artist, Peter Sims shows you how big breakthroughs start with little bets.

Chip Heath

"I have always believed that constant innovation is core to success. The methods Peter Sims provides in the highly engaging Little Bets will help you challenge the status quo and discover extraordinary new possibilities in whatever endeavor you're engaged in."

Howard Schultz

"A fascinating and revealing journey through the real-life dynamics of the creative process. Vividly written and bustling with examples from comedy to architecture, Little Bets is a wonderful example of itself: a big idea that takes shape through many small discoveries. I highly recommend it for anyone with a serious interest in cultivating creativity in business, education or in their own lives."

New York Times bestselling author ofThe Element Sir Ken Robinson

"Little Bets is a timely and compelling book that will change the way you think, a roadmap to success in the 21st century. And, a very enjoyable read."

Peter Georgescu

Small, calculated risks lead to game-changing innovation in this collection of case studies from the co-author ofTrue North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership(2007).

Readers who wonder how Amazon reached its first $10 billion quarter while Borders filed for bankruptcy will want to read this guide to sustainable growth culled from interviews with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and 200 other leaders in innovation. According to Sims, Amazon developed its Associates program, which rewards other websites for sending buyers to Amazon, using the same method of trial and error that comedian Chris Rock uses to hone his stand-up routine. The key, as the title suggests, is to make a series of little bets that turn small losses into big wins over time. The author draws from a wide range of sources, from micro-lending to military operations, to illustrate the creative process that turned Pixar from a struggling computer-hardware company into a popular animated-film company and inspired architect Frank Gehry to build the spectacular Disney Hall in Los Angeles. Citing the wisdom of Everett Rogers, who coined the term "early adopters," and contemporary thinkers like Silicon Valley's Eric Ries, Sims packs a lot of scholarly research into a short number of pages and comes up a little disjointed. But the back stories are impressive. By showing how experimentation has been instrumental not just in Silicon Valley, but all over the world and long before the Internet, Sims' research could inspire even the stodgiest corporation to take a risk.

Diverse and uplifting—a veritable gumball machine of memorable anecdotes to inspire creativity.

Kirkus Reviews

"Diverse and uplifting---a veritable gumball machine of memorable anecdotes to inspire creativity." ---Kirkus

From the Publisher

"A fascinating and revealing journey through the real-life dynamics of the creative process. Vividly written and bustling with examples from comedy to architecture, Little Bets is a wonderful example of itself: a big idea that takes shape through many small discoveries. I highly recommend it for anyone with a serious interest in cultivating creativity in business, education or in their own lives."

New York Times bestselling author ofThe Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything - Sir Ken Robinson

Google, Pixar, Apple, NBC's Tim Russert, Chris Rock, and others are used as examples of "little bets" to create new ideas and improve them again and again. Sims (Stanford Inst. of Design, Summit Partners) presents an interesting collection of examples (Failing Quickly, Genius of Play, Design Thinking) to support the various successes. Unfortunately, the roles of timing or circumstance or dumb luck are never addressed. Therefore, one should not expect to confuse the use of little bets with sure bets in the innovation process. Read by John Allen Nelson, the audiobook is recommended with reservations for a discerning listen by innovation practitioners expecting to enhance (not replace) his/her innovation tool kit.—M. Gail Preslar, formerly with Eastman Chemical Co. Business Lib., Kingsport, TN

Library Journal

How do people—from comics to CEOs—grow little ideas into commercial, money-making staples? They experiment with little bets, John Allen Nelson explains. His enthusiastic narration keeps the listener’s attention on this exploration of the process of taking small steps that lead to creative business breakthroughs. Nelson strays into the nasal tones familiar to listeners of business-related audiobooks. But by deliberately using a varied pace and alternating emphasis throughout the array of quotations and dialogue, Nelson makes up for some of the standard fare to be expected from this genre. He pronounces each word crisply, pausing to distinguish between exposition, facts, historical overviews, and personal anecdotes. M.R. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine

DECEMBER 2011 - AudioFile