by Helena Escalante | Creativity, Goals, Growth, Habits, Mindset, Opportunity, Planning, Resources, Tools
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 27 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Little bets, big breakthroughs
— From Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge From Small Discoveries by Peter Sims
Amazon and Google, two of the biggest companies of our time, as well other successful enterprises (regardless of size), all have one thing in common: they embrace an experimental discovery mentality. They don’t know which ideas will be a big hit and which ones won’t, so they allow themselves to experiment and “learn and uncover opportunities as they go.”
Jeff Bezos, Founder of Amazon, often compares his company’s strategy of “developing ideas in new markets to ‘planting seeds’ or ‘going down blind alleys.’ […] Many efforts tend to be dead ends… but every once in a while, you go down an alley and it opens up to into this huge, broad avenue.”
In today’s business environment, long gone are the elaborate business plans in favor of lean and agile ones. The focus is on action, and this means actually “do[ing] things to discover what [companies/people] should do.” Little bets, then, are “concrete actions taken to discover, test and develop ideas that are achievable and affordable. […] The important thing to remember is that while prodigies are exceptionally rare, anyone can use little bets to unlock creative ideas.”
“Most successful entrepreneurs don’t begin with brilliant ideas—they discover them.”
Two advantages of the little bets approach are that:
- It lets us focus on what we can afford to loose, versus projecting or assuming the gains (this is called the affordable loss principle); and
- It makes us aware of the means we have and those we will need as the idea moves along.
The affordable loss principle involves failure. However, it doesn’t focus on failure as a negative and dead end, but as a means to an experiment. It’s the “error” part in trial-and-error. We’re not intentionally trying to fail; yet “in almost any attempt to create, failure, and often a good deal of it, is to be expected.”
With this in mind, trying out little bets as experimentation on new ideas and projects works. Why? Because we “will make important discoveries by being willing to be imperfect, especially at the initial stages of developing [our] ideas.” And as we move forward, iterating from the feedback we obtain, we will be able to build up to breakthroughs.
ACTION
TODAY: Take the time to figure out which one idea or project you have going on where you could put little bets to the test. Then decide which little bet you can start working on and what little means you need to make it happen.
FUTURE: Embrace the experimental discovery mentality in all you do, both professionally and personally. Include little bets so as to turn an initial idea or project into a great one by means of experimenting, iterating, refining and pivoting if necessary. Remember to move forward imperfectly. By doing this, you’ll be able to discover your best, breakthrough ideas and succeed with them.
Know someone who could use the little bets approach? Please share this post with that person via email, Facebook or Twitter!
by Helena Escalante | Collaboration, Growth, Leadership, Mindset, Opportunity
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes 58 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA:
You lead. Your tribe communicates.
— From: Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us by Seth Godin
Seth Godin asks “What does it take to create a movement?” Take, for instance, “microfinance as a tool to fight poverty.” And he cites the answer he got from the Acumen Fund regarding Mohammad Yunus, Founder of Grameen Bank, “the problem (and its solution!) were recognized more than thirty years ago.”
So why did it take so long for the idea to get traction?
“There’s a difference,” says Seth, “between telling people what to do and inciting a movement. The movement happens when people talk to one another, when ideas spread within the community, and most of all, when peer support leads people to do what they always knew was the right thing… Great leaders create movements by empowering the tribe to communicate.”
That’s how Skype grew all over the world. That’s how Wikipedia grew. That’s how social movements spread. Communication is key, and real leaders know how their tribe communicates and enable them to do so.
The book tells a story that Jacqueline Novogratz, founder and CEO of Acumen (a non-profit global venture capital fund whose goal is to use entrepreneurial approaches to address global poverty) shared with Seth about Unicef spending a lot of money in creating posters to promote child vaccinations to the mothers of Rwanda. “The posters were gorgeous—photographs with women and children with simple messages written in Kinyarwandan (the local language), about the importance of vaccinating every child. They were perfect, except for the fact with a female illiteracy rate exceeding 70 percent, words written in perfect Kinyarwandan made little difference.” Jacqueline noticed “that the way messages spread in Rwanda was by song. One group of women would sing a song for other women, both as a way of spreading ideas and as a gift. No song, no message.”
The bottom line to all this? “Your tribe communicates. They probably don’t do it the way you would; they don’t do it as efficiently as you might like, but they communicate. The challenge [for you as a leader] is to help your tribe sing, whatever form that song takes.”
Here’s a video (17 min) of a TED Talk Seth gave called “The tribes we lead.”
ACTION
TODAY: No matter how big or small your tribe, you are indeed a leader. Stop for a moment to think how your tribe communicates and how you can motivate and enable this communication to take place better. OR… want an even better action for today? Watch the video above, at the 16:40 minute mark Seth says that to start a movement it only takes 24 hours. Go start your movement!
FUTURE: Make a list of the various tribes that you lead: your family, your company, your team, your friends, other social circles, internet groups, and more. What is the way in which each group communicates? How can you motivate and connect them? How can you enable, elevate and empower (3 Es) this communication for your movement to gain steam?
This post goes out with much gratitude to Seth Godin for his wonderful books, for being a ruckus maker and starting a movement, and–especially–for the tribe he leads, the altMBA. It was out out of the communication from within the tribe that this blog was born. I’m a proud alumna! Here’s a conversation Seth and I had on Facebook Live where I talk about my altMBA experience.
Know someone who leads a tribe? Please share this post with them via email, Facebook or Twitter! Curious about the altMBA? Hit me up and I’ll gladly share my experience and answer your questions.
by Helena Escalante | Collaboration, Creativity, Mindset, Opportunity
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes, 5 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA:
The lone genius myth is not true, it’s about collaboration.
— From Show Your Work! by Austin Kleon (here’s a summary of the book)
As a society we’re enamored with many myths, and one of them is the one of the “lone genius.” Austin Kleon says that seeing creativity under such light portrays it as “an antisocial act, performed by only a few great figures, mostly dead men with names like Mozart, Einstein or Picasso. The rest of us are left to stand around and gawk in awe at their achievements.”
Instead, Kleon points to the way in which the renowned English musician Brian Eno views creativity as a scenius: “a whole scene of people who [are] supporting each other, looking at each other’s work, copying from each other, stealing ideas and contributing ideas.” A scenius is a model under which “great ideas are often birthed by a group of creative individuals—artists, curators, thinkers, theorists, and other tastemakers—who make up an ‘ecology of talent’.”
“ A scenius doesn’t take away from the achievements of those individuals; it just acknowledges that good work isn’t created in a vacuum, and that creativity is always, in some sense, a collaboration, the results of a mind connected to other minds.”
The beauty of a scenius then, is twofold:
- It opens the door for the rest of us: “the people who don’t consider ourselves geniuses” and for whom art and creativity takes many different expressions than in its purest, most widely adopted sense. I’m subscribing here to Seth Godin’s description of art in his book The Icarus Deception: “Art is not a gene or a specific talent. Art is an attitude, culturally driven and available to anyone who chooses to adopt it. Art isn’t something sold in a gallery or performed on a stage. Art is the unique work of a human being, work that touches another. […] Seizing new ground, making connections between people or ideas, working without a map— these are works of art, and if you do them, you are an artist, regardless of whether you wear a smock, use a computer, or work with others all day long.”
- You don’t have to be a genius to be part of a scenius. To be a valued member of a scenius is not about your intelligence and talent, the school you went to, or who your parents are. It’s about your valuable contribution to the community (ideas, connections, conversations, and elevating the art form, whatever this form may be in your particular scenius).
Thankfully, we live in a time where the Internet provides lots of sceniuses where we can all contribute to something that we care about. There’s plenty of opportunity and no barrier to entry. So, what scenius will you pick and what will your contribution be? Let me know in the comments.
ACTION
TODAY: Where is your scenius? What tribe would you like to belong to? Identify where your scene is (whether in person or virtually) and make connect and contribute something today if possible (an idea, a comment, feedback, etc.). If not, schedule in your calendar when you can start contributing, and do so.
FUTURE: Now that you’ve found your scenius, take a look around. Where and what is the most valuable contribution that you can make with the resources that you have? Think: time, knowledge, resources, connections, etc. May sound trite but it’s true: you always get out what you put into it, so give it your best. If you’re hesitant about making a commitment because it seems daunting, give yourself a trial time to see if it’s a good fit. Contribute to a scenius for, say, 3-6 months and see what happens. One way or another, I’m sure you’ll be all the better for it afterwards.
Enjoyed the post? I hope so! Please share these ideas with more people via email, Facebook or Twitter — thanks a lot!
by Helena Escalante | Celebration, Goals, Leadership, Mindset, Opportunity
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes, 43 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA:
Give Yourself an A.
— From The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life, by Rozamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander.
Because we live in an ultracompetitive society, we are constantly comparing our results to others and others’ results to ours. The result? Disappointment that we don’t measure up or that others don’t measure up to our standards, with the consequent anxiety, despair, and a bunch of other symptoms caused by this unnecessary stress. However, Ben and Roz Zander in The Art of Possibility rightly state that all of the labels we assign are merely human inventions, “so we might as well choose to invent something that brightens our life and the lives of the people around us.”
As such, they describe a fascinating tactic, the practice of giving an A*: “It’s a shift in attitude that makes it possible for you to speak freely about your own thoughts and feelings while, at the same time, you support others to be all they dream of being. The practice of giving an A transports your relationship from the world of measurement into the universe of possibility.”
You can give yourself an A, and you can also give it to “anyone in any walk of life—to a waitress, to your employer, to your mother-in-law, to the members of the opposite team, and to the drivers in traffic… This A is not an expectation to live up to, but a possibility to live into.”
Ben Zander, who serves as musical director of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra and the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra (on the date of publication of this post) says that he gives all students in his class an A at the beginning of the course in exchange for writing him a letter (within the following two weeks and postdated at the end of the course) in which each student should detail “the story of what will have happened to [him/her by the end of the course] that is in line with this extraordinary grade. [The students] are to place themselves in the future, looking back, and to report on all the insights they acquired and milestones they attained during the year as if those accomplishments were already in the past.” In the letter, Zander wants them to highlight, and is especially interested in, “the person [the student] will have become [by the end of the course]… the attitude, feelings, and worldview of that person who will have done all she wished to do or become everything he wanted to be.”
“I tell them I want them to fall passionately in love with the person they are describing in their letter.”
So why not give ourselves an A today and see what happens? And how about giving it to the people that surround us? Let’s give it a try, for all we know, we may make our corner of the world a much better place!
ACTION
TODAY: Write yourself a letter explaining why you’re giving yourself an A, and date it a year from today. Describe who you will have become and why a year from now. Fall passionately in love with the person you are describing in the letter. Go make it happen!
FUTURE: Every time you find yourself unnecessarily stressed or in a pickle about something, give yourself and the people involved in it an A (no letters involved here, you can simply give them an A in your mind). See how your attitude changes. Ask yourself, “What happens if we pretend that this isn’t hard?” It’s game changing!
In my mind and in my heart you are all As, and my wish for you is to always dwell in possibility and marvel at yourself and others. I am so grateful for you being with me on this journey: EntreGurus is celebrating one month, and we have so much more to share, woo-hoo!!
Please let me know in the comments the ideas that EntreGurus has sparked in you! And a favor, please: help me share these ideas with more people via email, Facebook or Twitter. Thank you!
NOTES:
* For our international gurupies**: Grades in school in the United States are measured in a scale of A to F, with A being the highest and best grade a student can get. In other countries this would be the equivalent of 10 or 100. Simply substitute the A in this case for the highest and best grade that students can get in your country and this tactic will immediately resonate with you!
** Gurupie = blend of guru and groupie = how we fondly refer to the EntreGurus’ community, because we all follow the ideas of the gurus.
by Helena Escalante | Goals, Mindset, Opportunity, Planning
TODAY’S IDEA:
“Plan for possibilities”
— From 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think by Laura Vanderkam
Whenever we are about to embark on something, it’s natural to ponder all the “what ifs” as worst-case scenarios. We are trained to look at what could possibly go wrong, which is not necessarily bad (as long as we don’t get hung up on it) because it helps us organize and plan to avoid pitfalls.
However, we rarely stop and ponder the bright side of it: “what if everything comes out well, and even better?” Laura says it’s important to plan for possibilities:
“Lots of people ponder what they’d do if things went wrong. Try to spend an equal [amount of time] pondering what you’d do if things went right. If the CEO of your company called you into her office tomorrow and said she was so impressed with your work that she wanted to put you in charge of your dream project, do you know what you would ask for? If you sat next to your dream client on a flight or a literary agent in a bar, could you toss a casual pitch over peanuts?”
Think about it. Training your mind to consider positive possibilities will lead you to see all the doors that await to be opened by you and for you.
ACTION:
Take a moment to think of something that you would love to have happen to you/a project that you are working on. What would be your ideal, dream-come-true, fluffy-unicorn, cream-cheese-frosting-and-cherries-on-top outcome? Make a list. Plan for those possibilities: what part of that can you control? Don’t focus on serendipity because you cannot count on it. Focus instead on things that you can indeed do to be remarkable and to move closer to your goals. What are they? (Writing, speaking in public, launching a project, getting a new client, branding yourself better…) Make a plan over the next month to do one of these things, and the following month another, and another… soon you will see that you are advancing towards those possibilities and that when you put your mind, heart and action to it, they are within reach.
So what wonderful possibilities are there in your future? Let me know in the comments!
by Helena Escalante | Mindset, Opportunity, Planning, Productivity, Time
TODAY’S IDEA:
When an opportunity presents itself, it’s either “Hell, yeah!” or “NO.”
— From Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur by Derek Sivers
This idea comes has quickly become one of my favorites. It’s very simple, but powerful:
“When deciding whether to do something, if you feel anything less than “Wow! That would be amazing! Absolutely! Hell, yeah!” then say no.”
By operating from this stand point, you will ensure that you do not overcommit or commit to things that you’d really rather not do simply because you didn’t want to disappoint the person who asked you for help…
“When you say no to most things, you leave room in your life to throw yourself completely into that rare thing that makes you say, “Hell, yeah!”
Be very careful and vigilant with your time, because it’s one of the finite resources that we have! Want to know how to make more time? Yesterday’s idea is very helpful.
ACTION:
Examine your commitments. Which ones are a “hell, yeah!”? Which ones will you get rid of, or perhaps diminish/soften the commitment? This exercise was a great eye-opener for me, I’d love to hear how it goes for you! Please let me know in the comments.
