Little Bets

How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge From Small Discoveries

by Peter Sims

Number of pages: 224

Publisher: Free Press

BBB Library: Creativity and Innovation

ISBN: 9781439170427



About the Author

Sims is the coauthor with Bill George of the Wall Street Journal and BusinessWeek bestselling book True North. He is a contributor to the Reuters and Harvard Business Review blogs.

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Editorial Review

Little Bets is based on the proposition that we can use a lot of little bets and certain creative methods to identify possibilities and build up to great outcomes. At the core of this experimental approach, little bets are concrete actions taken to discover, test, and develop ideas that are achievable and affordable. They begin as creative possibilities that get refined over time, and they are particularly valuable when trying to navigate amid uncertainty, create something new, or attend to open-ended problems. When we can’t know what’s going to happen, little bets help us learn about factors that can’t be understood beforehand.

Book Reviews

"His new book is called Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries. In our conversation, Peter explained what “Little Bets” are, if it’s easier to make leaps or small steps in business, and much more." Forbes

"The premise of the book is that the way to succeed in any venture —whatever the field — is to make lots of small developments and observe the results, rather than to embark on large strategic plans. This fits well with the need to be quick to market with new ideas and to accept that subsequent tweaks might be needed, rather than trying to launch a fully finished final version of a product." The Actuary

"This book by Peters Sims joins a range of others about the importance of ‘fail quickly to learn fast’ in order to successfully innovate and grow. What sets this book apart is the very wide range of case profiles–not just from the usual vertical categories like tech startups, but also comedians, musicians, architects, film-makers, newscasters, diplomats and even the US Army." Your Story

"Guidelines are what Peter Sims seeks to provide in "Little Bets," an enthusiastic, example-rich argument for innovating in a particular way—by deliberately experimenting and taking small exploratory steps in novel directions. Some little bets will not pay off, of course, in which case little is lost; but others may pay off in big ways." The Wall Street Journal

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Wisdom to Share

Once a small win has been accomplished, forces are set in motion that favor another small win.

Starbucks emerged by carefully adapting to customer feedback through a series of small wins.

Organizational psychologist Karl Weick defines a small win as “a concrete, complete implemented outcome of moderate importance.”

After all, life is a creative process. It all begins with one little bet. What will yours be?

Technologist and inventor Alan Kay once said, “The best way to predict the future is to invent it.”

A series of small wins can be gathered into a retrospective summary that imputes a consistent line of development.

Small wins are scattered and cohere only in the sense they move in the same direction.

It is important to realize that the next solvable problem seldom coincides with the next “logical” step as judged by a detached observer.

It is important to realize that the next solvable problem seldom coincides with the next “logical” step as judged by a detached observer.

Research evidence suggests a strong link between inquisitiveness and creative productivity.

Fresh problems, ideas, needs and desires aren’t obvious; they’re hidden beneath the surface.

We can use a lot of little bets and certain creative methods to identify possibilities and build up to great outcomes.

One of the best ways to identify creative insights and develop ideas is to throw out the theory and experience things first hand.

The imposition of constraints is a powerful technique across a wide range of endeavors.

Improvising unlocks a far more creative state of mind.

Some compelling research has revealed the neurological basis for how improvisation can unleash creativity.

Novelist Anne Lamott believes that every good writer writes what she calls “shitty drafts”.

Novelist Anne Lamott believes that every good writer writes what she calls “shitty drafts”.

What the creation of low cost, rough prototypes make possible is failing quickly in order to learn fast.

One way of embracing the learning potential of failure is prototyping.

We are educating people out of their creativity.

Be flexible in pursuit of larger goals and aspirations, making good use of small wins to make necessary pivots and chart the course to completion.

Repeat, refine and text frequently armed with better insights, information and assumptions as time goes on.

Develop experiments and prototypes to gather insights, identify problems, and build up to creative ideas.

When we can’t know what’s going to happen, little bets help us learn about factors that can’t be understood beforehand.

While prodigies are exceptionally rare, anyone can use little bets to unlock creative ideas.