"The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function."
F. Scott Fitzgerald
When you feel that both ideas are opposed and make sense, they probably do...
This quote is one of my favourites. It captures the feeling I had about the debate we had after class today with Prof Ben. Basically, I find myself disagreeing (or being uncomfortable) with his method of thinking big and failing big. Hence, I did a search for "Breakthrough Innovation versus Incremental Improvements".
I think the challenge would be to be aware of these 2 processes and integrate them into your daily thinking. (But hey, I would still take a series of easy victories anytime over no victory to build up momentum.) I guess you could think of it as a bicycle with 2 wheels. The front wheel would be the breakthrough idea, but it needs to be powered by the back wheel which is a summation of all the small ideas that enable the execution.
How do we come up with breakthrough innovations? I guess that first, you need to be open-minded and accept any input. If you are working in a team, it would be the best to listen to everyone's opinion and ideas. There are many proven methods for generating ideas, and I think employing any one of them is useful.
What about incremental improvements? Googling "kaizen" would provide some ideas.
There are many ironies in a startup (or life). In a startup, you try to think big, but start by executing small, eventually scaling up to your vision.
This quote also seems to capture a lot of ironies that I have encountered in my short time on Earth. To lead people, you must first serve. To earn respect, you must be humble. To be strong is to show weakness. The smartest people always say "I don't know." To be a good conversationalist, listen more than you talk.
Another concept that Prof Ben touched on was "balance". I guess everyone has their own interpretation of it, but I would take the Buddhist view (middlefold path) or the Taoist ("Tao") view on it.
I find myself disagreeing (or being uncomfortable) with his method of thinking big and failing big
ReplyDeleteTruthfully, I wouldn't agree with myself if that's what I said either! :-)
I advocate "thinking big and WINNING big". I don't advocate failing (big or otherwise). Seriously. :-P
All I said is that failure should be celebrated so that people would not be afraid to fail. :-P Basically, if you are too kiasi, you're never going to accomplish anything big.
"Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment. So if things aren't going well, that probably means you're learning a lot and will go better later." - Randy Pausch.
"Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them, disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They invent. They imagine. They heal. They explore. They create. They inspire. They push the human race forward.
Maybe they have to be crazy.
How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art? Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written? Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?
We make tools for these kinds of people.
While some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do." - Apple
Actually, "balance" is not a good description of what I was trying to say. Your quote actually highlights what I wanted to say more accurately.
ReplyDeleteLet's take execution. My belief is that to execute well, you have to keep your sights on the big picture without losing sight of the details.
If you focus only on the big picture and miss out on the details, there will be a million and one things that will go wrong and you will fail royally. If you get too caught up in the details, you might lose sight of what you were originally trying to do.