Safi Bahcall is a second-generation physicist and entrepreneur, whose first book, Loonshots, has been described as a cross between Freakonomics and the da Vinci Code. At the heart of the book is a philosophy which is foundational for everything we do at OutsideLens: that you can learn a great deal by applying the tools and techniques from one world, in this case the world of physics and to a lesser extent psychology, to the world of innovation in business.
Read the full article here: https://outsidelens.com/loonshots-innovation-through-the-lens-of-a-psysicist/
What Was Covered:
- How the structure of a company, rather than its culture, enables or disables innovation
- The two basic phases in any organisation – who are "artists" and "soldiers" and how to achieve an equilibrium between them
- The three key elements to build a sustainable innovation system – the metaphor of the ice cube, the garden hoe and the heart
Key Takeaways and Learnings:
- Using the lens of phase transitions to understand and benefit from structural forces which operate in any organization
- Why leaders need to keep their artists and soldiers separate when they want to engage in innovation
- Persistence as the main factor of innovation and how "the rule of three deaths" applies to science and business breakthroughs
Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
