Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge From Small Discoveries

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.

Editorial Reviews

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.

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.