think like a freak

Some of the steps toward thinking like a Freak:

• First, put away your moral compass—because it’s hard to see a problem clearly if you’ve already decided what to do about it.
• Learn to say “I don’t know”—for until you can admit what you don’t yet know, it’s virtually impossible to learn what you need to.
• Think like a child—because you’ll come up with better ideas and ask better questions.
• Take a master class in incentives—because for better or worse, incentives rule our world.
• Learn to persuade people who don’t want to be persuaded—because being right is rarely enough to carry the day.
• Learn to appreciate the upside of quitting—because you can’t solve tomorrow’s problem if you aren’t willing to abandon today’s dud.

IDEAS: small, big or

great ideas come in three sizes:

small

big

transformative

dumb ideas are dumb regardless of size.

if your idea is dumb, the smaller the better.

LITTLE BETS

how breakthrough ideas emerge from small discoveries

author is peter sims

wiseman found that lucky people tend to be open to opportunities or insights that come along spontaneously, whereas unlucky people tend to be creatures of routine, fixated on certain specific outcomes


praising ability alone reduces persistence, while praising effort or the processes a person goes through to learn leads to growth mind set behaviors.


those favoring a growth mind set believe that intelligence and abilities can be grown through effort, and tend to view failures or setbacks as opportunities for growth. they have a desire to constantly challenge and stretch themselves.


affordable loss principle: how much can you afford to lose?
seasoned entrepreneurs will tend to determine in advance what they are willing to lose, rather than calculating expected gains.


illusion of rationality:
ideas or assumptions seem logical in a plan, spreadsheet, power point or memo, yet they haven't been validated on the ground or in the real world


ned barnholdt: a lot of our most successful ideas came from the bottom up, by really understanding user needs

when much is known, procedural planning approaches work.
when much is unknown, they do not.
procedural planning is opposite of improvisation.

who is larry summers?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Summers

highlights:

economic advisor to obama
secretary of treasury under clinton
president of harvard
chief economist at world bank

board director at lending club

stupidity and lack of knowledge

most mistakes occur because of:

stupidity and/or
ignorance

insightful quotes

what you know, they will never know and what they know, you can learn.

for the last time, incentives matter!

origin of the word amok:
lonely men, suffering from loss of love, money and/or face (respect).

sunlight is the best disinfectant

look for the higher payoff strategy

launch fast and iterate

keys to maximizing earnings in the work place:
intelligence,
education,
human capital,
punctuality
and ability to handle criticism

each day management presents dozens of opportunities to do something dumb.
stellar managers simply resist the temptation.

smart people should resist the temptation to be too clever by half
and
should absolutely resist the temptation to make clever investments which they do not understand 100%

don't try to be brilliant.
focus on not being stupid.