5. Bet Small

• When you take big risks that involve lots of resources, you have a tendency to throw good money after bad. (Doug: This is called the sunk cost fallacy.) You become too afraid to admit that something is not working.
• A much better approach is to make smaller bets that you can learn and grow from. If they don’t work, it will be easier to give them up as you learn from the effort. If they do work, you can then figure out how to scale them up. In other words, “don’t risk the whole farm.”

6. Move Fast

• We start with a story of a guy trying to make an innovative bicycle of bamboo. While riding, a prototype falls apart underneath him. This turned out to be a key part of a successful process. The best way to get deeper into a problem is to make as many things as you can as quickly as you can and see what happens. Experiments that go south are part of the learning curve. You need to build the momentum necessary to plow through uncertainty. You also have to move outside of your encapsulated department or discipline. Cross-pollinate in order to accelerate change. Be sure to leverage the assets you already have.

Conclusion

• By reading this book and doing the 18 drills associated with the six principles, you should have the resources to bring crazy, mind-bending, seemingly magical, world-changing solutions to life that conventional methodologies could never find. Be prepared for some frustration along the way. This book contains the tool kit you need to accomplish your ambitions. It’s time to dream, seek, imagine, build, learn, and share free from the confines of business as usual and the strongly held assumptions of the way the world usually works. In addition to the drills in the book, try to create some of your own. The status quo will take a swipe at you 100 times a day. When that happens, swing back and Think Wrong.

John Bielenberg, Mike Burn, and Greg Galle, with Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson

• Mike and Greg work together at the Silicon Valley-Based strategic innovation firm Solve Next. They work with innovators to increase the impact of their organizations. They train and coach leaders and teams, and build organizational software.
• John is a partner-emeritus of Solve Next and teaches thinking wrong to students around the world.
• Elizabeth is an award-winning journalist and editor who writes about architecture, design, culture, and creativity

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