Safi Bachall: Loonshots - Innovation Though The Lens Of A Physicist

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:
Loonshots: How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas That Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries, a book by Safi Bahcall Safi Bahcall’s website Connect with Safi on LinkedIn and Twitter McKinsey & Company – Global Management Consulting The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology – PCAST Science the Endless Frontier – A Report to the President by Vannevar Bush Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics, a book by Richard Thaler Thinking, Fast and Slow, a book by Daniel Kahneman