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gianouts's review
4.0
A very readable book about to how to think better and make better decisions that includes lots of good insights and examples.
creativerunnings's review
3.0
This was a quirky/nerdy audiobook, narrated by the author. The book talks about strategies to succeed with new ideas and enhances them with stories from successful ventures, with a large emphasis on NASA and other space oriented enterprises. I don't think it's rocket science, but there are good reminders to think outside the box, embrace failure, etc.
architr's review
• On February 12, 2002, amid escalating tensions between the United States and Iraq, US secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld took the stage at a press briefing. He received a question from a reporter about whether there was any evidence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction—the basis for the subsequent American invasion. A typical answer would be packaged in preapproved political stock phrases like ongoing investigation and national security. But Rumsfeld instead pulled out a rocket-science metaphor from his linguistic grab bag: “There are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don’t know we don’t know.” These remarks were widely ridiculed—in part because of their controversial source—but as far as political statements go, they’re surprisingly accurate. In his autobiography, Known and Unknown, Rumsfeld acknowledges that he first heard the terms from NASA administrator William Graham.17 But Rumsfeld conspicuously omitted one category from his speech—unknown knowns.
• Feynman’s mindset requires an admission of ignorance and a good dose of humility. When we utter those three dreaded words—I don’t know—our ego deflates, our mind opens, and our ears perk up. Admitting ignorance doesn’t mean remaining willfully oblivious to facts. Rather, it requires a conscious type of uncertainty where you become fully aware of what you don’t know in order to learn and grow.’
• The path, as the mystic poet Rumi writes, won’t appear until you start walking
• Kenneth Frazier’s story is quintessentially American. The son of a janitor, Frazier grew up in a working-class neighborhood in Philadelphia and climbed to the top, graduating from Penn State and then Harvard Law School. He joined the pharmaceutical giant Merck as corporate counsel and eventually became its CEO.31
• Like most executives, Frazier wanted to promote innovation at Merck. But unlike most executives who simply ask their employees to innovate, Frazier asked them to do something they had never done before: destroy Merck. Frazier had the company executives play the role of Merck’s top competitors and generate ideas to put Merck out of business. They then reversed their roles, went back to being Merck employees, and devised strategies to avert these threats.32
• This is called the kill-the-company exercise. As Lisa Bodell, the mastermind behind the exercise, explains, “To create the company of tomorrow, you must break down the bad habits, silos, and inhibitors that exist today.”33 These habits are difficult to break down because we often adopt the same internal perspective. It’s like trying to “psychoanalyze yourself,” Bodell says. We’re too close to our own problems and weaknesses to evaluate them objectively.
• The kill-the-company exercise forces you to switch perspectives and play the role of an antagonist who doesn’t care about your rules, habits, and processes. The participants must employ first-principles thinking, use new neural pathways, and come up with original ideas that move beyond mere platitudes. It’s one thing to say “let’s think outside the box.” It’s another to actually step outside the box and examine your company or product from the viewpoint of a competitor seeking to destroy it. By viewing our weaknesses through this out-of-company experience, we realize we may be standing on a burning platform. The urgency of change becomes clear.
• The US military also uses a version of the kill-the-company exercise in war-gaming. It’s called red teaming, a term that’s a relic of the Cold War. In simulations, the red team plays the role of the enemy and finds ways to scuttle the blue team’s mission. Red teams expose the flaws in planning and execution so that the problems can be fixed before the mission begins. As Major Patrick Lieneweg, who teaches red-teaming seminars, explained to me, the process plays a critical role in mitigating groupthink in the otherwise hierarchical environment of the military: “It improves the quality of thinking by challenging prevailing notions, testing assumptions, and asking critical questions.”
•
• Feynman’s mindset requires an admission of ignorance and a good dose of humility. When we utter those three dreaded words—I don’t know—our ego deflates, our mind opens, and our ears perk up. Admitting ignorance doesn’t mean remaining willfully oblivious to facts. Rather, it requires a conscious type of uncertainty where you become fully aware of what you don’t know in order to learn and grow.’
• The path, as the mystic poet Rumi writes, won’t appear until you start walking
• Kenneth Frazier’s story is quintessentially American. The son of a janitor, Frazier grew up in a working-class neighborhood in Philadelphia and climbed to the top, graduating from Penn State and then Harvard Law School. He joined the pharmaceutical giant Merck as corporate counsel and eventually became its CEO.31
• Like most executives, Frazier wanted to promote innovation at Merck. But unlike most executives who simply ask their employees to innovate, Frazier asked them to do something they had never done before: destroy Merck. Frazier had the company executives play the role of Merck’s top competitors and generate ideas to put Merck out of business. They then reversed their roles, went back to being Merck employees, and devised strategies to avert these threats.32
• This is called the kill-the-company exercise. As Lisa Bodell, the mastermind behind the exercise, explains, “To create the company of tomorrow, you must break down the bad habits, silos, and inhibitors that exist today.”33 These habits are difficult to break down because we often adopt the same internal perspective. It’s like trying to “psychoanalyze yourself,” Bodell says. We’re too close to our own problems and weaknesses to evaluate them objectively.
• The kill-the-company exercise forces you to switch perspectives and play the role of an antagonist who doesn’t care about your rules, habits, and processes. The participants must employ first-principles thinking, use new neural pathways, and come up with original ideas that move beyond mere platitudes. It’s one thing to say “let’s think outside the box.” It’s another to actually step outside the box and examine your company or product from the viewpoint of a competitor seeking to destroy it. By viewing our weaknesses through this out-of-company experience, we realize we may be standing on a burning platform. The urgency of change becomes clear.
• The US military also uses a version of the kill-the-company exercise in war-gaming. It’s called red teaming, a term that’s a relic of the Cold War. In simulations, the red team plays the role of the enemy and finds ways to scuttle the blue team’s mission. Red teams expose the flaws in planning and execution so that the problems can be fixed before the mission begins. As Major Patrick Lieneweg, who teaches red-teaming seminars, explained to me, the process plays a critical role in mitigating groupthink in the otherwise hierarchical environment of the military: “It improves the quality of thinking by challenging prevailing notions, testing assumptions, and asking critical questions.”
•
mdross1's review
2.0
I’ve read this book before.
You’ve probably read most of this book before too.
I obviously don’t mean literally, but it’s a shuffled version of case studies and clever business stories from a half dozen better written books. Apart from the author’s first-hand accounts of working in the industry, I’m not sure anything I came across in this book was new to me. A lot of it was fairly dumbed down too, which I’m sure was meant to increase mass market appeal but, if anything, decreased my confidence in what was being relayed.
You’ve probably read most of this book before too.
I obviously don’t mean literally, but it’s a shuffled version of case studies and clever business stories from a half dozen better written books. Apart from the author’s first-hand accounts of working in the industry, I’m not sure anything I came across in this book was new to me. A lot of it was fairly dumbed down too, which I’m sure was meant to increase mass market appeal but, if anything, decreased my confidence in what was being relayed.
fanfan_a_book_fan's review
5.0
谢谢你，靠这本书成功度过了演讲比赛，省赛也有特别的体验，我的素材库，谢谢你！
这本书好多科学方面有趣的小故事，很适合当演讲素材库，各种topic都可以套~
整本书下来印象最深刻的还是作者对Icarus的故事的另一种解读吧。
"Take comfort in knowing that Daedalus had his physics all wrong. Air gets cooler, not hotter, as you ascend, so your wings won’t melt. If you pursue the extraordinary, you’ll rise above the stale neural pathways that dominate ordinary thinking. And if you persist—and learn from the inevitable failures that will arise—you’ll eventually grow the wings you need to soar."
完全是一个new perspective，打开了我的思路，也给了我追求梦想的勇气。为什么不能有不甘于现状的远大梦想呢？努力付出行动，敢于冒险，说不定会有意想不到的收获。
这本书好多科学方面有趣的小故事，很适合当演讲素材库，各种topic都可以套~
整本书下来印象最深刻的还是作者对Icarus的故事的另一种解读吧。
"Take comfort in knowing that Daedalus had his physics all wrong. Air gets cooler, not hotter, as you ascend, so your wings won’t melt. If you pursue the extraordinary, you’ll rise above the stale neural pathways that dominate ordinary thinking. And if you persist—and learn from the inevitable failures that will arise—you’ll eventually grow the wings you need to soar."
完全是一个new perspective，打开了我的思路，也给了我追求梦想的勇气。为什么不能有不甘于现状的远大梦想呢？努力付出行动，敢于冒险，说不定会有意想不到的收获。
nikhilesh's review
2.0
I rarely give out low ratings, so when I do, you know it must be bad.
The book has a good start with the author broaching some new ideas. However, the book quickly devolves into using any and every interesting anecdote to justify half-baked rules for life.
If you have read good books in the Genre like Happiness Advantage by Shawn Acher or Grit by Angela Duckworth, give this a miss. If you haven't, then spend your money and time on those books.
The book has a good start with the author broaching some new ideas. However, the book quickly devolves into using any and every interesting anecdote to justify half-baked rules for life.
If you have read good books in the Genre like Happiness Advantage by Shawn Acher or Grit by Angela Duckworth, give this a miss. If you haven't, then spend your money and time on those books.