Get unusual brain power to create new companies

‘THE CREATOR’S Code’ by Amy Wilkinson Simon & Schuster, 2015

In the last decade, breakthrough inventions, several new products, many more services and hundreds of thousands of companies were born on Planet Earth.

And just when you were convinced that nothing new will appear on the horizon, many products materialized before your disbelieving eyes.

Why is there so much brain energy happening all at the same time?

The book, “The Creator’s Code,” provides an insight into the unusual power to create of so many people across the globe. Sub-titled “The Six Essential Skills of Extraordinary Entrepreneurs,” the book brings us readers inside the minds of product creators. If you are an entrepreneur, you will recognize some thought patterns which you have gone through somehow, or some epiphanies that bring sudden revelations.

Essential skills

The six essential skills are as follows: Find the Gap, Drive for Daylight, Fly the OODA Loop, Fail Wisely, Network Minds and Gift Small Goods.

To find the gap, as you would say, is easy. Folks in marketing would tell you to “find a niche.” So, is there nothing new in this skill? “By staying alert, creators spot opportunities that others don’t see,” author Amy Wilkinson says. “They keep their eyes open for fresh potential, a vacuum to fill, or an unmet need.”

She says something new, which she backs with happy cases of new inventions.

She points out, “Creators” are “Sunbirds” if they transport solutions that work in one area and apply them to another—often with a twist.

They are “Architects” who furnish what is missing. They design new products and services to meet unfilled needs. And, yes, they are “Integrators” if they build blended outcomes.

A famous Sunbird, according to the author, is Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, who did not invent the espresso bar. He transferred the “lifestyle coffee” concept he observed in Milan to the United States. He “tweaked the concept,” says Wilkinson, from playing classical music to jazz and blues—rightly recognizing a cultural divide between Italy and America.

There is a constant principle among Sunbirds. They “use the power of analogy,” Wilkinson adds. More insights are in store for you, readers, as you enter the minds of the Architects and the Integrators.

The second skill, “Drive for Daylight,” draws inspiration from race car drivers. It’s all about being single-minded about your goal, setting your sights on the horizon. Wilkinson describes this skill thus: “They execute in the moment with laser-like focus … Hands on the wheel, creators don’t benchmark themselves against the competition or focus on industry norms.”

These creators set the pace in a fast-moving marketplace. There is no time to belabor the point of a failure. These creators have no use for “nostalgia,” the author says.

She writes of the success of “Chobani,” a top-selling Greek yogurt. After seeing the enthusiastic response of the market, Hamdi Ulukaya from Turkey had to be aggressive: He pushed weekly production to a million cases! He did not want to be overtaken—or be affected by competition. In one of my previous essays, a book author advised: “Make your competition irrelevant.” The success of the company is traced to the “Chobani speed.”

I remember reading about a “brief” on how “Pasa Load” of Smart Communications was created without an elaborate market research. It was introduced into the market with great speed before competition got wind of it. That’s a local case of “driving for daylight.”

“Fly the OODA Loop” is a skill on maneuverability. It is a process of thinking culled from John Boyd, an Air Force fighter pilot who served in the Korean War. It is a fast thinking framework that covers Observe, Orient, Decide and Act. It is a lesson learned from the ability of US Sabrejets to win dogfights against Soviet MiG jets.

The American jets, while slow, could make transitions more swiftly. The ability to make maneuvers in less time kept American pilots one step ahead. The PayPal success story falls under this category.

Small bets

“Fail Wisely” is another skill demonstrated by creator, the author says. But make sure you “place small bets,” Wilkinson adds. I remember a Rent-a-Car executive once advising his managers to not be afraid of making mistakes. Just make sure the mistakes are small ones, not the big ones that will bring the firm to its knees.

Stella & Dot made $220 million in sales in 2013 by making many experiments—failing in some, yet succeeding enormously in new ventures.

“Network Minds” simply restates the truism that more heads are better than one. And yet in a world of many specializations, these many heads may “spoil the broth.” Not so, observes Wilkinson. “If great minds think alike, networked minds combine multiple perspectives to solve complicated problems,” she points out. She recommends T-shaped people to make this possible. The T-shaped folks are analytically focused on one area, but are open enough to integrate other points of view.

Science of generosity

Finally, “Gift Small Goods” means you “unleash generosity.” Gone are the days when the rule in business is “competition.” It is now “cooperation,” the book points out.” Creators understand that pioneering new frontiers requires interdependent efforts. They find ways to work with, for and through others to achieve results.

There are now many studies on the “science of generosity”—and the wonders it creates among people. I watched a short video clip once about one act of generosity—carrying the bags of an elderly while crossing the street; and then the elderly lady brought an extra piece of bread for someone, and then an observer bought an extra rose for a lady in a streetside café.

Generous acts “sparkle” a multiplier effect—three to five times bigger and greater in magnitude than the initial contribution. LinkedIn offered space and time to other software companies—and such generosity brought more products and brand extensions to LinkedIn.

How to crack the Creator’s Code? Learn the six essential skills—learn from other industries, drive forward to the desired horizon, trust other minds—and don’t forget to “gift with small goods.”

It’s good for the soul, for your new firm—and for your pocketbook. [email protected]