Little Bets by Peter Sims is a small treatise on successful innovation.

I think it is more than that – it is a treatise on how to navigate complexity successfully.

It shares with Solution-Focus a strictly inductive approach – in the author’s words: “little bets are concrete actions taken to discover, test and develop ideas that are achievable and affordable”.

According to current research, Peter Sims points out that there are two kinds of innovators:

“conceptual innovators” – rare characters who start with a bold vision and pursue it relentlessly, often achieving important breakthroughs early in life; Mozart or Bill Gates can be thought of as belonging to this category

“experimental innovators” – people like the comedian Chris Rock, or Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos. They do not begin with a brilliant idea but they discover it by using an experimental, iterative, trial-and-error approach.

I would definitely put Insoo Kim Berg and Steve de Shazer, the founders of the Solution-Focused approach, in the latter category!

Peter Sims illustrates the key principles according to which experimental innovators operate by using many examples – from Pixar, from P&G, from HP, from the US Army, from Starbucks, from famous architects, Nobel – prize winners and famous performers.

It is definitely the stories that make this book interesting and a pleasant read.

The chapters’ titles summarize the key points:

- Big Bets vs. Little Bets: little bets allow us to develop the situation and find out more about what works by acting and observing how the system responds

- the Growth Mindset: it is necessary to have a Growth Mindset because the small bets approach implies failure

- Failing Quickly to Learn Fast: since we are going to fail, it is best to be wrong as fast as possible, so we can discover asap what is right. One great way of doing that is by testing prototypes in the real world and then improve on them; “it is better to fix problems than to prevent errors”

- the Genius of Play; humor, laughter, focusing on the positive and what is working; that is the key to create an atmosphere where experimentation is possible

- Problems are the New Solutions: constraints (budget, timeframe, materials…) actually help you focus and measure your progress; creativity does not happen in a void

- Questions are the New Answers: throw out theory and start experiencing things – “we can’t even know what questions to ask until we reach beyond what is already known through a process of discovery: carefully exploring, observing and listening”. The key to innovation is asking the right questions

- Learning a Little from a Lot – the importance of being open to experience and to different points of view

- Learning a Lot from a Little – tapping into “active users” (early adopters) to better understand what people might want

- Small Wins: they are important building blocks, they are “landmarks that can either confirm we are heading in the right direction or tell us we need to change course”

An essential read for entrepreneurs, leaders, coaches and consultants.

Tags: complexity, entrepreneurs, experiment, inductive, innovation, leaders, little bets, Peter Sims, Pixar, US Army

One of the most informative blogs that I am following these days is Psychotherapy Brown Bag, by Michael D. Anestis. Michael writes very informative pieces about evidence-based psychological therapies.

In a recent posting, Michael talks about Battlemind, a psychological intervention designed by the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and aimed at US military personnel facing deployment in areas of operations (Iraq, Afghanistan). The goal of the intervention is to reduce symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and sleep difficulties in soldiers returning from combat deployments.

The Battlemind Resilience Training is based on cognitive-behavioral concepts and mindfulness training. Technically speaking, there is no Solution-Focus in all of this.

However, I was pleasantly surprised by the Solution-Focused framing of the program; in the words of Michael Anestis:

Specifically, Battlemind procedures focus on the manner in which occupational skills developed leading up to and during deployment (e.g., unit cohesion, maintaining tactical awareness, accountability) are vital during deployment but potentially problematic when taken to an extreme upon reintegration to civilian life.  Unit cohesion can, in theory, cause post-deployment soldiers to seek out connections only with fellow soldiers, leading to a sense of distance, withdrawal, and emotional numbness with family and peers.  Maintaining tactical awareness can theoretically lead to PTSD symptoms such as hypervigilance, hyperreactivity, startle, and sleep difficulties.  High levels of accountability can lead to an intolerance of mistakes by others, which could result in social difficulties and anhedonia.  Battlemind takes a cognitive perspective and works with soldiers to harness those skills in a productive manner so as to help them more smoothly utilize their skills for a successful reintegration into civilian life.  In other words, they are not taught to blame themselves for their troubles, but rather to take control of their health by applying the same skills they have come to rely on in deployment environments in a manner likely to be more productive in their current environment. [my emphasis]

Do you see the Solution-Focused angle?

The whole program is based on the assumption that vets are competent; they can take control of their health; they are resourceful, they are not the problem.

Their training is not the problem, either – it is not something to be erased, taken away, or removed as if it were the cause of a problem. The skills they learned allowed them to survive and to be effective on the battlefield. And when they go back to civilian life, those very same skills can be the seeds to the solution of the problem of how to adapt to civilian life! Same skills, different context, different behaviors.

So, let’s see… building on what is already there… the client is the expert… Solution-Focus!!

Tags: Battlemind, building on what is there, Michael Anestis, Psychological Brown Bag, Solution Focused, US Army

… can be found here:

Tags: Amos, counterinsurgency, Petraeus, Solution Focused, US Army, USMC