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Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
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Disrupt You! summary
Jay Samit
Master Personal Transformation, Seize Opportunity, and Thrive in the Era of Endless Innovation
20 mins
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Disrupt You!
Summary of 6 key ideas
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Key idea 1 of 6
The best entrepreneurs find opportunity in failure.
What’s the first thing you do after stepping inside an airport? Whether you’re in Canada or China, Norway or New Zealand, chances are you approach a check-in kiosk. You don’t want to stand in line, so instead you get a machine to issue your boarding pass.
Today, such kiosks are found in almost every country across the world. But these machines weren’t always a success. In fact, they’re actually a symbol of failure.
The inventor of airport kiosks didn’t intend for his machines to be used in the travel industry at all. Instead, he wanted them to sell lottery tickets. That idea was a total flop. But in failure, the inventor saw something many people didn’t: opportunity.
And so, he pivoted – abandoning his original concept and applying kiosk technology to the travel industry.
The key message here is: The best entrepreneurs find opportunity in failure.
That entrepreneur was the author, Jay Samit. That failed lottery machine set him on the path of serial innovation and taught him to reframe rejections as redirections.
There’s a saying that entrepreneurs are simply those who understand that there is little difference between obstacle and opportunity. Take one look at Samit’s career trajectory and this immediately rings true. Unfazed by setbacks, Samit is now a globally renowned expert in entrepreneurship – having collaborated with Fortune 500 companies, foreign governments, and even the Vatican to drive disruption in countless industries.
Some people might look at the author and call him lucky. But his kiosk success was born from logic – not luck. After striking out with the lottery idea, he became introspective. He asked: Is there another potential application for this technology? Where others might have thrown in the towel, he saw failure as part of the process, and came back with an even better idea than before.
The good news? While luck can’t be learned, logic can. These blinks will draw on insights from some of history’s greatest innovators to provide you with a blueprint for entrepreneurial success. You’ll get the most important tools you’ll need to transform fledgling ideas into fully formed innovations.
Ready to set your path to entrepreneurial success? Let’s get started.
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What is Disrupt You! about?
Disrupt You! (2015) is an entrepreneur’s guide to driving innovation and impact. It draws on some of the biggest success stories in business and offers actionable tips for solving real-world problems and finding opportunity in failure.
Who should read Disrupt You!?
- Entrepreneurs seeking to drive disruption
- Optimists who want to find opportunity in failure
- Anyone who looks at successful start-ups and asks, “What’s their secret?”
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