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Loonshots
How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas That Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries
Loonshots (2019) explores a subject that’s as important to the success of the US military as it is to companies duking it out on the metaphorical battlefield: innovation. Drawing on a host of illuminating historical examples, Safi Bahcall shows that path-breaking discoveries and inventions aren’t the product of isolated geniuses plowing their lonely furrows but rather a result of organizational structures which foster out-of-the-box thinking.
- Tinkerers with an idea so crazy it might just work
- Managers struggling to keep their companies ahead of the curve
- Anyone who’s ever wondered how the Allies won World War Two
Safi Bahcall is a physicist and bioentrepreneur. He received his PhD from Stanford in 1995 and continued his academic career at UC Berkeley as a Miller Fellow in physics. After a three-year stint at the consultancy firm McKinsey, he cofounded Synta Pharmaceuticals, a biotech company specializing in the development of new drugs to treat cancer. Loonshots, Bahcall’s first book, has been heralded a a must-read title by the Washington Post, Inc and Business Insider.
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Loonshots
How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas That Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries
- Read in 15 minutes
- Audio & text available
- Contains 9 key ideas
Synopsis
Loonshots (2019) explores a subject that’s as important to the success of the US military as it is to companies duking it out on the metaphorical battlefield: innovation. Drawing on a host of illuminating historical examples, Safi Bahcall shows that path-breaking discoveries and inventions aren’t the product of isolated geniuses plowing their lonely furrows but rather a result of organizational structures which foster out-of-the-box thinking.
Key idea 1 of 9
Innovation is a key part of organizational success, and it needs to be carefully nurtured.
Key ideas in this title
- Innovation is a key part of organizational success, and it needs to be carefully nurtured.
- The US military was unprepared for the Second World War because it hadn’t supported innovation.
- Vannevar Bush created a structure which fostered innovation and helped turn the war in the Allies’ favor.
- Loonshots don’t only win wars; they’re also great for business.
- The Bush-Vail Rules provide a blueprint for sustainably balancing franchising and innovation.
- Purely product-driven innovation can land companies in hot water when the business environment changes.
- Leaders who fail to take a backseat risk leading their organizations down blind alleys.
- The West’s rapid development was a product of the ultimate loonshot – the Scientific Revolution.
- Final summary
