
July 10, 2020
Lessons of Greatness: Why the world needs breakthrough builders; How it can be you | Starting Greatness with Mike Maples
Check out the Starting Greatness Episode Page & Show Notes
Key Takeaways
- 1) Look for inflections
- “Exponential inflections power massive breakthroughs” – Mike MaplesAn inflection is a time of significant change
- The 4 main types of inflection: technology, adoption, regulatory, and belief
- 2) Work backwards from different potential futures
- “Breakthrough builders seem crazy in the present, but they’re right about the future” – Mike Maples
- Consider different and surprising futures and work backwards to the present
- There are 3 types of futures: plausible, possible, or preposterous
- 3) Gather breakthrough insights
- “Insights lead you to breakthrough ideas that let you build something so exponentially different, it lets you break free from the pull of the present” – Mike Maples
- An insight is an unrecognized truth
Intro
- Host: Mike Maples (@m2jr)
The World Needs Builders
- Steve Jobs didn’t discover a market need for smartphones of tablets. He designed the category.
- Elon Musk did the same with electric cars and space travel
- “We need more people who unapologetically seek breakthroughs” – Mike Maples
- Elon Musk did the same with electric cars and space travel
Forecasting < Backcasting
- Forecasting works best for incremental changes
- It has its limitations, it takes present problems into the future with us
- Backcasting is the opposite of forecasting
- How do you backcast?
- 1) Look for inflections
- “Exponential inflections power massive breakthroughs” – Mike Maples
- An inflection is a time of significant change
- The 4 main types of inflection: technology, adoption, regulatory, and belief
- “Exponential inflections power massive breakthroughs” – Mike Maples
- 2) Work backwards from different potential futures
- “Breakthrough builders seem crazy in the present, but they’re right about the future” – Mike Maples
- Consider different and surprising futures and work backwards to the present
- There are 3 types of futures: plausible, possible, or preposterous
- “Breakthrough builders seem crazy in the present, but they’re right about the future” – Mike Maples
- 3) Gather breakthrough insights
- “Insights lead you to breakthrough ideas that let you build something so exponentially different, it lets you break free from the pull of the present” – Mike Maples
- An insight is an unrecognized truth
- Ask yourself: What type of team would I need to make each insight real?
- An insight is an unrecognized truth
- “Insights lead you to breakthrough ideas that let you build something so exponentially different, it lets you break free from the pull of the present” – Mike Maples
- 1) Look for inflections