Safi Bahcall is a second-generation physicist and entrepreneur, whose first book, Loonshots, has been described as a cross between Freakonomics and the da Vinci Code. At the heart of the book is a philosophy which is foundational for everything we do at OutsideLens: that you can learn a great deal by applying the tools and techniques from one world, in this case the world of physics and to a lesser extent psychology, to the world of innovation in business. 

Read the full article here: https://outsidelens.com/loonshots-innovation-through-the-lens-of-a-psysicist/ 

What Was Covered:  

• How the structure of a company, rather than its culture, enables or disables innovation 
• The two basic phases in any organisation – who are “artists” and “soldiers” and how to achieve an equilibrium between them  
• The three key elements to build a sustainable innovation system – the metaphor of the ice cube, the garden hoe and the heart 

Key Takeaways and Learnings:  

• Using the lens of phase transitions to understand and benefit from structural forces which operate in any organization    
• Why leaders need to keep their artists and soldiers separate when they want to engage in innovation  
• Persistence as the main factor of innovation and how “the rule of three deaths” applies to science and business breakthroughs  

Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

• Loonshots: How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas That Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries, a book by Safi Bahcall
• Safi Bahcall’s website
• Connect with Safi on LinkedIn and Twitter
• McKinsey & Company – Global Management Consulting
• The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology – PCAST
• Science the Endless Frontier – A Report to the President by Vannevar Bush
• Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics, a book by Richard Thaler
• Thinking, Fast and Slow, a book by Daniel Kahneman