Little Bets How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries

Now in paperback, “An enthusiastic, example-rich argument for innovating in a particular wayby deliberately experimenting and taking small exploratory steps in novel directions. Light, bright, and packed with tidy anecdotes� ( The Wall Street Journal). Little Bets has sparked a firestorm of discussion about thinking and working in a whole new way that Peter Sims introduces. Sims has been invited to speak at high-profile venues from Google and Amazon to the National Conference on Volunteering and Service, and the book has been featured in a Fast Company excerpt and pieces in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Economist, Harvard Business Review, Inc., and it was selected for the prestigious JP Morgan Summer Reading List. Through extensive research, Sims discovered that the most productive creative thinkers and doers across the full range of pursuitsfrom Thomas Edison, to architect Frank Gehry and the creative team at Pixarpractice a set of simple methodssuch as failing quickly to learn fast, trying imperfect ideas, and engaging in highly immersed observationthat free their minds, unshackling them from the constraints of conventional planning and analytical thinking and opening them up to making unexpected connections and perceiving invaluable insights. They make a methodical series of “little bets� about what might be a good direction, experimenting their way to extraordinary outcomes. Brimming with engaging stories about breakthrough innovators at work, from comedian Chris Rock to U.S. army counterinsurgency teams, Little Bets is as entertaining as it is mind changing.

Peter Sims is a bestselling author, entrepreneur, and speaker, as well as the coauthor of The Wall Street Journal and BusinessWeek bestseller True North. His articles have appeared in Harvard Business Review, TechCrunch, and as an expert blogger for Fast Company, and he collaborates with faculty at Stanford’s Institute of Design (the d.school). He lives in San Francisco.