Peter Sims
Best-selling Author, Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries
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TRAVELS FROM: California
Peter Sims is the founder & CEO of Parliament, inc. — a place for learning, experimentation, and invention — and is a best-selling author. His latest book is Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries, selected as a one of the six best advice books for entrepreneurs by the Wall Street Journal and as one of the best business books of the year by The Washington Post and Inc. Magazine. Sims is also a founder of the BLK SHP (black sheep), a loose guild of creative misfits.
Early on, I worked in venture capital with Summit Partners, including as a founder of the firm’s European Office in London. Although doing deals was ultimately not my calling, I loved working with entrepreneurs, and wanted to be one. Unexpectedly, though, I accidentally became an author after business school, when Bill George asked me to co-author the book True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership. My curiosity then led me to Stanford’s Institute of Design (the d.school), and design thinking formed the basis for the next book Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries.
My experiences and work around creative processes, entrepreneurship, and innovation exposed me to a variety of worlds ranging from large corporations where I was a member of General Electric’s Innovation Advisory Panel, to public policy and social entrepreneurship including as the co-founder of FUSE corps (which places fellows on grassroots projects within cities to tackle problems such as opioids or low income housing, and has become one of the fastest growing social ventures in America), to education on the advisory council for Columbia University’s Committee for Global Thought, as well as culture and the arts as president of The BLK SHP (black sheep) Foundation.
I found my calling as an entrepreneur, creator, builder, and writer. Each day, with a host of talented colleagues and collaborators, we build the company (Parliament) and foundation (BLK SHP). And, I write when I can.
I am a graduate of Bowdoin College, and live in the Bay Area, as a sixth generation Northern Californian (on both sides). My great-great-great grandfather, Jacob Gundlach, founded Gundlach Bundschu (GunBun) in Sonoma, California’s oldest family-owned winery, which is run today by my cousins who, unlike me, actually know a lot about wine.
My experiences and work around creative processes, entrepreneurship, and innovation exposed me to a variety of worlds ranging from large corporations where I was a member of General Electric’s Innovation Advisory Panel, to public policy and social entrepreneurship including as the co-founder of FUSE corps (which places fellows on grassroots projects within cities to tackle problems such as opioids or low income housing, and has become one of the fastest growing social ventures in America), to education on the advisory council for Columbia University’s Committee for Global Thought, as well as culture and the arts as president of The BLK SHP (black sheep) Foundation.
I found my calling as an entrepreneur, creator, builder, and writer. Each day, with a host of talented colleagues and collaborators, we build the company (Parliament) and foundation (BLK SHP). And, I write when I can.
I am a graduate of Bowdoin College, and live in the Bay Area, as a sixth generation Northern Californian (on both sides). My great-great-great grandfather, Jacob Gundlach, founded Gundlach Bundschu (GunBun) in Sonoma, California’s oldest family-owned winery, which is run today by my cousins who, unlike me, actually know a lot about wine.
- Little Bets + Black Sheep = This Revolution Will Be Improvised
The world is being disrupted by globalization and technology, and the traditional ways of doing things are increasingly ill-equipped to solve the problems. What will fill the gaps — in government, business, and culture? It all begins with little bets: small, affordable risks taken to discover problems, needs, and opportunities in order to find big bets. What do Apple CEO Steve Jobs, comedian Chris Rock, prize-winning architect Frank Gehry, and the story developers at Pixar films all have in common? They all rely upon a mindset of making small bets when doing something new, and they’re all also “black sheep” — willing to challenge conventional wisdom and be understood, often for long periods of time, in order to invent new approaches in their own lives and for society. The world needs a creative renaissance led by courageous BLK SHP, who get sh*t done and solve problems quickly and creatively. Are you a black sheep? This revolution will be improvised. - Little Bets - How Big Breakthroughs Emerge from Small Discoveries
What do Thomas Edison, Chris Rock, and Jeff Bezos all have in common? Answer: An understanding that the biggest ideas spring forth from a series of small discoveries, reworked to achieve a great result. Based on extensive research, including over 200 interviews with successful creators and innovators, Sims demonstrates that the kind of linear problem-solving and fear of failure we were conditioned to embrace actively thwarts creativity. Whether it’s Steve Jobs or architect Frank Gehry or the ‘braintrust’ at Pixar, there is no complete plan or vision at the outset. Rather, through a process of trying and failing in incremental ways, they gain critical information as they go from one small, experimental step to the next — which eventually lead to extraordinary breakthroughs. These so-called “little bets” helped spark the ideas that led to companies like Twitter and blockbuster movies like the Toy Story franchise. We can learn to think and work like those we think of as geniuses — failing fast to learn quickly, trying imperfect ideas, focusing on finding problems rather than solving them, and practicing highly immersed observation—to turn our own little bets into big successes. - Discover Your Authentic Leadership
Based on the lessons learned from 125 of the world’s most-respected entrepreneurs and leaders profiled for TRUE NORTH: Discover Your Authentic Leadership, including Charles Schwab, Starbuck’s founder Howard Schultz, CEO of Palm Inc. Donna Dubinsky, Jeffrey Immelt of General Electric, Xerox CEO Anne Mulcahy, Andrea Jung CEO of Avon Products, and Narayana Murthy of Infosys. Themes include: overcoming life crucibles and setbacks, clarifying personal values and motivations, developing effective support structures, using your life story to motivate and inspire others, approaches for staying grounded, and personal leadership development plans.
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