Little Bets ─ How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries

Peter Sims's Little Bets has sparked a firestorm of discussion about thinking and working in a whole new way. Sims has been invited to speak at high-profile venues from Google and Amazon to the National Conference on Volunteering and Service; 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 pursuits—from Thomas Edison, to architect Frank Gehry and the creative team at Pixar—practice a set of simple methods—such as trying imperfect ideas and engaging in highly immersed observation, among many others—that 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," 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.