The Creator’s Code by Amy Wilkinson is based on interviews with 200 entrepreneurs who have started companies that individually generate more than $100 million in annual revenue or social enterprises that serve more than 100,000 people. What the author found was 6 common threads in how they achieved entrepreneurial success.
In each case, the entrepreneurs describe the reason for their work as more than money – their goals were to make a mark on the world. In the 5 years of work the six skills that make creators successful came to light. Creators are not born with an innate ability to conceive and build $100 million enterprises. They work at it. They all share certain fundamental approaches to the act of creation. The skills that make them successful can be learned, practiced, and passed on.
- FIND THE GAP
- DRIVE FOR DAYLIGHT
- FLY THE OODA LOOK
- FAIL WISELY
- NETWORK MINDS
- GIFT SMALL GOODS
The six essential skills are not discrete, stand-alone practices. Each feeds the next, creating synergy and momentum. No special expertise is required to master the six skills. No credentials or degrees. The ability to turn ideas into enduring enterprises is available to anyone willing to learn and work.
When a creator brings together all six skills, something magnetic occurs. To become one of the creators, all you need is to understand and practice the six essential skills.
This first article is about the first of the skills, FIND THE GAP. As Albert Szent-Gyorgyi said “Discovery consists in seeing what everyone else has seen and thinking what no one else has thought.” Creators are different. They are able to find gaps and fill them in a variety of ways. Some of these creators are called Sunbirds – they transport solutions that work in one area and apply them to another with a twist. Architects recognize openings and furnish what is missing. They spot problems and design new products and services to satisfy unfilled needs. Integrators build blended outcomes by melding existing concepts to combine disparate approaches.
Sunbirds: From one domain to another
Sunbirds look at a problem and how industries that are completely different may have technologies to solve it. Sunbirds take something that already exists and transport the model to create something new. They relocate and reshape existing concepts across geographies and industries, and bring old ideas into new arenas. (A sunbird is a small bird that, much like the North American hummingbird, flies from bud to bud, transferring pollen between flowers.)
Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz didn’t invent the espresso bar – he brought it back to the United States from Italy. His attempt to directly copy the stand-up only tables, opera music playing in the background, waiters in bow ties environment failed in Seattle. With a few tweaks jazz and blues replaced the opera; seating was added to the tall tables and places to work on laptops were provided and the third option between working at home and at the office took off.
Starbucks hit another homerun and captured 30 percent of the premium single-serve coffee machine market by using a medical technology invented to preserve blood cells to freeze-dry the coffee concentrate and preserve the flavor. (Think K-cups)
Another creator, a small sweaty football player, visited a local fabric store to find an alternative to the heavy-with-sweat t-shirt he wore under his uniform. Synthetic fabrics that wick away sweat and a good tailor that built seven prototypes helped birth Under Armour.
Gutenberg is said to have invented the printing press by adapting the mechanics of the wine press. The repeated pressing process farmers used to extract juice from grapes led him to realize that the same mechanism could be utilized to apply ink to paper.
George de Mestral got the idea for Velcro when he observed how burrs stuck to his dog’s fur with tiny hooks. University of Oregon track coach Bill Bowerman studied his wife’s waffle iron and adapted the pattern of little spikes in the waffle to create Nike’s original waffle-tread running shoe.
Sunbirds don’t allow social or market stigmas about how things get done in one field to dictate the way something might be repurposed. They don’t only sport opportunity by transplanting current ideas. They also revive outdated concepts to bring them up to date.
Garage sales have been around for a long time, but Pierre Omidyar, a 28 year old updated the idea in 1997 when he founded eBay. Craig Newmark brought traditional classified ads forward in time by creating Craigslist.
Future Issue: the Architects and Integrators….stay tuned!
