Evolve or Die

by Thomas C Triumph

  David Kelley is the founder of the design firm IDEO, founder of Stanford University’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, and has taught design classes for nearly four decades. His brother, Tom Kelley, is a partner at IDEO and teaches at Berkeley. Together the Kelley brothers have written several books on creativity and innovation.

  IDEO has done work for some of the world’s most highly regarded brands, and their work has led the way for thousands of innovations, many of them revolutionary and across a wide variety of industries. IDEO designed the first useable computer mouse, groundbreaking nonprofit programs, and digital tools to help people with schizophrenia. The Kelley brothers, and their several hundred colleagues at IDEO, know about the fears inherent in creativity.

  Here are four fears they’ve identified that all too often hold people back from their creative confidence.

  Fear of the Messy Unknown

  It’s an understatement to describe venturing into new territory as uncomfortable. The truth is that venturing down a new path is stressful—whether developing a new product, exploring a new line of business, or pursuing a new career. The unknown is messy and often painful.

  Gone is the certainty (real or imagined) of “business as usual.” When you’re in pursuit of something new, whatever thrill existed of the unknown fades and you’re left with uncertainty, stumbling down dead ends and making mistakes.

  Fear of Being Judged

  This is something we’ve feared since we were kids—being judged. We’re afraid of not knowing the answer, failing or fumbling—and looking foolish as a result. We’ve taken those experiences of criticism and internalized them to the extent that we can imagine the criticism before we’ve even made an attempt. And the fear stops us.

  Fear of the First Step

  It’s easy to delay getting started. For one thing, things aren’t fully planned out. What’s more, it’s easy to come up with a bunch of reasons as to why today is not the right day to get started.

  Fear of Losing Control

  When we apply our creativity to a new venture—when we take a creative leap, or try something new—things get messy. The new work feels disordered. The new process seems haphazard. By comparison, what we used to do seemed well-ordered and provided the feeling of something we could control. The customer, offering, and means of measuring success were understood. But when we’re creating something new, the instability is palpable.

  So, the question becomes, how do we overcome those fears that are inhibiting or arresting our creative confidence?

  Well, that brings us back to ophidiophobia and Professor Al Bandura of Stanford University. Professor Bandura is regarded as one of the greatest figures in psychology for his work related to social cognitive theory and self-efficacy. He’s a frequently cited psychologist and one of the most influential psychologists of all time. And he is able to take people who were completely terrified at the thought of a snake and help them become comfortable handling a live one within just hours.

  One of the therapy factors in helping people overcome their fear of snakes was by simply having them observe other people with ophidiophobia who had become comfortable handling snakes. The patients in treatment internalized the information that if others like them handled snakes with no ill effects, then they could do the same. Bandura found that these observations were more effective in treating the phobias than persuasion and observing the psychologist handle the snakes.

  In addition, Bandura also had his patients imitate and model this behavior. More important, Professor Bandura has shown how the same techniques of observing others, imitating, and modeling can be used to overcome essentially any fear. Even those fears holding you back from doing your best creative and entrepreneurial work.

  So, how does the work of this preeminent psychologist apply to building your creative confidence? We can start by recognizing what fear might be holding us back from applying our creativity—whether it’s the fear of the unknown, being judged, taking that first step, or losing control. And then we observe others who overcame those same fears, imitating their behaviors and modeling their processes.

  In fact, what we fear is likely indicating exactly what we should be working on overcoming. After all, the future is ahead—in those unchartered and unknown territories.

  Nobody said it better than Tom and Dave Kelley of IDEO: “Don’t get ready, get started!” Getting started is probably why vaudeville comedian W. C. Fields said, “I like to keep a bottle of stimulant handy in case I see a snake, which I also keep handy.”

  How to Die Broke and Not Broken

  Here are two absolutely true stories of two different people. I know which one you’d want to be. While at one point, their stories are somewhat similar, their paths markedly diverge in dramatic contrast. One person finishes life as a multibillionaire. The other person has steered his life into a rapid economic decline. You want to be the one who experienced the rapid economic decline.

  Adolph Merkel was born into a wealthy German family and proved to be a force of nature in the business world. He took over his family’s already sizable chemical business and applied his business acumen to transforming it into the country’s largest pharmaceutical wholesaler called Phoenix Pharmahandel. He didn’t stop there.

  He then founded Germany’s first generic pharmaceutical company and later went on to invest in diverse businesses, including construction materials and manufacturing. In 2007, he was a successful businessman, a husband, a father of four grown children, and one of the wealthiest people in the world with what Forbes Magazine estimated at $12.8 billion.

  In the following year, some poorly timed investments resulted in his wealth declining to about $9 billion. Although still one of the top 100 richest people in the entire world, the losses were devastating to Adolf Merkel. A couple of weeks after Christmas 2009, he committed suicide by throwing himself in front of a train near his home.

  The other story is about Chuck Feeney. Chuck Feeney was an American college student at Cornell. With one of his classmates, and soon-to-be business partner, he came upon the idea of selling duty-free products to service personnel in Asia. They started selling liquor, but quickly added other items and eventually branched into including luxury products. If you’ve been in an airport, you’ve certainly seen (and probably been to) one of his duty-free stores.

  Feeney was born during the Depression and has always been frugal and low-maintenance. Despite having a global business, Feeney flew economy class, never owned a car, and lived in a rented apartment. Going out to a restaurant for fine dining meant sitting at Tommy Makem’s Irish Pavilion on East 57th Street in New York City and eating a hamburger.

  He’s married to a lovely wife, has five grown children, and oh, by the way, a net worth of $8 billion dollars. Well, actually, he did have a net worth of $8 billion. In 1982, he decided to give it all away. By 2016, Feeney accomplished exactly that. Chuck Feeney gave away his entire fortune and he did so anonymously.

  Because of his secrecy and success and charm (I’m guessing at charm, because it’s probably impossible to be that unbelievably kind and generous without being one of the most charming humans in world), Feeney has been called the “James Bond of philanthropy.” TIME magazine said that, “Feeney’s beneficence ranks among the grandest of any living American.”58

  Adolph Merkel was worth $9 billion dollars when he took his own life. Chuck Feeney was worth $8 billion when he decided to give it all away.

  These events bring to mind Francis Bacon’s comment that “Money is a great servant but a bad master.” My guess is Chuck Feeney understands that too.

  The Product Roadmap of You

  Let’s say you started here. A frail, chronically sick kid, with continuous coughs, frequent colds, bouts of fevers, diarrhea. Asthma so bad, at times your family fears it’ll be fatal. Sometimes it feels like you’re being suffocated with a pillow pushed over your face. Then, when you’re about 12 years old, a doctor advises your parents that getting fresh air and exercise would be go
od for you, as physical conditioning will help strengthen your weak and damaged lungs.

  So, your dad (or mom) tells you, “You have the mind but not the body, and without the help of the body the mind cannot go as far as it should. I am giving you the tools, but it is up to you to make your body.” You’re 12. What plans would you make? What course would you maintain?

  A roadmap for business growth and product development is an essential part of today’s world. It’s basically a plan for how and when the short-term goals will be accomplished, how these align and fit with the longer-term objectives. Of course, it’s not expected that completing a roadmap will result in an exact forecast of future events or an immutable blueprint, but it is, nonetheless, an important exercise in planning a successful way forward.

  Where a business is concerned, the roadmap considers how the guiding strategies might evolve to meet anticipated market changes, or what business development efforts should be pursued to maintain competitiveness and grow. Where product development is concerned, the roadmap provides the plan as to how the offering will evolve, segment into new markets, and expand with line extensions. It represents the thinking toward future success and anticipates a changing environment—whether those changes are economic, political, competitive, technological, or social.

  Simply, a roadmap is a plan to get from point A to point B. It’s real-world stuff, so the roadmap should be regularly revisited and revised as necessary. A roadmap is what allowed Walmart to go from one store and several employees in 1962 to 11,718 stores and 2.3 million employees in 2017.

  A roadmap is what grew Coca-Cola from serving its first drink in 1886 to a company with over 3,500 different beverages. As for the Coca-Cola drink—as the company notes in its history, “If all the Coca-Cola ever produced were in 8-ounce contour bottles, and these bottles were laid end to end, they would reach to the moon and back 2,051 times. That is one round trip per day for five years, seven months and 14 days.”59

  A roadmap is what Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and the leadership team use to guide the focus on better serving customers, expanding into new products, and increasing operational efficiencies. Amazon began in 1995 as an e-commerce company selling books. There was a bell in the office that would ring whenever an order came in. It was removed after just a few weeks because it was ringing continuously. In 2017, Amazon accounts for over 40 percent of all online sales, uses 45,000 robots across its fulfillment centers, and sells what seems like everything!

  No company or product should be without a roadmap that considers the big picture, the growth strategy, the initiatives to meet market demands, the plans for product capabilities, and how to add greater value to its customers. But, what about you? What’s your roadmap?

  When the 12-year-old boy was told by his dad, “It is up to you to make your body,” Theodore Roosevelt immediately responded, “I will make my body.” And so young Teddy began a disciplined and consistent effort of engaging in strenuous, physical activity every day. He would exercise in the gym and go for long hikes in the mountains. He took up weight lifting and boxing. Similar to a business or product roadmap, Roosevelt took himself on a journey of growth and improvement. As with any roadmap, it was replete with revisions, setbacks, and difficulties.

  While there aren’t many organizations today that operate their business or product lines without a roadmap, my guess is the majority of people forgo having one for themselves. That’s a mistake.

  In the case of Theodore Roosevelt, he grew strong and went on to accomplish great things.

  Became the youngest US president to date, at age 42

  Was awarded (posthumously) a Congressional Medal of Honor

  Established national parks and created the US Forest Service

  Championed the Panama Canal

  Passed workmen’s compensation laws

  Won the Nobel Peace Prize

  Nobody would suggest a product roadmap guarantees success (or that your likeness will be carved onto Mount Rushmore), but it is a useful guide in charting your course.

  Like Roosevelt said, “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”

  What Your Tomorrow Should Feel Like

  He was hoping to be dead by Christmas. My heart sank when he told me this. We’d never met in person. He told me this over the phone about a year ago. I’ve been discouraged before, but couldn’t imagine what he must have been feeling.

  He had a successful business, but he explained personal disappointments in other areas of his life piled up, and at some point the tangle of setbacks turned into despair. And over time the unabated despair made a dive toward hopelessness. Everything grew heavy. He lost interest in moving forward. He lost interest in a tomorrow.

  I listened and urged him to see a counselor and a doctor. Sometimes we need help to get back on track. Whatever help it takes … I’m all for that.

  Occasionally inspiration works. It’s a reminder of the promise and possibility in tomorrow, and in the days after tomorrow.

  Bill Murray, comedian and Academy Award Best Actor nominee, tells the story of how a painting helped save his life, or at least got him thinking in the right direction. It was early in his career and after a first experience acting, he walked out of the theatre disappointed with his terrible performance.

  “I was so bad that I just walked out afterward and onto the street. I kept walking for a couple of hours. Then I realized that I walked in the wrong direction and not in just the wrong direction from where I lived, but in the desire to stay alive… . I ended up in front of the Art Institute and walked inside. There was a painting of a woman working in a field with a sunrise behind her. I always loved that painting.”60

  The painting was done by the artist Jules Breton in 1884. It is of a young, peasant woman in a field. She’s gazing into the distance, as she listens to the songbird. The sun is just starting to rise in the background, bringing a warm glow to the field and her face.

  Bill explains what he saw in the painting. “Look, there’s a girl without a lot of prospects, but the sun’s coming up and she’s got another chance at it… . I said ‘I’m a person, too, and will get another chance every single day.”

  “Don’t think about your errors or failures;

  otherwise, you’ll never do a thing.”

  —Bill Murray

  Acknowledgments

  A heartfelt thank you to the many wonderful people with whom I’ve worked over the years. You’ve inspired and informed my thinking as to what it means to do good work.

  A special thank you to the folks and friends whose deep knowledge and patient explanations have made the book richer and me a better person: Mary Ann Badalli, Bill Briggs, Victor Cascella, Stephen Chakwin, Richard D’Aveni, Peter DiGasbarro, Esther Dyson, Anders Ericsson, Don Farrell, Robin Freedman, Linda Ginzel, Kartik Hosanagar, Earl Miller, Frank Musorrafiti, Graeme Newell, Carl Nordgren, Stan Phelps, Tom Salisbury, Robert Schock, Patrick Schruben, John Sculley, Marshall Ulrich, and Doug Vaughan. And, of course, to my mom and dad.

  A sincere thank you to Joni Wilson for your editing prowess and to Kerry Ellis for your cover and interior creative design.

  And I could not be more thankful for my family and for your support during my ultraruns (where admittedly CREW sometimes is an acronym for “Crabby Runner, Endless Waiting”).

  Thank You

  A sincere thank you for reading my book. If you enjoyed it, please pass it along and kindly take a minute to leave me a review.

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  About the Author

  Thomas Triumph helps companies grow by collaboratively helping them reinvent their business, product development, and marketing. Along the way he’s helped large organizations act nimbly and small companies scale.

  He’s been a p
articipant in two technology revolutions—less invasive surgery and software—and has been part of some remarkable success stories (and some misfires).

  He fulfilled a childhood dream of living aboard an ocean research ship and tending to the mini-sub (Cousteau was on the Board), wrestled in the Olympic trials, and helped oversee the design and fabrication of the largest composite hovercraft ever built in the US. He resides in North Carolina and is an ultrarunner who envies Tom Hanks’ long run as Forrest Gump.

  Notes

  This Is Your Secret Superpower

  Thanks to Ed Brubaker, author of Batman. >

  Ten Ways to Rewire Your Brain

  “Temporal and Spatial Dynamics of Brain Structure Changes during Extensive Learning.” Journal of Neuroscience. June 7, 2006. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16763039 >

  “Eight Weeks to a Better Brain.” The Harvard Gazette. January 21, 2011. https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2011/01/eight-weeks-to-a-better-brain/ >

  “How Much Do We Love TV? Let Us Count the Ways.” The New York Times. June 30, 2016. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/01/business/media/nielsen-survey-media-viewing.html >

  See Alive Inside trailer at https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2593392/videoplayer/vi2662247449?ref_=tt_ov_vi >

  Thoughts on Life and Happiness

  Bob Fronterhouse. The Liberal Leanings of the Liberating Lamb. Lulu Publishing. 2016. >

  Rules for Creating Your Future (from a Rock Guitarist)

  “Soft Skills, Hard Questions.” Drucker Institute. November 11, 2013. http://www.druckerinstitute.com/2013/11/soft-skills-hard-questions/>

  Steve Vai interviewed by Justin Sandercoe. February 25, 2013. http://how-do-you-play-guitar.com/?p=513 >