Daily Inspiration: “Think big. Act small!”

“Think big. Act small!” – Futurist  Jim Carroll

We are in the era of big thinking, yet a lot of people have a small outlook. You need to flip that around. Conversely, at the same time that you think BIG, you will often need to act small simply to get things done. That’s because BIG involves bureaucracy, organizational sclerosis, ponderous actions. Small gives you speed, agility, flexibility. With that in mind, there is power in acting small. Here’s a list of things you should do if you are too big to succeed: — do small projects: too many innovation efforts get bogged down, bloated, and blow up due to big scope and size! — celebrate small wins : not every innovation effort needs to be a home run — learn from small failures: I love the phrase fail early, fail often, fail fast; you can do that better if your project is small — scatter your team for small exploration: there is so much going on in so many industries that is so tiny but has huge implications, you’ve simply got to let your people explore! — reframe the idea of small: put into perspective how small changes can have a big impact — look for small winners: for example, there are tremendous innovations in manufacturing concepts with small manufacturers — learn from them! — give a small bit: in an era of open collaboration and global insight, giving back some R&D can be a good thing — seek small heroes: in the global economy, there is probably a small 1 or 2 person company who is doing exactly the cool, innovate thing you need. Find them! — establish small decision groups: destroy committees; if there has to be one to make a decision, limit it to 1 or 2 or 3 people. — focus on the power of small: one person can change a company, an industry, a country, a world!