Overview of Shane Snow's Smartcuts

1. Book Review #2
Ryan Dekmar
Marketing Analytics
Spring 2015

2. Despite leaps in what
we can do, most of us
still follow comfortable,
pre-prescribed paths.

3. “Lateral thinking doesn’t replace hard
work; it eliminates unnecessary cycles.”
“New ideas emerge when you question the
assumptions upon which a problem is based”

4. Traditional paths are no longer
longer viable if we want to
compete and innovate .
Climbing the ladder(of “success”) gives experience, but
does not necessarily result in good leaders/outcomes.

5. I now know how
to hack the
ladder...
How do I get
good enough to
deserve to keep
climbing?

6. —not experience— is the single biggest predictor of
business and personal success.

7. Get a mentor - not just a teacher, but someone
who’s traveled the road themselves.

8. Build an organic bond with a mentor who can guide your journey;
in-person or long distance
Vulnerability opens up trust.
Allows for the critical details the mentee needs to hear.

9. Fail often - but don’t
explain away the failure
Fail fast, fail often - perform
rapid/incremental experiments
for feedback.

10. Platforms are tools and environments that let us build off of
the work of others
Creative problem solving is more valuable than
computational skill.

11. There are two ways to catch a trend: exhausting hard work—
paddling— and pattern recognition— spotting a wave early and
casually drifting to the sweet spot.
The idea is to
constantly tinker with
potential trends; learn
from the pioneers;
understand where the
biggest wave will occur

12. Become a
superconnector,
then continue to
help people.
Give and Teach
Find a
medium
that
connects
you to the
important
contacts.

13. “build up potential energy , so that
unexpected opportunities can be
amplified” - and continued
Manufacture and harness momentum

14. Doing something differently is sometimes through simplification
Doing something differently is sometimes through simplification
Disruptive innovation
Zero in on what matters
Creativity comes easier with constraints
=

15. Instead of trying to get on base— or even aiming for a
home run— try to hit the ball into the next town.
Such a goal requires you to think radically different.
We’re less likely to perform at our peak potential when
we’re reaching for low-hanging fruit.