S8 E5: How Do We Nurture Loonshots? with Safi Bahcall

I am super excited to bring to you my conversation with Safi Bahcall. I haven't been this excited in a long time because Safi has just written this book called Loonshots: How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas that Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries.

His use of language and his use of innovation principals is second to none in this book especially because I think he comes at this from being an innovator for years and being an entrepreneur, and he comes at this from a very powerful perspective. It really impacted me and the people I've been sharing this book with.

He received his BA summa cum laude from Harvard and his PhD from Stanford. After working for three years as a consultant for McKinsey, he co-founded a biotechnology company developing new drugs for cancer (which led him to be profiled by Malcolm Gladwell in The New Yorker). He led its IPO and served as its CEO for 13 years. In 2008, he was named E&Y New England Biotechnology Entrepreneur of the Year. In 2011, he worked with the president's council of science advisors (PCAST) on the future of national research.

So, in this book, Safi explains how the past and what we learn from the past, has equal implications in the future. So we get into, what are the most common conversations he gets into with CEOs these days. CEOs and senior leaders that have read his book, they are calling him daily and they are asking: "How do we nurture loonshots?"

What You Will Learn From This Interview

• Why we won, and how we won WWII?”  
• The role Vannevar Bush played as he was the first CIO in the United States.  
• How China, India and Islam lost their world domination and supremacy – which had lasted 1,000 years. – How did they lose it? 
• Why good ideas die in organizations. 
• The difference between artists, soldiers and champions within organizations. 
• Inside a business – why you must separate artists and soldiers 
• Why do franchise business models (protecting your core business) often fail, and what you can do about it. 
• Why culture fixing is hard, but fixing structure is easier. 
• Why the word ‘Culture’ is such a limp amorphous word these days. 
• Why structure eats culture for lunch. 
• Understand what phase transitions and dynamic equilibrium are. 
• What is a Loonshot vs. a Moonshot? 
• How do you nurture Loonshots? 
• How do you lead an organization through Loonshot development as a manager and a gardener using balance and touch between groups. 

As I mentioned, I’m very excited about this interview and I hope you’ll enjoy my conversation with Safi Bahcall.

Read the Full Transcript Here

About Safi Bahcall

Safi Bahcall is a second-generation physicist (the son of two astrophysicists), a biotech entrepreneur, and the author of recently published, Loonshots: How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas that Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries.   

He received his BA summa cum laude from Harvard and his PhD from Stanford. After working for three years as a consultant for McKinsey, he co-founded a biotechnology company developing new drugs for cancer (which led him to be profiled by Malcolm Gladwell in The New Yorker). He led its IPO and served as its CEO for 13 years.  

In 2008, he was named E&Y New England Biotechnology Entrepreneur of the Year. In 2011, he worked with the president's council of science advisors (PCAST) on the future of national research.  

He lives with his wife and two children in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Loonshots is his first book.

 

Ways to connect with Safi Bahcall

• LinkedIn     
• Website   
• Twitter 
  
• Facebook

 

Key Resources + Links

Books: 

• Loonshots: How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas That Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries, by Safi Bahcall, 3/19/2019 

Articles on Blog: 

• Fish, Brains, and Human Nature: More on Structure vs. Culture, 4/29/2019 
• Why Structure Eats Culture for Lunch, 3/26/19 
• The Five Laws of Loonshots: The most important breakthroughs are the ones most likely to be shot down, LinkedIn Weekend Essay, 3/25/2019  
• The Innovation Equation, by Safi Bahcall, published in The Harvard Business Review, March-April, 2019 
• The Verge’s Angela Chen’s interview with Safi Bahcall, A physicist explains what the science of phase transitions can teach us about nurturing innovation – It’s all about structure, 3/22/2019 
• What has history taught us about world-changing ideas? Answer by Safi Bahcall, Biotech Entrepreneur and Author of Loonshots, on Quora, 3/18/2019. 
• What steps do I need to take to start my own Biotech company? Answer by Safi Bahcall, Biotech Entrepreneur and Author of Loonshots, on Quora, 3/15/2019. 

Videos on Blog: 

• Link to Safi’s Website video’s page: https://www.bahcall.com/videos/

This episode is sponsored by the CIO Innovation Insider Forum, dedicated to Business Digital Leaders who want to be a part of 20% of the planet and help their businesses win with innovation and transformation. 

 

Credits

 Outro Music provided by Ben’s Sound: http://www.bensound.com/

 

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About Bill Murphy

Bill Murphy is a world renowned IT Security Expert dedicated to your success as an IT business leader. 

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