Safi Bahcall is a second-generation physicist (the son of two astrophysicists), a biotech entrepreneur, and former public-company CEO.He received his BA summa cum laude from Harvard and his PhD in physics from Stanford, where he worked with Lenny Susskind in particle physics (the science of the small) and the Nobel laureate Bob Laughlin in condensed matter physics (the science of the many). He was a Miller Fellow in physics at UC Berkeley (the school of the many). After working for three years as a consultant for McKinsey, Safi co-founded a biotechnology company developing new drugs for cancer. 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 President Obama’s council of science advisors (PCAST) on the future of national research. Loonshots, Safi’s first book, has been translated into 18 languages; recommended by Bill Gates, three Nobel laureates, Adam Grant, Malcolm Gladwell, and Tim Ferriss; and selected as a best business book of the year by Amazon, Bloomberg, Financial Times, Forbes, Inc., Newsweek, Strategy + Business, Tech Crunch, and the Washington Post. It was the #1 most recommended book of the year in Bloomberg’s annual survey of CEOs and entrepreneurs.

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  • Loonshot – A neglected project, widely dismissed, its champion written off as unhinged.
  • “How Not To Fight A War” — In the high-stakes competition between weapons and counter weapons, the weak link was not the supply of new ideas. It was the transfer of those ideas to the field. Transfer requires trust and respect on both sides.
  • The Bush-Vail Rules
    • Separate the phases — separate your artists and soldiers
    • Tailor the tools to the phase
    • Love your artists and soldiers equally
    • Manage the transfer, not the technology
  • The 5 Laws of Loonshots
    • the First Law: Expect the Three Deaths.
    • the Second Law: Mind the False Fail
    • the Third Law: Listen to the Suck with Curiosity (LSC)
    • the Fourth Law: Forget culture; create an innovative structure.
    • the Fifth and final Law: Be a gardener, not a Moses.
  • The job of the leader is to mind the system and not manage the process of innovation. This requires developing a systems mindset within your teams, where you examine not just the quality of the outcomes but also the quality of your decisions (ex: Retros on why we decided to do x) Note: this level of systems thinking is not just applicable to failures but also to succeed.  Safi advocates that leaders keep asking why the organization made the choices that it did and how the decision-making process can be improved.
  • “Just because a theory might be a bit wacky, however, doesn’t mean there isn’t something to the observation.”
  • Artists: Quantity of ideas. Take intelligent risks.
  • Soldiers: Focused on minimizing risks. For customers – on time and on spec.
    • The leader must love the artists and soldiers equally
  • In company meetings, always highlight one or two people from each division
  • The Keith Richards structure – The Rolling Stones
    • Tape recorder next to his pillow
    • In the AM, he would listen for 30 seconds… Then wrote, “I can’t get no satisfaction.”
  • Create a structure that works for you
  • Apply to be part of my Leadership Circle

Resources:

More Learning:

Episode 078: Kat Cole – From Hooters Waitress To President of Cinnabon

Episode 216: Jim Collins — How To Go From Good To Great

Episode #303:  General Stanley McChrystal – The New Definition Of Leadership

Episode #413: Brook Cupps – Tough, Passionate, Unified, & Thankful

You can watch this conversation on YouTube. Subscribe!

FORBES recently called WELCOME TO MANAGEMENT, “the best leadership book of 2020.”

Be part of “Mindful Monday” — Text LEARNERS to 44222

Subscribe on iTunes  or Stitcher Radio

The Learning Leader Show

  • Human beings need three basic things in order to be content: they need to feel competent at what they do; they need to feel authentic in their lives, and they need to feel connected to others.
  • Definition of Freedom: “We walked 400 miles, and most nights we were the only people who knew where we were. There are many definitions of freedom, but surely that’s one of them.”
  • Running a company versus LEADING a company — “You can run a company or lead a company. If you want to lead a company, you have to make sure that when things take a downturn, as the leader you’ll be the first to experience the downside. Before jobs get cut, you’ll take a pay cut, you will suffer with the people you lead.” One great example of this is Chobani founder Hamdi Ulukaya. All employees are part owners of the company. He comes from a family of Nomadic Sheep farmers from the Turkish mountains. He learned a collective approach to life and work where he grew up.
  • “When people are actively engaged in a cause their lives have more purpose… with a resulting improvement in mental health.”
  • How becoming a dad (at age 55) changed his life: “they are the point of life.”
  • Sebastian’s dad was a refugee from two wars… War has had a significant impact on his life.
  • As Sebastian grew up, he decided he wanted to be a journalist and cover wars. He went to the Civil war in Bosnia.
  • Guts – “Most scary things are more frightening before you go. I have a formidable capacity for denial.”
  • People want to feel like they have agency. They’re more scared when they feel that they don’t have it.
    • Front line vs backline soldiers – The backline soldiers are scared because they feel like they don’t have as much agency as the front line (even though the front line is more dangerous). Uncertainty is scary.
  • To help with fear, go in front of your mirror and make the “fear grimace” face…
  • When Sebastian was competing in track events for the 1500m race, he would yawn in the faces of his opponents to intimidate them
  • Freedom – We aren’t subject to the whims of the largest male in a group anymore… You remain free by being mobile
  • He organized his new book, Freedom, in three parts: Run — Fight — Think
  • Sebastian went on a walking trip and called it, “The Last Patrol.” – They walked on a railroad from Washington DC to Philadelphia and then Pittsburgh
    • “Met America from inside-out”
  • What did he think about at night when he went to sleep outside during “The Last Patrol?”
    • “Always thought safety first.” “The most meaningful experiences happen when I’m physically dirty and security wasn’t guaranteed.”
  • How to help your children push their edges?
    • “We traveled to Liberia with our daughter.”
    • “The core value children value is closeness. We sleep on a mattress on the floor with our daughters. They want to be close.”
  • Collaboration/Working together — Football and the military. The football locker room is a beautiful place. It’s democratic. People join from diverse backgrounds. And create a common goal. A theme of collaboration. A “we can’t win games without each other.” And when it comes together it’s a magical feeling. 
    • There must be a core commitment to the group. “Being ego-driven is an emotional burden.”
  • Commonalities of leaders who sustain excellence:
    • Principle driven – In politics, democracy should be #1
    • Sacrifice own interest for the group
  • Life/Career Advice — FAIL. If you’re only doing things you know you can do then you’re never near your limits. In order to grow, you have to push those limits. And sometimes that means you’ll fail. That’s ok.
  • Apply to be part of my Leadership Circle

Resources:

More Learning:

Episode 078: Kat Cole – From Hooters Waitress To President of Cinnabon

Episode 216: Jim Collins — How To Go From Good To Great

Episode #303:  General Stanley McChrystal – The New Definition Of Leadership

Episode #413: Brook Cupps – Tough, Passionate, Unified, & Thankful