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Mohrbooks Literary Agency
Sebastian Ritscher |
| Original language | |
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THE VOLTAGE EFFECT
How to Make Good Ideas Great and Gread Ideas Scale
John A. List, a leader in the field of behavioral economics, and consultant to Fortune 500 companies, non-profits, and startups, tackles scale and answers why some ideas make it big while others fail to take off. Renowned for his pioneering work in fieldwork economics, List brings in rich examples from his original research, and argues that it comes down to a single question: Can the idea scale?
All great ideas have one thing in common: They are not guaranteed to succeed. Be it a life-saving medical breakthrough, a new policy initiative, a cutting-edge product innovation or bold push for social change, translating an idea into widespread impact depends on one thing only: whether it can be replicated at scale.
"Scale" has become a favored buzzword in the startup world. But scale isn't about accumulating more users or capturing more market share. It's about whether an idea - or policy or product - that takes hold in a small group can do the same in a much larger one. Whether it's expanding your small business (or deciding not to), narrowing the national achievement gap, delivering billions of doses of a vaccine, or making a new technology widely affordable, scalability impacts us all.
While all successfully scaled ideas are alike, all unscalable ideas fail in their own way. To succeed, says University of Chicago economist John A. List, our idea must achieve "high voltage": a set of specific characteristics that predict its ability to scale. Drawing on his own original research - as well as fascinating examples from the realms of business, government, education, and public health - List reveals how to avoid voltage drops, and engineer voltage gains. For example:
- Is the early success of your idea a false positive?
- Is your initial audience representative of the larger population?
- Does success hinge on the "chef" (specialized talent), or the "ingredients" (the components of the idea itself)?
- Are you getting the most out of every last dollar you spend?
By employing this science-based playbook, we can drive change in our schools, communities, workplaces, and society at large. Because a better world is built at scale.
John A. List is the Kenneth C. Griffin Distinguished Service Professor in Economics at the University of Chicago. He has served on the Council of Economic Advisers and is the recipient of numerous awards and honors including the Kenneth Galbraith Award. His work has been featured in the New York Times, The Economist, Harvard Business Review, Fortune, NPR, Slate, NBC, Bloomberg, and The Washington Post. List has authored over 250 peer-reviewed journal articles, several academic books, and, with Uri Gneezy, the international bestseller The Why Axis (Public Affairs).
"Scale" has become a favored buzzword in the startup world. But scale isn't about accumulating more users or capturing more market share. It's about whether an idea - or policy or product - that takes hold in a small group can do the same in a much larger one. Whether it's expanding your small business (or deciding not to), narrowing the national achievement gap, delivering billions of doses of a vaccine, or making a new technology widely affordable, scalability impacts us all.
While all successfully scaled ideas are alike, all unscalable ideas fail in their own way. To succeed, says University of Chicago economist John A. List, our idea must achieve "high voltage": a set of specific characteristics that predict its ability to scale. Drawing on his own original research - as well as fascinating examples from the realms of business, government, education, and public health - List reveals how to avoid voltage drops, and engineer voltage gains. For example:
- Is the early success of your idea a false positive?
- Is your initial audience representative of the larger population?
- Does success hinge on the "chef" (specialized talent), or the "ingredients" (the components of the idea itself)?
- Are you getting the most out of every last dollar you spend?
By employing this science-based playbook, we can drive change in our schools, communities, workplaces, and society at large. Because a better world is built at scale.
John A. List is the Kenneth C. Griffin Distinguished Service Professor in Economics at the University of Chicago. He has served on the Council of Economic Advisers and is the recipient of numerous awards and honors including the Kenneth Galbraith Award. His work has been featured in the New York Times, The Economist, Harvard Business Review, Fortune, NPR, Slate, NBC, Bloomberg, and The Washington Post. List has authored over 250 peer-reviewed journal articles, several academic books, and, with Uri Gneezy, the international bestseller The Why Axis (Public Affairs).
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Published 2022-02-01 by Currency |