If you break the small system, you can build a big system.
Editor’s note: This article is from WeChat public account “Chaotic University” (ID: hundun -university), author Li Shanyou.
In the original system, your mental model has been automated. To break it, you need imagination, you need curiosity, and you need super logical thought experiments.
——李善友
Generally speaking, we are used to solving problems within the boundaries.
But, do not break, you can only build a big system by breaking a small system.
If you only think about problems within the boundaries, you will never be able to touch that wonderful point, just as a person can never pull his own hair and pull himself up.
So, I will provide you with the solution today. A solution or a thinking model is to help you solve problems outside the boundaries, ie—
Breakthrough Innovation Trilogy
First step:Break the implicit assumptions.
What is an implicit hypothesis? After you have lived in a system for a long time, you have forgotten that there is a foundation below it.
You think it is set up in all corners of the country, borderless, but you forgot the foundation.
So, to learn to realize that there is such a boundary, then find it and break it, this is the first step.
Step 2:Refactoring the cornerstone assumption.
Any system must have a foundation, that foundation, we name it the cornerstone hypothesis. Refactoring is to redefine the cornerstone assumptions of this system.
Step 3:See the first principle.
Overall, which step is the hardest part here? first step. Because people have lived in a system for a long time, 70% of their mental models have been automated, you may not know at all, so the firstOne step is especially difficult.
From the second step to the third step, it is relatively easy. As long as you learn the way of axiomatic thinking, you can always introduce the principle of first principles.
Example:
Newton’s Breaking Innovation
Newton’s view of the world before the West, It is Aristotle’s teleological worldview. He believes that the earth’s material is composed of earth elements. The earth elements naturally have a tendency to move and move toward the center of the universe. Then in that era, who is the center of the universe? Earth.
So, the object will fall from top to bottom, not because the earth has some force on it, but because it wants to move to the center of the universe.
This explanation, you sound ridiculous today, but in that era, this explanation was very strong.
In about 1700, the entire West used Aristotle’s teleology to explain all movements and changes. That is, its root is to explain all movements with elemental terms.
Until who started to doubt it? Copernicus began to doubt him, and then Galileo did a lot of experiments, but also suspected him, and the person who eventually overthrew him was Newton.
Newton began to question why earth elements need to move in? You didn’t explain why it has this property.
So, Newton’s first step was to break the implicit hypothesis of earth elements, and then the entire Aristotle teleological worldview collapsed.
After the crash, Newton wanted to build his own worldview, but he did not start from the details, he focused on the more fundamental assumptions, namely gravity and inertia. He said that the reason why the object fell because the earth is gravitational to it has formed a new cornerstone hypothesis.
Why do you think it doesn’t matter today? It’s because today’s default has existed, and you don’t think it matters. Just like you live in the air and the sun every day, you don’t think it matters, it is the same. What has it turned into what we are today? Implicit assumptions. This is the second step.
After having it, the third step, Newton’s mechanistic theory was born.
You see, in just three steps, I will explain this history clearly. You may think that I am oversimplified, but you have to know that it is very important to simplify this matter, and you must learn to throw away the details.
As Einstein said, I am only interested in the idea of how God created this universe. As for other details, I don’t care. Then he said that the idea of the universe created by God, I believe, was finished with a piece of paper.
This is enough simplicity, you can appreciate it.
Business Case:The History of Computer Industry Breakthrough Innovation
The difficulty of breaking the boundaries of innovation is to discover and break the implicit assumptions. Because in the original system, your mental model has been automated, to break it, require imagination, need curiosity, need super logical thinking Experiments and so on.
In fact, every business giant has its own implicit assumptions and constitutes the career boundary of the giants. That is to say, you should not go to the border to compete with the giants, but to compete with the giants outside the border, because the giants will be locked in the border by the border.
The business world, how to achieve breakthrough innovation, let’s look at some examples.
Who is the earliest inventor of computers? IBM? No, it is Univac.
Why did Univac invent the computer at the time? It is used by the military and then used by universities and research institutions. So Univac is very proud, he has an implicit hypothesis by default –
The sacred things like computers can only be used for scientific research. No interest in the corporate market.
Afterwards, competitor IBM appeared. In fact, its products were first used by scientific research institutions, but the technology is not as good as Univac, but it found that the enterprise market also needs computers, so propose a new cornerstone hypothesis –
The corporate market is a huge emerging market.
In order to adapt its computer to the enterprise market, IBM even abandoned its original architecture and switched to the Univac architecture, because the Univac architecture is more suitable for financial work, and it has a single factor to maximize, Univac’s price is at least One million dollars, while IBM is $100,000.
Results?
As summarized in an article, 10 years later,Univac still has the best performing computer in the world, ButIBM But has the entire computer market. In other words, the number of commercial computers is far greater than the number of scientific research machines.
Let’s review the whole process:
The first step is to break the implicit assumption that IBM challenges computers to be used only in research markets.
The second step is to refactor the cornerstone assumptions of the enterprise market.
The third step is to see the first principle. If you want to be suitable for the commercial market, you need a new architecture that is suitable for the commercial market, right? I can do it with my competitors. Once it is determined, the other implementation will be fine.
That is to say, the most difficult thing is to break the implicit assumption and establish a new cornerstone hypothesis. Other things are only the implementation level. My architecture is not suitable, I use your architecture, it is not a matter of principle. Is it a matter of principle? The commercial market is a matter of principle.
Next, IBM’s market share reached 55% and its net profit margin reached 80%.
So at that time, any company was positive to IBM There is no hope of success if the challenge is directly launched. But does IBM have a border? What is its most important boundary? ——
Customers need more Faster computer.
At this time, DEC invented the minicomputer. Small in size and cheap in price, suitable for small companies and departments of large companies.
So, although the minicomputer just came out, the performance is not as good as the mainframe, but it is convenient and cheap. When the unit price is the lowest, it is only 12,000 US dollars. Small companies can buy, and big companies can buy several. DEC has developed very rapidly.
In 1986, McKinsey wrote a DEC for DEC This book, called “The Pursuit of Excellence,” describes it as saying –
DEC is like a high-speed train, and it competes with it. The $7.6 billion computer maker is still accelerating when most of its competitors are mired in the decline of the computer industry.
© Tom Peters, “The pursuit of excellence” (1986)
However, there is still a joke in the industry, saying, please don’t askMcKinsey helps you to make a biography. On the one hand, it is your biography, and on the other hand, what is yours? epitaph.
What happened later?
The PC is out! DEC missed the opportunity of a personal computer, and it was four times and passed back four times.
Imagine, The power of the original value network is like a black hole. You are gone, and you are back. Do you think about the Nokia function machine and the smart machine, is it the same reason?
At that time, the implicit assumption of DEC was that computers could only be used in commercial organizations, what computer do you personally use?
In 1977, the founder of DEC said this, I don’t think there is any reason to have a computer at home. Computers are used by companies, businesses, and computers at home.
And 20 years ago Univac said, you What do these businessmen do with computers, and computers should be used by research institutions exactly the same.
The image of history has been changing, and the rhythm behind history has not changed.
At this time, the new Gemini is Jobs and Gates. They both believe that everyone, every family, should have a personal computer.
We are familiar with this sentence today, but when you return to that time, this is a hypothetical assumption.
Moreover, this computer has a ten-fold better element, and the unit price has dropped to $1,295. $12,000, it’s really expensive to buy at home, but a lot of families can afford it for a thousand dollars.
So, sum up, you will find that The single single element of the entire conversion process is cost. In fact, like Musk, to solve any problem, the core indicator is also cost, very interesting.
Last,This is the real highlight moment
There is a book called “proof of Darwin” (Author: Gregory • Tsai Ting Gregory Chaitin). It divides mathematicians into two categories, one is called a problem solver, and the other is called a theorist. What is a problem solver? Problem solvingHome is to solve a problem that is considered to be impossible to solve. You have solved it. This may be the moment of the highest light in your life. Another type is called a theorist. The most glorious moment in the life of a theorist is not to solve a problem, but to propose a new theory.
The next sentence is Beautiful Amazing, I hope to touch it into your heart–
The new theory does not solve any old problems, but makes the old problems themselves irrelevant.
This moment is the theorist’s highlight moment. Because I thought of it, I saw it.
Excuse me, from the perspective of the progress of history, the contribution of the solver is great, or is the contribution of the theorist? Or, to solve the problem of the fine details in the existing system, is it more important to jump out of the system to break the original cornerstone assumption?
Be sure to touch the second kind of wonderful taste.
Similarly, we can analogize again, the first type of entrepreneurs, we can be called regular entrepreneurs, that is, based on solving the existing pain points or limit points, is to solve the problem; and another type of entrepreneurs, we can Name it Innovative Entrepreneur,.
Their method is breaking the boundaries of innovation, it does not solve the problem within the boundary, he is breaking this boundary.
For example, he said –
If you ask consumers what they need, he will answer the need for a faster carriage.
But Ford did not solve any problems with the carriage, but the issue of the carriage became irrelevant.
For example, Musk did not solve any problems with traditional fuel vehicles, but it made the problem of the traditional car itself irrelevant.
There are very few such people, but once they are made, the boundaries of the business will be broadened to an exponential level.
In other words, Breakthrough innovation does not attempt to solve the limit problem of the original system, but makes the problem of the original system itself irrelevant.
In short, to achieve breakthrough innovation, the focus is not on the boundary, but outside the boundary, you can’t catch anything outside the border. I will give you a grip, and any boundary is based on an implicit assumption. Above, that thing (implicit assumption) is your grip.
So, once again, the cognitive boundary of a company’s founder is the real boundary of the company. I hope that you can change the direction of a kind of thinking, from the outside to the inside, from the surface to the deep.
In addition, regarding the breaking of innovation, the following two points also require your special attention:
1 boundary is layer by layer. No one can break all the boundaries. If you break a boundary, it will actually be within a larger boundary. Therefore, it is recommended that you break in order, one layer.Play on one floor.
2 Breaking the boundaries of innovation is too powerful, so don’t use it easily. Because if you don’t learn to use it, it is very likely that the load-bearing wall of the business will be removed, and then it will be broken. Therefore, it is necessary to undergo repeated scientific training in order to use this way of thinking.