Unleashing big ideas can be a thrilling yet daunting task. Avoiding the dreaded Museum of Failure requires a strategic approach. Let's delve into the art of rolling out grand concepts, sidestepping pitfalls, and turning visions into successful realities.
In 1996, McDonald’s released the Arch Deluxe hamburger, a product that was supposed to reverse their decline by appealing to an older, more mature demographic
The focus groups showed that adults liked the burger, so the company invested a lot of money in rolling it out nationwide
- However, almost as soon as the burger was launched nationwide, sales began to plummet
- Within a year of the burger being launched, the company began phasing it out, and the CEO resigned
The New Science Of Scaling
John List, who headed the University of Chicago economics department for six years, and served as the chief economist of Uber and Lyft, is one of the leading minds in modern empirical economics
- His research has focused on creating really cool experiments in the real world to answer fascinating questions
- Why do people donate to charity and how can you influence them to give more?
- How can we nudge businesses to pay their taxes
- And do people actually behave the way classic economic theory says they do?
The Five Vital Signs To Look Out For When Scaling
Watching out for “false positives” – when an idea an organization wants to scale may look promising, but, if they rigorously test it, they will see that the idea is bogus.
- Considering whether you’re “misjudging the representativeness of an initial population or situation.”
- Evaluating “whether your initial success depends on unscalable ingredients.”
- Looking out for “spillovers” – more broadly, unintended consequences such as Uber’s attempt to raise the incomes of its drivers by increasing its base fares.
