Making Great Ideas Scale, with John List

This week I am joined on The Brainy Business podcast by John List to talk about his new book, The Voltage Effect: How To Make Good Ideas Great and Great Ideas Scale (which you maybe already saw was Tuesday's book of the week).

John is the former chief economist at Uber and current chief economist at Lyft, in addition to the classes he teaches at the University of Chicago. I love this conversation and all its insights, and one that has really been resonating with me is the importance of trying to unravel the sweater before it unravels you. 

When we look at our own ideas, we want to gloss over their flaws and look at all the best parts. When we notice a string hanging out of the sweater, the instinct is to tuck it in and hope no one notices. But, as John says, you need to pull at that string and see if it is a big problem before you get too far down the line. You might be able to fix it before it fixes you. And, if it is too big of a problem, you can pivot before you have invested too much time and money.

Learn more about this and the other four vital signs every idea needs to scale in episode 190 of The Brainy Business podcast and, of course, in John's new book, The Voltage Effect, which is available now!

When have you experienced the "sweater problem" in your life or business?