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The Creator's Code: The Six Essential Skills of Extraordinary Entrepreneurs
Based on in-depth interviews with more than 200 leading entrepreneurs, a lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business identifies the six essential disciplines needed to transform your ideas into real-world successes.
Each of us has the capacity to spot opportunities, invent products, and build businesses—even $100 million businesses.
How do some people turn ideas into enterprises that endure? Why do some people succeed when so many others fail? The Creator’s Code unlocks the six essential skills that turn small notions into big companies. This landmark book is based on 200 interviews with today’s leading entrepreneurs including the founders of LinkedIn, Chipotle, eBay, Under Armour, Tesla Motors, SpaceX, Spanx, Airbnb, PayPal, Jetblue, Gilt Groupe, Theranos, and Dropbox.
Over the course of five years, Amy Wilkinson conducted rigorous interviews and analyzed research across many different fields. From the creators of the companies ranging from Yelp to Chobani to Zipcar, she found that entrepreneurial success works in much the same way. Creators are not born with an innate ability to conceive and build $100 million enterprises. They work at it. They all share fundamental skills that can be learned, practiced, and passed on.
The Creator’s Code reveals six skills that make creators of all kinds of endeavors breakthrough. These skills aren’t rare gifts or slim chance talents. Entrepreneurship, Wilkinson demonstrates, is accessible to everyone.
Each of us has the capacity to spot opportunities, invent products, and build businesses—even $100 million businesses.
How do some people turn ideas into enterprises that endure? Why do some people succeed when so many others fail? The Creator’s Code unlocks the six essential skills that turn small notions into big companies. This landmark book is based on 200 interviews with today’s leading entrepreneurs including the founders of LinkedIn, Chipotle, eBay, Under Armour, Tesla Motors, SpaceX, Spanx, Airbnb, PayPal, Jetblue, Gilt Groupe, Theranos, and Dropbox.
Over the course of five years, Amy Wilkinson conducted rigorous interviews and analyzed research across many different fields. From the creators of the companies ranging from Yelp to Chobani to Zipcar, she found that entrepreneurial success works in much the same way. Creators are not born with an innate ability to conceive and build $100 million enterprises. They work at it. They all share fundamental skills that can be learned, practiced, and passed on.
The Creator’s Code reveals six skills that make creators of all kinds of endeavors breakthrough. These skills aren’t rare gifts or slim chance talents. Entrepreneurship, Wilkinson demonstrates, is accessible to everyone.
240 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 1, 2014
143 people are currently reading
2069 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 78 reviews
December 7, 2021
For The Creator's Code, Amy Wilkinson interviewed over 200 wildly successful entrepreneurs and narrowed down the skills that they used to create their businesses to an "essential" six.
These essentials are the keys to the "creator's code," she writes.
My favorite chapter from The Creator's Code is Chapter 5: Network Minds- Solve Problems Collectively. We've recently instituted some collaborative projects where I work and I'm excited to see this creative skill in action.
Also, I enjoyed the portion of the book where Wilkerson explored businesses trying to integrate computer games into the work day in order to encourage co-workers to help each other as well as to instill a sense of play into the creation process.
I wish that my library management system could be tweaked to do something like that. Imagine how fun that would be! Playing computer games in order to boost productivity.
In some ways, this book reminded me of Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich. He also interviewed hundreds of wealthy people to understand their mind set. However, unlike the New Age, positive thinking slant of Hill's work, Wilkinson relies on scientific studies as well as real world results.
Of the two approaches, I personally favor Napoleon Hill's, but readers of a more scientific mind-set might enjoy this book more.
While we're on the subject of read-alikes, I also read How to Fly a Horse: The Secret History of Creation, Invention, and Discovery by Kevin Ashton and it shared some of the stories from The Creator's Code.
It felt slightly repetitive because of this. Otherwise, I may have given The Creator's Code five stars instead of four. It felt like I was covering the same material. Despite this bookish deja vu, The Creator's Code is very well researched.
So, if you've already read the other book, don't be hesitant to pick this one up too. It was just not ground-breaking reading for me- my reviewer's bias, I suppose.
There are some differences between the two works: How to Fly a Horse focuses on the history of the creative process and uses that knowledge to encourage the average Joe to be creative today.
The Creator's Code has distilled the essential nature of creation and lists guidelines that can be used for success in business, art, science, whatever.
Though both encourage creation, Wilkinson gives actionable steps to take at the individual level whereas Ashton focuses more on the big picture.
If you enjoyed The Creator's Code, I highly recommend How to Fly a Horse by Kevin Ashton and Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. Both of these works share the themes of success in business through creativity exploration.
I received a free copy of this book through Goodreads First Reads. FTC guidelines: check!
These essentials are the keys to the "creator's code," she writes.
My favorite chapter from The Creator's Code is Chapter 5: Network Minds- Solve Problems Collectively. We've recently instituted some collaborative projects where I work and I'm excited to see this creative skill in action.
Also, I enjoyed the portion of the book where Wilkerson explored businesses trying to integrate computer games into the work day in order to encourage co-workers to help each other as well as to instill a sense of play into the creation process.
I wish that my library management system could be tweaked to do something like that. Imagine how fun that would be! Playing computer games in order to boost productivity.
In some ways, this book reminded me of Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich. He also interviewed hundreds of wealthy people to understand their mind set. However, unlike the New Age, positive thinking slant of Hill's work, Wilkinson relies on scientific studies as well as real world results.
Of the two approaches, I personally favor Napoleon Hill's, but readers of a more scientific mind-set might enjoy this book more.
While we're on the subject of read-alikes, I also read How to Fly a Horse: The Secret History of Creation, Invention, and Discovery by Kevin Ashton and it shared some of the stories from The Creator's Code.
It felt slightly repetitive because of this. Otherwise, I may have given The Creator's Code five stars instead of four. It felt like I was covering the same material. Despite this bookish deja vu, The Creator's Code is very well researched.
So, if you've already read the other book, don't be hesitant to pick this one up too. It was just not ground-breaking reading for me- my reviewer's bias, I suppose.
There are some differences between the two works: How to Fly a Horse focuses on the history of the creative process and uses that knowledge to encourage the average Joe to be creative today.
The Creator's Code has distilled the essential nature of creation and lists guidelines that can be used for success in business, art, science, whatever.
Though both encourage creation, Wilkinson gives actionable steps to take at the individual level whereas Ashton focuses more on the big picture.
If you enjoyed The Creator's Code, I highly recommend How to Fly a Horse by Kevin Ashton and Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. Both of these works share the themes of success in business through creativity exploration.
I received a free copy of this book through Goodreads First Reads. FTC guidelines: check!
July 20, 2016
Quick read, to the point, with plenty of relevant anecdotes.
March 26, 2015
A fine business history of specific entrepreneurs. The framework for the "code" is a nice summarization, but nothing ground breaking. The 4 stars is more for the freshness and diversity of the entrepreneur set, but also for the last section relating to small givings of time and effort and how that builds social capital. It seems obvious in hindsight, but comes off as fresh.
April 1, 2021
Some people dream of starting their own company, but few actually live those dreams. Too many dreamers wait for that perfect moment to launch their idea, but end up waiting forever.. This book may help.
March 18, 2017
Learn how to start a business, plus how to look out for problems to be solved in this book. It has a lot of anecdotes driving really basic, but commonly overlooked points. Perfect for any budding entrepreneurs.
January 11, 2018
Amy's voice is inspiring. She tells us that by learning the 6 essential skills, anyone can become an extraordinary entrepreneur. Her book is worth studying; not only does it contain multiple case studies, but it is deeply captivating.
The skills Amy found through 200 interviews with entrepreneurs that scaled their businesses to 100 million dollar in revenue in 5 years are:
1) Find the gap
2) Drive for daylight
3) Fly the OODA loop
4) Fail wisely
5) Network minds
6) Gift small goods
The skills Amy found through 200 interviews with entrepreneurs that scaled their businesses to 100 million dollar in revenue in 5 years are:
1) Find the gap
2) Drive for daylight
3) Fly the OODA loop
4) Fail wisely
5) Network minds
6) Gift small goods
July 31, 2025
Contains a lot of interesting information and insight on successful business people.
Find the method in which you will add value to society.
Balance LT and ST.
Be aware, pay close attention to what goes around you and how you respond to it.
You will fail. Be smart about how you do it.
Use the help you have.
Give back.
Find the method in which you will add value to society.
Balance LT and ST.
Be aware, pay close attention to what goes around you and how you respond to it.
You will fail. Be smart about how you do it.
Use the help you have.
Give back.
August 1, 2015
Mehhhhhhhh... If I'd actually read the explanation instead of just grabbing it off the library shelf, I probably wouldn't have read it. I don't really care what $100 million companies are doing well, because they so often come at the price of screwing everyone else in one way or another (as with many of the examples she uses). That aside, the books tenets are a big DUH and she focuses most of her energy on the stories of the individuals and far less on how you actually build the skills. The fail ratio was one of the only things I gleaned that struck a chord-- it's important to be reminded of these things as a perfectionist myself. Most of the book was repetitive as fuck and really not worth reading, but I did get a few good tips to consider.
February 27, 2018
An average book that gives the reader 6 key principles for nurturing creativity.
The thoughts and points have been well researched and analyzed and can be of great insight into the current dynamic landscape in innovation and the exponential growth in user needs. These principles are key in any business environment. However, these points are synonymous with any other creativity book out there, only a few points are unique. A good start to creative thinking and building the hunter mindset.
The thoughts and points have been well researched and analyzed and can be of great insight into the current dynamic landscape in innovation and the exponential growth in user needs. These principles are key in any business environment. However, these points are synonymous with any other creativity book out there, only a few points are unique. A good start to creative thinking and building the hunter mindset.
June 15, 2016
Great short book. Relevant and engaging stories, though some are very well-known and stereotypical anecdotes in the startup world. I enjoyed it more than other, similar entrepreneurship books.
September 30, 2018
A bit out of date with the Elizabeth Holmes/Theranos advice, and somewhat repetitive at points. Interesting anecdotes throughout though.
June 10, 2020
This book read like a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition for entrepreneurship fanboys. Sure, you enjoy the vignettes, on how various entrepreneurs from different backgrounds and abilities, observe, er, "master" these 6 "essential skills" to become creators extraordinaire. Pretty impressive stuff...gets the heart rate up. Then you put down the book, and say, "Wait, how much of thees vignettes are airbrushed and how much is the real deal?"
Unfortunately—and perhaps as her many stories of the success of Elizaebth Holmes indicate—I couldn't help but leave feeling that this is more a story of how entrepreneurs want to portray themselves, than a story of what attributes entrepreneurs actually exhibit.
My issue is with her approach—she interviewed 200 "creators" to figure out what secret sauce they share. The problem with that is folks have a tendency to ascribe lofty virtues to their success—and when they're asked to discuss their success they tend to give a narrative that conforms to the "narrative of entrepreneurial success" that is already out there. In other words, the interview is not actually determining their skills...it's uncovering what skills the creators believe they have or want others to believe they have.
As a result, we end up with a book of entrepreneurial fanboy fantasy. "Fail wisely". "Network Minds", "Find the Gap." All these are descriptors that have become cliches for entrepreneurial success...which is no surprise, since she is asking successful entrepreneurs to give her a narrative of why they're successful!
Contrast this with Grit. If all Angela Duckworth did was ask successful people, "Do you have grit?", I'm sure 100% would say "Yes." But she doesn't do that. Instead she develops a test for grit (and references other tests of grit) and cites outcomes from that test. In other words, she digs deeper than the narrative, and delves into the actual attribute and whether someone possesses it or not. Wilkinson does no such thing. She just takes the creators at their word.
Which is all fine and dandy, I guess, if she at least told us, how do the entrepreneurs achieve these attributes? After all, she has told us that these are just regular folks, like you and me, who just happened to develop this toolkit. I, too, want to be great—what do you suggest I do Wilkinson to develop the skills of greatness?
Unfortunately, she never actually shows us how the creators developed these skills, preferring instead to use certain generalities like "Creators use certain principles to gift goods effectively." It also doesn't help that she references stories from their childhood that hint at their impending greatness (Elon Musk and his video game developed at the age of 10, for example). In other words, while telling the audience, "You can develop these skills too", she seems to be showing us that the truly great creators seem to basically have them innately (or from a very early age). Ok, thanks Wilkinson—I'll just fly the OODA Loop right back to my cubicle next to the copy machine . . .
Contrast this with "Made in America" by Sam Walton where you see a portrait of a guy who had many motivations—some pedestrian such as choosing to live in Bentonville because he liked to duck hunt (not because he looked at a US map and said, "Voila, guys outside big cities are being ignored by US department stores. I'll move to Bentonville and fix it. I have "Found the Gap"!). You read the story of a man who simply wanted to make some money running a store, but through continuous improvement and shameless copying of good ideas, built the Fortune 1 company. For me, that is a more compelling story—he gives us the behind the scenes peak of how it all came together.
Unfortunately, Wilkinson never takes us any deeper than that glossy airbrushed image of entrepreneurial greatness. And it leaves me feeling empty, inadequate, and wanting my time and money back.
Disappointing read.
Unfortunately—and perhaps as her many stories of the success of Elizaebth Holmes indicate—I couldn't help but leave feeling that this is more a story of how entrepreneurs want to portray themselves, than a story of what attributes entrepreneurs actually exhibit.
My issue is with her approach—she interviewed 200 "creators" to figure out what secret sauce they share. The problem with that is folks have a tendency to ascribe lofty virtues to their success—and when they're asked to discuss their success they tend to give a narrative that conforms to the "narrative of entrepreneurial success" that is already out there. In other words, the interview is not actually determining their skills...it's uncovering what skills the creators believe they have or want others to believe they have.
As a result, we end up with a book of entrepreneurial fanboy fantasy. "Fail wisely". "Network Minds", "Find the Gap." All these are descriptors that have become cliches for entrepreneurial success...which is no surprise, since she is asking successful entrepreneurs to give her a narrative of why they're successful!
Contrast this with Grit. If all Angela Duckworth did was ask successful people, "Do you have grit?", I'm sure 100% would say "Yes." But she doesn't do that. Instead she develops a test for grit (and references other tests of grit) and cites outcomes from that test. In other words, she digs deeper than the narrative, and delves into the actual attribute and whether someone possesses it or not. Wilkinson does no such thing. She just takes the creators at their word.
Which is all fine and dandy, I guess, if she at least told us, how do the entrepreneurs achieve these attributes? After all, she has told us that these are just regular folks, like you and me, who just happened to develop this toolkit. I, too, want to be great—what do you suggest I do Wilkinson to develop the skills of greatness?
Unfortunately, she never actually shows us how the creators developed these skills, preferring instead to use certain generalities like "Creators use certain principles to gift goods effectively." It also doesn't help that she references stories from their childhood that hint at their impending greatness (Elon Musk and his video game developed at the age of 10, for example). In other words, while telling the audience, "You can develop these skills too", she seems to be showing us that the truly great creators seem to basically have them innately (or from a very early age). Ok, thanks Wilkinson—I'll just fly the OODA Loop right back to my cubicle next to the copy machine . . .
Contrast this with "Made in America" by Sam Walton where you see a portrait of a guy who had many motivations—some pedestrian such as choosing to live in Bentonville because he liked to duck hunt (not because he looked at a US map and said, "Voila, guys outside big cities are being ignored by US department stores. I'll move to Bentonville and fix it. I have "Found the Gap"!). You read the story of a man who simply wanted to make some money running a store, but through continuous improvement and shameless copying of good ideas, built the Fortune 1 company. For me, that is a more compelling story—he gives us the behind the scenes peak of how it all came together.
Unfortunately, Wilkinson never takes us any deeper than that glossy airbrushed image of entrepreneurial greatness. And it leaves me feeling empty, inadequate, and wanting my time and money back.
Disappointing read.
May 30, 2022
This was recommended to me and my classmates on our learning expedition to San Francisco, so I decided to give it a go. Imagine my surprise when in the introduction, Elizabeth Holmes (aka the lady behind Theranos) is mentioned approvingly as someone who has cracked the creator’s code and called “the next Steve Jobs”. Especially since I finished watching The Dropout (based on the book Bad Blood by John Carreyrou) just before reading this.
To be fair to the author, the book was published in 2015, before people realised/exposed how toxic Elizabeth was and what a scam Theranos was. It just calls into question the accuracy of the principles for me, even though I suppose one data point shouldn’t affect it too much. The Creator’s Code, according to Wilkinson, is formed from these six principles:
1. Finding the gap – Why do some problems persist? Can they be solved if solutions from another domain were used? (aka: see the world from different perspectives)
2. Focus on the long-term mission while navigating around immediate obstacles
3. Use the OODA loop: Observe-Orient-Decide-Act
4. Learn to fail: failure provokes learning and it’s better to learn to fail fast than to persist in something that’s still going to fail anyway
5. Learn to use the power of the network (aka pull a bunch of different people together and get synergy out of them)
6. Give back to the community and they will support you too (this feels a lot like how some people describe the Silicon Valley culture of paying it forward)
The six principles all seem sensible to me, but it feels like there’s an element of chance in all of this, especially when it comes to learning to use the power of the network and finding the gap. I think there may be a sweet spot in finding the right solution at the right time (where the tech is advanced enough or is cheap enough to apply to that specific problem) and for finding people with the skillsets you need (especially if you have a smaller social circle). Starbucks, for example, worked but were there other similar stores that failed? Did they fail because of location, because they couldn’t time the market or because they didn’t utilise the other six principles? One problem with focusing on success stories is that we don’t know if these principles can fail (and if they fail more often they succeed or vice versa).
Other principles felt a lot like a judgement call. Learn to fail quickly and wisely, but what about keeping your eyes on the long-term mission? How do you decide when something is an obstacle and when something is a cause for failure? It might have been good if the book looked at how the principles would interact with one another as well.
Personally, it feels like out of the six principles, the only ones that you could implement were the one on giving back and probably the OODA loop. Others seem more like something you use instinct on/chance on rather than a skill you can develop day by day.
Overall, this was an interesting and definitely very Silicon Valley-vibe type of book. Some of the examples in the book probably hurt its argument more than it helped; Theranos is the main one but I also saw other companies that haven’t done well since the publication of the book. Still, if you’re looking to start a business and you have completely no idea where to start, you may want to read this.
This review was first posted at Eustea Reads
To be fair to the author, the book was published in 2015, before people realised/exposed how toxic Elizabeth was and what a scam Theranos was. It just calls into question the accuracy of the principles for me, even though I suppose one data point shouldn’t affect it too much. The Creator’s Code, according to Wilkinson, is formed from these six principles:
1. Finding the gap – Why do some problems persist? Can they be solved if solutions from another domain were used? (aka: see the world from different perspectives)
2. Focus on the long-term mission while navigating around immediate obstacles
3. Use the OODA loop: Observe-Orient-Decide-Act
4. Learn to fail: failure provokes learning and it’s better to learn to fail fast than to persist in something that’s still going to fail anyway
5. Learn to use the power of the network (aka pull a bunch of different people together and get synergy out of them)
6. Give back to the community and they will support you too (this feels a lot like how some people describe the Silicon Valley culture of paying it forward)
The six principles all seem sensible to me, but it feels like there’s an element of chance in all of this, especially when it comes to learning to use the power of the network and finding the gap. I think there may be a sweet spot in finding the right solution at the right time (where the tech is advanced enough or is cheap enough to apply to that specific problem) and for finding people with the skillsets you need (especially if you have a smaller social circle). Starbucks, for example, worked but were there other similar stores that failed? Did they fail because of location, because they couldn’t time the market or because they didn’t utilise the other six principles? One problem with focusing on success stories is that we don’t know if these principles can fail (and if they fail more often they succeed or vice versa).
Other principles felt a lot like a judgement call. Learn to fail quickly and wisely, but what about keeping your eyes on the long-term mission? How do you decide when something is an obstacle and when something is a cause for failure? It might have been good if the book looked at how the principles would interact with one another as well.
Personally, it feels like out of the six principles, the only ones that you could implement were the one on giving back and probably the OODA loop. Others seem more like something you use instinct on/chance on rather than a skill you can develop day by day.
Overall, this was an interesting and definitely very Silicon Valley-vibe type of book. Some of the examples in the book probably hurt its argument more than it helped; Theranos is the main one but I also saw other companies that haven’t done well since the publication of the book. Still, if you’re looking to start a business and you have completely no idea where to start, you may want to read this.
This review was first posted at Eustea Reads
April 4, 2020
The Creator’s Code: AmyWilkinson
Smart Entrepreneurs find a gap in the market by applying one of 3 different approaches:
1. Sunbird approach: take a solution that has proven effective in one place and transplant it to another (with a twist)
1. Example: Starbucks Howard Schultz saw how locals spend a lot of time socializing in cafes in Italy, which wasn’t the case in America. He saw the opportunity and transplanted Italian cafe model to America, adapting it to suit American preferences.
2. Architect approach: design entirely new products to address unsolved problems
3. Integrator approach: assemble existing elements, often disparate or even opposite ones, in inventive ways to create brand new products.
“Discovery consists in seeing what everyone else has seen and thinking what no one else has thought.” - Albert Szent-Györgyi
Don’t wait for the ‘perfect moment.’ Start small, build momentum and focus on the future.
“Never look back unless you are planning to go that way.” -Henry David Thoreau
Stay flexible by following a simple 4 step process: observe, orient, decide and act.
1. Observe: how are customers using your product????
2. Orient: analyze the info you gathered and formulate ideas about how to improve.
3. Decide: form a hypothesis about how to improve your product/service
4. Act: move quickly to implement your hypothesis
This bring you back to 1st step, observing how customers use your new products.
Ex: Youtube was first dating site allowing users to rate each other’s photo/videos. Then they saw that ppl were more interested in uploading any video, not just dating related ones, so the company oriented itself.
To succeed, you have to embrace failure. Own up to any mistakes you make, but don’t give up.
Teams and networks help to combine skills and establish a space of interconnectivity and trust.
Advice: seek out people who aren’t like you. When building a team, its important to find the right balance to fully capitalize upon the potential of networking minds. Discomfort serves to disrupt cohesion and drives creators to move beyond routine and superficial thinking.
Smart Entrepreneurs find a gap in the market by applying one of 3 different approaches:
1. Sunbird approach: take a solution that has proven effective in one place and transplant it to another (with a twist)
1. Example: Starbucks Howard Schultz saw how locals spend a lot of time socializing in cafes in Italy, which wasn’t the case in America. He saw the opportunity and transplanted Italian cafe model to America, adapting it to suit American preferences.
2. Architect approach: design entirely new products to address unsolved problems
3. Integrator approach: assemble existing elements, often disparate or even opposite ones, in inventive ways to create brand new products.
“Discovery consists in seeing what everyone else has seen and thinking what no one else has thought.” - Albert Szent-Györgyi
Don’t wait for the ‘perfect moment.’ Start small, build momentum and focus on the future.
“Never look back unless you are planning to go that way.” -Henry David Thoreau
Stay flexible by following a simple 4 step process: observe, orient, decide and act.
1. Observe: how are customers using your product????
2. Orient: analyze the info you gathered and formulate ideas about how to improve.
3. Decide: form a hypothesis about how to improve your product/service
4. Act: move quickly to implement your hypothesis
This bring you back to 1st step, observing how customers use your new products.
Ex: Youtube was first dating site allowing users to rate each other’s photo/videos. Then they saw that ppl were more interested in uploading any video, not just dating related ones, so the company oriented itself.
To succeed, you have to embrace failure. Own up to any mistakes you make, but don’t give up.
Teams and networks help to combine skills and establish a space of interconnectivity and trust.
Advice: seek out people who aren’t like you. When building a team, its important to find the right balance to fully capitalize upon the potential of networking minds. Discomfort serves to disrupt cohesion and drives creators to move beyond routine and superficial thinking.
December 21, 2023
It was really good at times. It really rambled at times. It could turn out to be really useful, it had too many stories. Hey, it is near Christmas and I’m in a Dickens kind of vibe.
Seriously, this has some really useful nuggets (the six steps), but it did get a bit mired into all the stories. I’m not going to castigate her for the Theranos/Elizabeth Holmes stories. She did not know at the time of writing the massive snow job fraud that it was. But, this is just one of many stories of successful start-ups that is great for story telling, but not terribly applicable to most would be entrepreneurs.
Better service would have been a further development of a hypothetical company/start up that is applicable to regular people. Then, use the billionaire club stories for emphasis, not as a stand-alone story.
The six-steps are a bit too simplified on one hand, and also very hard to spot in the real world. Nonetheless, having awareness of these key ingredients may help keep it front of mind.
1). Find the gap. Spot opportunity others don’t see
2). Drive for daylight. Go where the puck is headed, not where it is (Gretzky)
3). Fly the OODA Loop. (No, never heard of OODA before) Basically orient quickly, adjust, and adapt at speed
4). Fail wisely. Set a ‘fail ratio’ or aim small miss small on new things
5). Network minds. Seek out cognitive diversity and other opinions
6). Gift small goods. Generosity increases productivity.
Seems easy, huh? Well, the final three are things most of us can incorporate. The first three, good luck. This stuff doesn’t just present itself. It would fill volumes if all the stories of business failures that tried to do the first three and failed miserably were put into a book.
I still think it is a 4-star book, but don’t think this will lead you to the promised land by itself.
Happy hunting
Seriously, this has some really useful nuggets (the six steps), but it did get a bit mired into all the stories. I’m not going to castigate her for the Theranos/Elizabeth Holmes stories. She did not know at the time of writing the massive snow job fraud that it was. But, this is just one of many stories of successful start-ups that is great for story telling, but not terribly applicable to most would be entrepreneurs.
Better service would have been a further development of a hypothetical company/start up that is applicable to regular people. Then, use the billionaire club stories for emphasis, not as a stand-alone story.
The six-steps are a bit too simplified on one hand, and also very hard to spot in the real world. Nonetheless, having awareness of these key ingredients may help keep it front of mind.
1). Find the gap. Spot opportunity others don’t see
2). Drive for daylight. Go where the puck is headed, not where it is (Gretzky)
3). Fly the OODA Loop. (No, never heard of OODA before) Basically orient quickly, adjust, and adapt at speed
4). Fail wisely. Set a ‘fail ratio’ or aim small miss small on new things
5). Network minds. Seek out cognitive diversity and other opinions
6). Gift small goods. Generosity increases productivity.
Seems easy, huh? Well, the final three are things most of us can incorporate. The first three, good luck. This stuff doesn’t just present itself. It would fill volumes if all the stories of business failures that tried to do the first three and failed miserably were put into a book.
I still think it is a 4-star book, but don’t think this will lead you to the promised land by itself.
Happy hunting
March 14, 2019
This book studies 200+ successful entrepreneurs and identifies the 6 skill sets that can be developed to improve their entrepreneurial odds. Stanford lecturer Amy Wilkinson says that becoming a successful entrepreneur doesn't hinge on years of experiences or an MBA - instead, anyone can hone these six skills sets to cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset:
1. Find the gap: Spot opportunities by bringing an existing concept into new settings (Italian cafe model for Starbucks), design new solutions to what if questions (Elon Musk Space X), or merge and connect unlikely concepts (Chipotle fast, casual, healthy food).
2. Focus on the horizon: Lead with a vision of what's possible, and build for where you are going
3. OODA loop (Observe, orient, decide, act): Check your assumptions and keep iterating
4. Fail wisely: Being honest to ourselves about failure
5. Network minds: bringing different kinds of people and mindsets together
6. Gifting: being generous to others
“Running a startup on any given day, you’re sort of yo-yoing between euphoria and terror and getting used to it.” – Drew Houston, DropBox
Overall, I enjoyed the book with is filled with excerpts from entrepreneurial journeys. It's a good book for anyone who is part of an enabling ecosystem for entrepreneurs (incubators, accelerators, coaches), for those interested in entrepreneurship and for startup teams.
1. Find the gap: Spot opportunities by bringing an existing concept into new settings (Italian cafe model for Starbucks), design new solutions to what if questions (Elon Musk Space X), or merge and connect unlikely concepts (Chipotle fast, casual, healthy food).
2. Focus on the horizon: Lead with a vision of what's possible, and build for where you are going
3. OODA loop (Observe, orient, decide, act): Check your assumptions and keep iterating
4. Fail wisely: Being honest to ourselves about failure
5. Network minds: bringing different kinds of people and mindsets together
6. Gifting: being generous to others
“Running a startup on any given day, you’re sort of yo-yoing between euphoria and terror and getting used to it.” – Drew Houston, DropBox
Overall, I enjoyed the book with is filled with excerpts from entrepreneurial journeys. It's a good book for anyone who is part of an enabling ecosystem for entrepreneurs (incubators, accelerators, coaches), for those interested in entrepreneurship and for startup teams.
March 6, 2019
In term of research and freshness of contents(except the Elizabeth Holmes thingy), this book had a greater potential to get out of the mainstream business/entrepreneurship/motivational books. The author had a myriad collection of quotes from several industry/research leaders which she had to collect through rigorous interviewing sessions. But the contents were not well managed. I have had seen some of her sessions previously which made me curious about this book. But unfortunately, the whole book has become more like a collection of quotes from successful or influential people. At the end of each chapter, the attempt to sum up the ideas made it full of redundant talks. The first few chapters were decent but later on the reading was really unpleasant and the same things were repeated again and again. Moreover that, the key concepts of the book can easily be marked as cliché. The contents were fresh but not the ideas. There were so many cases where you can find out some interesting ideas that the writer could not address or observe. May be a careful construction of contents and different perspectives of the same cases could make it a better book. Yet, her references were pretty strong and the book was full of interesting ideas. Altogether, I would give it a 3 out of 5.
June 25, 2023
I read /The Creator's Code The Six Essential Skills of Extraordinary Entrepreneurs/, by Amy Wilkinson:
https://yourstory.com/2015/04/the-cre...
After extensive research and interviews with entrepreneurs, Ms Wilkinson breaks startup entrepreneurs into three categories:
"Sunbirds transplant ideas across divides via analogies, eg. Dean Kamen (aerospace gyroscopy for the Segway), Howard Shultz (Italian café model for Starbucks), George de Mestral (Velcro inspired by seed burrs sticking on dog fur) and Bob Langer (internal microchips for dispensing medication).
Architects are problem finders who ask ‘what if’ questions and design new approaches from the ground up, eg. Elon Musk (SpaceX) and Sara Blakely (Spanx and footless pantyhose).
Integrators merge and connect disparate concepts, eg. Steve Ells (Chipotle’s ‘fast casual’ Mexican food chain) and Gilt Groupe (‘accessible luxury’)."
Amy defines the six essential skills for entrepreneur and interweaves with real -life stories from her interviews/research.
Here's Amy a week after the book launched giving a talk @ Microsoft Research:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzdLg...
Great book!
https://yourstory.com/2015/04/the-cre...
After extensive research and interviews with entrepreneurs, Ms Wilkinson breaks startup entrepreneurs into three categories:
"Sunbirds transplant ideas across divides via analogies, eg. Dean Kamen (aerospace gyroscopy for the Segway), Howard Shultz (Italian café model for Starbucks), George de Mestral (Velcro inspired by seed burrs sticking on dog fur) and Bob Langer (internal microchips for dispensing medication).
Architects are problem finders who ask ‘what if’ questions and design new approaches from the ground up, eg. Elon Musk (SpaceX) and Sara Blakely (Spanx and footless pantyhose).
Integrators merge and connect disparate concepts, eg. Steve Ells (Chipotle’s ‘fast casual’ Mexican food chain) and Gilt Groupe (‘accessible luxury’)."
Amy defines the six essential skills for entrepreneur and interweaves with real -life stories from her interviews/research.
Here's Amy a week after the book launched giving a talk @ Microsoft Research:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzdLg...
Great book!
May 26, 2019
I liked the way that this is an organization of stories that tell of traits for creators. It reads like a brief introduction to creators and what their “character” that deemed them to be termed creator. It’s like there’re multiple (interesting) short stories that serve to illustrate the character. Even though these were very interesting stories, it, to me reads like something from Arabian Nights, it’s a story within a story.
It’s nonetheless a great collection of short stories that tell about what the character of creators are.
What I got from this book: asking the right questions is more important than knowing all the answers. Observe, Evaluate, Decide, Act (and repeat) faster will always be better than slower. Dare to fail.
It’s nonetheless a great collection of short stories that tell about what the character of creators are.
What I got from this book: asking the right questions is more important than knowing all the answers. Observe, Evaluate, Decide, Act (and repeat) faster will always be better than slower. Dare to fail.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 14, 2018
I'm truly impressed by the quality of this book. The writing is easy to read but the content also has substance. As with many business books I've read, there's a bit of repetition. However, this book is very well edited for the most part. Each piece, each story is meant to demonstrate a concept or a point to a wide audience. While some of the points are very obvious, they are well thought out and articulated. I started out being very skeptical about what value I would gain from the read since this could easily have been just fluff, but I was pleasantly surprised. I thoroughly enjoyed this read and found it very inspiring.
March 6, 2019
This is a thoroughly average business book.
There are some interesting anecdotes from various entrepreneurs in here. The author tries (unsuccessfully, IMHO) to weave them together into an overarching master plan that would-be entrepreneurs can follow to achieve greatness. To me, this overall structure is weak and not terribly helpful. I do appreciate the content on the importance of paying it forward and helping out other people though.
It's not bad, per se... collections of interesting business anecdotes can be helpful to listen to. Just don't expect more from this than that random potpourri.
There are some interesting anecdotes from various entrepreneurs in here. The author tries (unsuccessfully, IMHO) to weave them together into an overarching master plan that would-be entrepreneurs can follow to achieve greatness. To me, this overall structure is weak and not terribly helpful. I do appreciate the content on the importance of paying it forward and helping out other people though.
It's not bad, per se... collections of interesting business anecdotes can be helpful to listen to. Just don't expect more from this than that random potpourri.
January 7, 2021
This book provides a good overview of six skills that an entrepreneur must have in some combination to be an effective Creator. The information comes from interviews with more than 200 top entrepreneurs as well as a review of academic literature from a wide array of subjects including the realms of psychology/cognitive science and general business. It offers a better understanding of the entrepreneurial mindset and demonstrates that this skillset is not necessarily innate and can be learned.
Go Create!
Go Create!
August 28, 2022
A great inspirational business book filled with examples of some of the best creators in the world. I did enjoy this book but the depth of the creator storylines went a bit too far at some point and it was challenging to know which one of the six codes I was reading about.
Of course you’ll never please everyone and the other side of the coin is a bunch of “how to do this“ and not enough examples of people who have been successful or have failed. The main thing for me was there wasn’t a lot of “how“ but I do recommend this for startups and entrepreneurs with big visions
Of course you’ll never please everyone and the other side of the coin is a bunch of “how to do this“ and not enough examples of people who have been successful or have failed. The main thing for me was there wasn’t a lot of “how“ but I do recommend this for startups and entrepreneurs with big visions
May 31, 2018
This book has been fascinating from the first page. At first I didn't know what to expect. However, the skills that were explained in the book have given me great insight on how Creators and innovators develop startup companies and raise them to become competing companies.
The author used many interviews and research to provide these skills and I really recommend this book to anyone who wants some insight into the chaotic yet satisfying process of forming startups.
The author used many interviews and research to provide these skills and I really recommend this book to anyone who wants some insight into the chaotic yet satisfying process of forming startups.
July 24, 2023
This book felt like a compilation of stories about entrepreneurship we have already heard so many times with no new insights or viewpoints. It included the case of Elizabeth Holmes; we know how it turned out. Having her case study in the book made me deeply uncomfortable and I started questioning if the author even knows what she is talking about. The rest of the book was also more of a compendium of stories, than insightful takeaways.
June 30, 2017
This is almost an academic read. Could be one of those pre-reads for 'Entrepreneurial Orientation' or 'Entrepreneurial Thinking' courses. A one-time read that sets the context for entrepreneurship in general. It's great to read a book that celebrates and captures the spirit of creators and their creative energy required to start new pursuits whether in technology, business, art or education.
December 12, 2018
Good book with some great ideas. It’s unfortunate that the author cites some now defunct companies as examples (ex. Theranos). She would be wise to issue a second edition and remove those references. It’s kinda like reading an investment book that quotes Bernie Madoff. I probably would give it 4 stars if not for those jarring passages.
December 25, 2020
"There's nothing can stop me. Nothing can stop me from being successful"
The introductory story into the book was inspirational. The story behind the born of Air BNB is very awesome and beautiful especially when the founder said- All this logic around us telling us to stop but there is something inside us we can't ignore.
Overall really good read.
The introductory story into the book was inspirational. The story behind the born of Air BNB is very awesome and beautiful especially when the founder said- All this logic around us telling us to stop but there is something inside us we can't ignore.
Overall really good read.
June 16, 2025
Brilliant book. The way it’s written sucks you into the storyline. Extremely action oriented and dotted with strong related real-time stories. Totally worth spending one continuous sitting to read and experience the book.
Only complain is that it’s a bit dated as some stories have not aged well (theranos) and some similar ones.
Only complain is that it’s a bit dated as some stories have not aged well (theranos) and some similar ones.
October 23, 2018
Wilkinson illustrates that each of us has the capacity to achieve success at a higher level in business and life! Entrepreneurial success is open to anyone, unlock the creator's code. Karen Briscoe, author and podcast host "5 Minute Success"
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