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Today, we're going to talk about the 70-20-10 rule and why this will unlock your innovation.

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Because this framework really gives you permission to fail, to learn, and to succeed.

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You know, when we do this as a team, when we take on this framework as a team, it really

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gives us permission together to experiment, to fail, to iterate.

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It's the kind of framework that will unlock your creativity and the breakthroughs by accepting

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one simple idea, and that's this.

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Not every effort, not everything you do will be perfect.

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And that's the point.

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You know, it reminds me of a story of a professor of photography.

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And this professor from the University of Florida, Professor Jerry Ilseman, divided

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his class into two groups.

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You know, everybody on the left side, he explained to them that during this semester of photography,

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he was going to make them the quantity group.

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And the quantity group, he explained, he said, I am going to look at the number of photographs

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you submit.

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If you give me over 100, you'll get an A. 90 will be a B, and so on.

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And he told them that he's only going to measure the quantity of photographs submitted.

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To the other side of the room, to the right side, he said, you're going to be my quality

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group.

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Now, you're only allowed to submit one photograph, and that photograph is going to be your whole

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grade for the whole semester.

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You've got the whole semester to produce one photograph, but to get an A, it's going to

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have to be nearly perfect image.

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At the end of the term, he was totally surprised, because all the best photographs were produced

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by the quantity group.

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Why?

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Why did that happen?

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Because during the semester, those students were really busy taking a lot of photographs.

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They were experimenting.

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They were trying different types of composition, and lighting, and testing out different methods

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in the darkroom, and learning from their mistakes.

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They were rapidly iterating.

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Now, in the process of creating hundreds of photographs, they really honed their skill.

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Meanwhile, the quality group sat around having meetings and speculating about perfection.

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In the end, they had very little to show for their efforts, because the one photograph

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they did produce really was just the result of unverified theories and really a mediocre

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photo.

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Why does this work?

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Why is this the case?

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The 70-20-10 rule explains this perfectly.

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Here's why.

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70% of all your work will be average.

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Don't be discouraged by that.

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This is your solid, dependable work you do that keeps things moving forward.

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But 20% will be poor.

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If you give yourself permission, instead of trying to make everything average, what if

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we left 20% and allowed 20% of what we do to be failures, experiments, disasters, if

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you like, because built into those is where the critical lesson.

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The real growth is not coming from the 70%.

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There'll be small growth.

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The real learning is happening in the 20% poor work you do.

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And if you'll keep and push through that, you get to the 10%, which is amazing.

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These are the innovations, the breakthroughs, the game-changers, the ideas that literally

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shift and transform the business.

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So if you embrace this ratio as a team, you create a culture where there's rapid innovation,

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a lot of iteration, a lot of learning from mistakes.

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And to make this happen means we need to have one thing called intellectual humility.

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Because intellectual humility will give you permission to fail fast, learn faster, keep

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trying, fail forward.

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You know, it's a lot of iterations that produce a quality product.

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So you know, it's interesting that when Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, stopped by

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the Basecamp offices a few years back, somebody asked him a question that's the sort of question

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every entrepreneur wants to know the answer to.

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And that is, Jeff, what's the most important quality you look for when you're trying to

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hire superstars?

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Now you might think that Bezos would talk about amazing accomplishments, stellar credentials,

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fantastic education.

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or maybe some sort of undeniable leadership ability but you'd be wrong. What one of the

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world's richest people actually said and stressed was that he likes to hire people who are wrong

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a lot. So that is a different thought and here's why the 70-20-10 rule explains this because

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quantity breeds quality. Quality doesn't stand by itself. It is a result of quantity. So you know

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when we're trying to get past that paralyzing effect of trying to go straight after quality

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first, that pursuit of perfection turns out to be the very thing that creates more 70%

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mediocre work for the most part. So when you focus on just producing perfect work

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you literally risk stalling progress, stifling your own creativity, missing all the opportunities

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you could have to learn and rapidly innovate and try again and iterate. So instead of prioritizing

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quality, what if you prioritize quantity instead? Try making lots of thin slice, lots of quick-moving

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ideas to help drive that learning and those breakthroughs because iteration sharpens your

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skills. Every attempt, every time you fail, every time you learn something new.

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Failures really reveal insights. Oh I see why that failed. I see why that wouldn't work. But the

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basic idea was there. So why don't we try the next variant of that idea? Now to make this all work

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comes down to one key thing for yourself. I mentioned it earlier. Intellectual humility.

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Because intellectual humility strangely enough doesn't just drive growth. It also drives

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creativity. You know this idea of giving yourself and your team permission to fail and fail a lot

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you know as Jeff Bezos said that he values hiring people who are wrong a lot because they're open to

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revising their thinking. They're learning from their mistakes. Then they're not afraid of how

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it reflects on them and that's why we call it intellectual humility. It takes a certain humility

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to say I was wrong. Man did I ever mess that up. I really screwed that up. That was terrible.

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But I'm gonna try again. There's a humility to that and for some people they just you know they

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don't give themselves that permission and therefore never step into the 70-20-10 rule.

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So let me tell you two quick other stories to illustrate this. You know 3M's post-it notes. We

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all use those. We have them. I have them on my desk right here and we've you know many of us have

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used them for years. Now it actually turns out that it was a failure that changed that industry.

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You know in 1970 a 3M scientist called Spencer Silva was working on developing a super strong

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adhesive but instead he ended up creating a really weak reusable adhesive that seemed useless at the

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time. The classic 20% poor category. For years the idea just languished but one of 3M's other

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employees, a person by the name of Art Fry, realized that this adhesive could solve a very

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personal problem. You know keeping bookmarks in his hymnal without damaging the pages. This sparked

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the whole idea of post-it notes and after multiple iterations, testing sizes, colors, adhesive

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strengths and so on, post-it notes became one of 3M's most iconic products, generating billions

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in revenue. So here's a lesson for a small business. You may not be 3M but it's the same

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principle. A failed experiment today could be the seed of tomorrow's big breakthrough idea.

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So as a team we need to encourage ourselves and each other to explore these little side

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projects, to revise old ideas with fresh perspectives, to look at what we were doing and

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you know challenge our own assumptions. Another quick idea is Pixar's iterative storytelling

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process from rough drafts to these blockbuster movies. So Pixar Animation Studios are known for

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you know movies like Toy Story or Finding Nemo and you know it's what's really interesting is

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they've embraced this 70-20-10 rule. You know their films start with you know rough storyboards

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that are often the 20% poor stuff. Clunky, incomplete, almost embarrassing, sometimes

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actually embarrassing but Pixar leaders have learned that embracing this

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messiness is part of the brain trust process so for example when they were

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making the movie up you know early versions of the story were literally

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disjointed lacked emotional depth were not intriguing even a bit embarrassing

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and but the team iterated relentlessly producing hundreds listen to that

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hundreds of storyboards in other words lots of 70% average stuff and a whole

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bunch of 20% poor stuff they were not afraid to hit that whole 90% you know

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and they were they didn't hold back candid feedback and this is the point if

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we're we can't give candid feedback then we slow down the growth we try to be too

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kind too nice too gentle about everything we never get to the heart of

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what really makes this grow so through this process they you know they crafted

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the film's iconic opening sequence that tear-jerking masterpiece that's probably

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made us all cry because that 10% was amazing that was solidly in that amazing

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Canada and by the way up one to Academy Awards and grossed over seven hundred

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and thirty five million worldwide okay so what's the lesson for a small

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business out of that create a safe place for rough drafts and honest

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feedback you know your best ideas will emerge just give it time keep iterating

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and move from the average and the poor to the brilliant all right we said this

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is one big thing that makes this all work intellectual honesty so as I land

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the plane here here's the personal challenge to you if intellectual

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humility is the secret sauce behind the 70 2010 rule then that means the

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willingness to be wrong to learn from mistakes and embrace new ideas you know

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Elon Musk tells his team at SpaceX and Tesla assume you're wrong and aim to be

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less wrong now that is intellectual humility and research backs this up that

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faster learning you know a humble person learns more quickly we know that

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humble people make better decisions they weigh contradictory views they

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don't just get strong-headed about one particular view and you know they're not

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they will also change their views change their perspectives and stronger teams

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when we can be humble with each other means we can receive and give very

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candid and honest feedback in a nice way so as we said earlier these are three

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really reinforces this you know the smartest people are those who constantly

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revise their understanding they stay open and they're very willing to be

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proven wrong in fact they kind of welcome it because that means growth is

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right there they see being proven wrong as a way of you know jumping to the next

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level so here's a question to you how intellectually humble are you you know

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three questions number one can you give yourself permission to assume that you

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are wrong and try to be less wrong does that upset you think about that for a

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minute because if you can go there and give yourself permission to assume that

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you're very likely wrong but try to be less wrong number two are you willing to

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become comfortable with your own intellectual errors and number three do

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you feel that you have no need to protect your turf your little area your

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space well this is my space this is my product this is my baby if you can get

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past those three things you can consider yourself to be intellectually humble

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which is the secret sauce behind the 70 20 10 rule enjoy being an innovator

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thanks for listening