Peter Diamandis is the very definition of a change agent. Possessed of inspired vision, unflagging energy, and a dedication to leadership, he has been responsible for more real-world innovation than most people dream of in a lifetime.
Diamandis has made an impact partly through the typical vehicle of entrepreneurs everywhere: A string of bold startups stretching back to his days as a medical student at MIT. Lately, though, he has harnessed the machinery of competition to produce serial breakthroughs in organizations he does not personally manage.
Founded in 1995, his X-Prize Foundation organizes high-profile contests designed to spur technology development around what he calls "humanity's grand challenges." Inspired by the contest that spurred Charles Lindbergh to fly nonstop across the Atlantic, the initial X-Prize was a $10 million purse famously awarded in 2004 for the first private spacecraft to reach the edge of space twice in two weeks. That competition spurred more than $100 million in investment, a multiplier effect that the foundation is now applying in fields as diverse as medicine and environmental protection.
Standing before the latest Executive Program class at Singularity University in October, Diamandis summarized the lessons he has learned. "The best way to predict the future is to create it yourself," he began, quoting computing pioneer Alan Kay. "If you're an entrepreneur, it's about making it happen through the force of your will and vision."
Here, then, are Diamandis' top principles for innovation-minded companies.
• Incentivize the change you want to see: Diamandis realized that prizes offered an extraordinarily efficient incentive system. This is what drove Lindbergh to cross the Atlantic, and it drives the X-Prize competitions. Within your own organization, you can create a framework that will drive people to work toward your priorities. The incentive doesn't need to be large.
• Tolerate failure: People don't like to take risks, but breakthroughs require people to step outside their comfort zone. Your organization must encourage crazy ideas with no risk to the thinker's reputation, compensation, or opportunities. Fail early, fail often. If something works, do more of it. This is one of the keys to Silicon Valley's extraordinary success.
• Attract the best and the brightest: The Internet, social networking, and mobile communications put the talent of the world at your fingertips. There's no reason why you can't have set the best talent in the world to work on your problem. Open-source collaboration and crowdsourcing are potent tools.
• Establish constraints: Any creative process requires strict boundaries. Otherwise, people do things in the habitual way. Set tight limits on the innovative process — time, money, materials — and you'll force people to think outside the box.
• Establish credibility: People are skeptical of radical change, so you need to make the change you seek as credible as possible. When Diamandis announced the first X-Prize, he had neither prize money nor contestants. So he announced it on a highly public stage with 20 astronauts, the head of NASA, and members of the Lindbergh family. No one asked where the money would come from or who would compete.
• Leverage your investment: Create a structure that encourages potential innovators to spend more than you can invest yourself. The first X-Prize paid $10 million — ultimately donated by Anousheh and Hamid Ansari — but prompted 10 times that figure in spending toward Diamandis' goal.
• Encourage youth: Young people don't have fixed ideas of what's possible and, more to the point, what's not. You need an attitude that anything can happen. The engineers who put Apollo on the moon were in their 20s. So were the entrepreneurs who created the dot-com revolution. Make sure your organization allows young people to lead the way to the future.
