270: Josh Linkner — Big Little Breakthroughs

Scaling Up Business Podcast

There’s a lot of pressure to innovate and break through ceilings. It’s not always easy, and it can be a double-edged sword. You put too much stress on it and you won’t be able to create. Put too little emphasis on it and there’s no direction. Where’s the fine balance? Today’s guest has ways to make this process easier!

Josh Linkner started his career as a jazz guitarist, which has been a foundational piece to his extensive experience in creativity, entrepreneurship, and disruptive innovation. He is the Founder and CEO of five tech companies, which have sold for a combined value of over $200 million.

What does Josh mean by achieving “big little” breakthroughs? Is that even possible? The concept of this is to flip innovation on its head. We often think innovation means big breakthroughs that change the world. Uber, Google, Airbnb, all come to mind. However, what we often don’t see are the tiny micro-steps that lead us there.

Instead of cultivating wildly risky “moonshots,” why not just start small? You can work on little innovations every day, which then lead to big breakthroughs over time. Baby ideas are also way less risky and more accessible for your team to do. There isn’t a pressure to “perform” or to “think creatively” when you just start small.

Like those big tech giants, most of us cannot make a billion-dollar bet. A Harvard study showed that 77% of the U.S. gross domestic product comes from big little breakthroughs. Don’t let the news headlines fool you into thinking everyone is achieving big “aha” moments! It’s only a small percentage.

Interview Links:

Sponsored by: Bit.ly/clariontech

Joshlinkner.com

Josh on LinkedIn

Resources:

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Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Bill on YouTube

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Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Gazelles Coaching, on how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail. My name is Bill Gallagher, host of the Scaling Up Business Podcast and a leading Gazelles Coach. Gazelles is the term we use for fast-growing companies.

We help leadership teams with 4 Decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash so that they can Scale Up successfully and beat the odds of business growth success. Scaling Up for Gazelles companies is based on the Rockefeller Habits 2.0 (from Verne’s original best-selling business book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits).