In an exponential digital age, many of us need to refine our way of thinking to avoid becoming hung up on antiquated business models and more irrelevant to the future as each day goes by. While citing the Ubers of the world is easy, we all need to question ourselves about what we are doing as individuals to transform our own business. One book that helps do that is ‘Bold' by Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler.
Between the covers of Bold is a manifesto and manual about how companies can succeed in today's hyper-connected world; and when folk like Bill Clinton and Eric Schmidt also sing its praises, if you haven't already done so, it might be worth you taking a look.
Chapter 1 explores how linear thinking in business is becoming a thing of the past and how the exponential framework known as the 6 Ds is becoming prevalent in almost every industry. The 6 Ds are: Digitalisation, Deception, Destruction, Demonetisation, Dematerialisation Democratisation. Watch the video at the bottom of this page for more on the 6 Ds.
Chapter 2 looks into exponential technologies and the democratisation of the power to change the world. The authors look briefly at the Gartner Hype Circle to explain the principle of exponential deception, which is critical if you want to stay ahead of the hype curve. The chapter concludes with a look at the opportunities that now lie within 3-D Printing.
Chapter 3 touches on five technologies that are poised to change our world, which are: networks and sensors, infinite computing, artificial intelligence, robotics and synthetic biology. While some of these might be down in the trough of disillusionment right now, they will eventually change the way companies operate and how we live. They will make cloud and mobile technologies look like old-hat.
Chapters 4, 5 and 6 are about the Bold mindset. From the “Skunk Works” at Lockheed, to “The Flow” and “the story of stone soup”, Diamandis and Kotler mentor leaders and entrepreneurs in how to achieve the billionaire wisdom seen in the likes of Elon Musk, Larry Page, Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos.

Passion and purpose scale – always have, always will. Every movement, every revolution, is proof of this fact. Plus, doing anything big and bold is difficult, and at two in the morning for the fifth night in a row, when you need to keep going, you’re only going to fuel yourself from deep within. You’re not going to push ahead when it’s someone else’s mission. It needs to be yours.
– Elon Musk

Chapters 7 to 10 focus on the Bold Crowd. This involves the concept of crowd sourcing, 12 steps to execute crowd funding, building communities and incentive competitions. It also explores how Pebble and the Coolest Cooler leveraged crowd concepts to become what they are today in a very short time.

Bold is a visionary roadmap for people who believe they can change the world – and offers valuable advice about bringing together the partners and technologies to help them do it.
– Bill Clinton – Former President of the United States of America

Abundance showed us where our world can be in 20 years. Bold is the roadmap for entrepreneurs to help us get there.
– Eric Schmidt – Executive Chairman of Alphabet

A riveting look inside the world of exponential entrepreneurship—action-packed and action-oriented. I’ve purchased a copy for my entire team at Cisco.
– Padmasree Warrior, CTO & Chief Strategy Officer, CISCO

In Chapter 5 “The Secrets of Going Big”, Peter tells of the time when Murphy's Law appeared on the wall of his office: “If anything can go wrong, it will“. As we all know, these words are often heard pouring from the mouths of pessimists, but Murphy's Law started to get under Peter's skin so he rebelled by writing on a whiteboard; “If anything can go wrong, fix it! (To hell with Murphy!)“. He wrote “Peter's Law” above those words and over time added more one-liners to his list:

  • When given a choice… take both!!
  • Multiple projects lead to multiple successes.
  • Do it by the book… but be the author!
  • When forced to compromise, ask for more.
  • If you can’t win, change the rules.
  • If you can’t change the rules, then ignore them.
  • Perfection is not optional.
  • When faced without a challenge, make one.
  • “No” simply means begin again at one level higher.
  • The squeaky wheel gets replaced.
  • The best way to predict the future is to create it yourself!
  • If you think it is impossible, then it is… for you.
  • An expert is someone who can tell you exactly how it can’t be done.
  • The day before something is a breakthrough, it’s a crazy idea.
  • If it were easy it would have been done already.
  • If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.
  • The world’s most precious resource is the persistent and passionate human mind.
  • Bureaucracy is an obstacle to conquer with persistence, confidence and a bulldozer when necessary.

More about Bold
Listen to Peter Diamandis introduce the 6 Ds of exponential business.