261: Eric Ries, Author of The Lean Startup | The System Isn’t Inevitable

Eric Ries is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Lean Startup, which is responsible for many of the terms commonly used in tech today, including minimum viable product and the build-measure-learn cycle. And his new book is titled, Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad... and How Great Companies Stay Great.

Over the last two decades, Eric’s ideas about continuous innovation, long-term thinking, governance, and market reform have reshaped company building and management practices. He is the creator of the Lean Startup method, is founder of The Long-Term Stock Exchange and Answer.Ai among other companies, and has served as an entrepreneur-in-residence at Harvard Business School and IDEO. 

In this episode we discuss the following:

• Things aren’t always the way they are because they have to be—they’re often that way because someone benefits from them staying that way. And over time, those systems start to feel inevitable, even when they’re not.
• Eric’s story about using long-term thinking to build the Long-Term Stock Exchange is an inspiring reminder that change often comes from outside the system, and requires persistence in the face of pressure.
• I love Eric’s perspective on mission primacy. The best organizations aren’t built just to maximize profits—they’re built around a purpose. They exist to solve a real problem, to create something meaningful. And when the mission comes first, profits aren’t the goal—they’re the result.
• And maybe the most practical takeaway is to not set our goals too low. Before all of the great people became the great people, they were just a student, just a worker, just someone trying to figure things out.
• As Eric said, “If you see the opportunity for real, lasting, profound change, don’t shy away. Give it a shot. You never know what you might birth in those moments that feel the darkest, that feel the most impossible.”