Here’s a bullet-gist summary of Think Bigger: How to Innovate by Sheena Iyengar — covering its structure, key chapters, and major takeaways. Happy to go deeper on any part if you'd like.
Structure & Framework
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Iyengar presents a six-step, evidence-based method for innovation. (Think Bigger Innovation)
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The book is divided into three main parts:
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What innovation is & how creativity works (definitions, brain science) (Columbia University Press)
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The six steps themselves (from choosing a problem through to testing others’ reactions) (Columbia University Press)
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Application, examples, common pitfalls, how to embed innovation in different domains. (Paminy)
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Chapter / Step Bullet Summaries
Here are the key chapters / steps and their main points:
| Step / Chapter | Core Idea | What you do / Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Part I: “What Is Think Bigger?” | Defines innovation, creativity; demystifies the myth that big ideas are only for a few. (Think Bigger Innovation) | Sets up mindset: creativity is systematic; you can cultivate it. |
| Chapter “The Creative Brain” | How memory, prior knowledge, and how we think combine to produce or limit creative ideas. (Paminy) | You need a well-stocked “mental warehouse” (ideas, knowledge, analogies) to recombine into new ones. |
| Step 1: Choose the Problem | Identify a problem that is motivating and feasible. (Paminy) | If you pick the wrong problem (too vague, uninteresting, or not solvable), later steps won’t matter. |
| Step 2: Break Down the Problem | Decompose the problem into smaller subproblems. (Think Bigger Innovation) | Breaking down helps focus, reveals more leverage points, avoids overwhelm. |
| Step 3: Compare Wants | Understand the desires, needs, and constraints of all stakeholders (innovators, target users, third parties). (Paminy) | Helps you define criteria for good solutions; ensures solutions are viable & meaningful. |
| Step 4: Search In and Out of the Box | Look for existing solutions (inside your field) and analogies/ideas from outside your domain. (McKinsey & Company) | Broadens your horizon; boosts chance of discovering novel combinations. |
| Step 5: Choice Map | Generate many possible tactics addressing each subproblem, then combine them systematically; use your “wants” to score or pick promising ones. (Paminy) | This helps avoid fixating too soon; yields surprising/totally new ideas. |
| Step 6: The Third Eye | Test how others perceive your idea: get feedback, see whether others “see what you see” (do they understand, value, remember?). (Think Bigger Innovation) | Helps sharpen the idea, ensure communication, check whether your idea resonates or needs iteration. |
Key Insights & Takeaways
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Creativity is not magic: It’s not reserved for “geniuses” — anyone can do it with the right structured approach. (Think Bigger Innovation)
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Understanding multiple viewpoints = better results: The wishes of various stakeholders are as important as yours. An idea that is great for you but not for users or other partners often won’t succeed. (Paminy)
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Analogy & cross-domain thinking matter: Looking outside your field (or combining tactics from different domains) often leads to breakthroughs. (McKinsey & Company)
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Don’t skip iteration / testing: Idea generation is just part; validating how others perceive and use your idea is essential for refining and implementing. (Think Bigger Innovation)
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Balance between breadth and focus: You need to think broadly (many ideas, out-of-the-box), but have criteria to narrow down to what’s feasible and valuable. (Paminy)
If you like, I can send you a more detailed chapter-by-chapter cliff-notes version (with examples) so you can refer back easier. Do you want me to do that?
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Here are some top quotes plus a tagline / positioning line from Think Bigger: How to Innovate by Sheena Iyengar:
Top Quotes
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“In Think Bigger, you first identify and define a problem you want to solve. … If you talk to artists as they work, they will tell you how they solve a series of problems to make their creation.” (Goodreads)
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“Brainstorming produces, at best, a sort of okay idea. We either rely on that or we rely on some brilliant human being that might just have the right revelation. [But] to stay ahead of the curve, you have to have your employees know how to come up with useful novel solutions systematically to the problems that they are presented with.” (BCG Henderson Institute)
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“All innovation is a new combination of existing elements.” (Nordic Business Forum)
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“Take the various parts of your solutions that you’ve learned about, that you’ve discovered, and now you combine and recombine in lots of different ways until you find one that works.” (Alliance for Decision Education)
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“Most of the time we fail because we just don't define the problem well enough. It's too big to abstract, too big, too small.” (designbetterpodcast.com)
Tagline / Positioning Lines
These are possible short lines that capture the essence of Think Bigger:
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“How to Innovate” — the official subtitle, emphasizing the practical “how-to” approach. (McKinsey & Company)
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“Create meaningful choices to solve complex problems.” — reflects Iyengar’s framing of choice + innovation. (Nordic Business Forum)
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“Think Bigger: a systematic toolkit for innovating, not hoping.” — my suggested tagline inspired by the book’s focus on method / steps rather than waiting for inspiration.
If you like, I can pull together 5-10 more quotes (especially ones useful for presentations) plus some more tagline options.
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