Take a Quantum Leap

Tom Suddes | May 5, 2009

I first assembled these thoughts as an intro to the For Impact Campaign Manifesto. Re-listed here and in a PDF for download, these QUANTUM LEAP ideas are powerful. I hope they ~~push~~ eliminate the bountries of traditional campaign thinking.

Special Note: Nick is leading a teleseminar today (Tues) on the Quantum Leap Campaign Thinking at 1:00 ET.

THREE GREAT BOOKS ON QUANTUM LEAPS…TO HELP YOU LEAP

Quantum Leap Thinking by James J. Mapes.

You 2: A High Velocity Formula for Multiplying Your Personal Effectiveness in QUANTUM LEAPS by Price Pritchett.

Taking the QUANTUM LEAP: The New Physics for Nonscientists
by Fred Wolf.

QUANTUM PHYSICS is described as the

“most powerful science ever conceived by human beings.”

A QUANTUM LEAP is the

“explosive jump that a particle of matter undergoes in moving from one place to another.”

QUANTUM LEAPS are about

‘exponential jumps’ in your impact and your income.
(NOT about kaizen, tweaking, OR 3% to 5% growth tied to the adjusted cost of living or tuition increases!)

QUANTUM LEAPS are like taking any BIG Jump.

You don’t focus on the ‘middle’ of the jump…
but where you want to land!!!

QUANTUM LEAPS are NOT about ‘trying harder!’

Trying harder produces only INCREMENTAL GAINS not QUANTUM LEAPS.
(Physicists studying Quantum Mechanics note that particles make these ‘jumps’ without apparent effort and without covering all the bases between the starting and ending point!)

QUANTUM LEAPS never happen by doing the same thing you’re doing now.

Price Pritchett says, “Be ruthless about trying something different. Conventional growth comes because we think along conventional lines.”

QUANTUM LEAP means violating the BOUNDARY of the ‘PROBLEM.’

This means giving yourself permission to dream and to risk.

QUANTUM LEAPS come when you seek the elegant solutions.

Look for an approach characterized by SIMPLICITY, PRECISION and NEATNESS.
(NOT as COMPLEX or TIME-CONSUMING as your PRESENT STRUGGLE).

QUANTUM LEAPS allow you to do MORE with LESS!

Less resources. Less people. Less money.

The paradox: This creates MORE resources, MORE people and MORE money.

QUANTUM LEAPS are NOT about the ‘how to’.

Skip the ‘detail’. The answers will come to you. When they do, you’ll probably find them to be simple, streamlined solutions.

QUANTUM LEAPS are tied to BHAGs.

Price Pritchett reinforces Jim Collin’s thoughts on Big Hairy Audacious Goals. They’re not Big Hairy Audacious Goals if you’re GUARANTEED that you can reach them! Pritchett says that if you have the ANSWERS and STRUCTURES and CERTAINTY UP FRONT… It’s NOT a QUANTUM LEAP!

A QUANTUM LEAP by definition, means

moving into unchartered territory with NO GUIDE to follow.
You personally draw the map as you go. (In this case, however, I’d like to offer a GUIDE. You can still draw.)

QUANTUM LEAPS require you to take the OFFENSIVE.

You can’t achieve exponential gains from a defensive posture, a passive stance.

QUANTUM LEAPS require FAILURE.

FAILURE is a sign of PROGRESS! It means you’ve left the safety of the status quo. Failure is a resource. It helps you find the edge of your capacities. (If you send a rocket toward the moon, 90% of the time it’s OFF COURSE; it ‘fails’ its way to the moon by continually making mistakes and correcting them. Therefore, fail fast.)

QUANTUM LEAPS regard ‘ZERO DEFECTS‘ as a HOSTILE CONCEPT.

‘GETTING READY’ (research, fancy brochures, etc.) is a stalling tactic, an act of anxiety.

Finally,
You don’t ‘prepare’ for a QUANTUM LEAP…
You MAKE IT, and then you frame out
the DETAILS and STRATEGY on the way!

“FAIL. FAIL AGAIN. FAIL BETTER.” —Samuel Beckett
“FAIL. FAIL FAST. FAIL FASTER.” —Tom Suddes
“SUCCESS is going from FAILURE to FAILURE with no loss of ENTHUSIASM.” —Winston Churchill
“We need to FAIL in order to SUCCEED. Our only decision is HOW TO FAIL.
By not going far enough… or going too far. I prefer the latter.” - Harriet Rubin

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6 Comments So Far

Ricardo Sierra - May 5th, 2009 10:32 am

First Question: At what point does the issue of fiscal responsibility to your organization and your employees kick in when talking about making quantum leaps? Is there a better time to make a quantum leap than other times?

Second Question: How do you actually prepare your team/staff/board of directors and community to make a quantum leap in thinking?

In other words, all of your quotes and sound bite points are great and inspiring, but they don’t really give us any guideline towards creating a culture of quantum leap thinking individuals, and the reality is, many people are stuck in a fear based, cover your ass, minimize risks, etc mindset. So that is a hole to be filled in this strategy, which is focused almost exclusively on ‘just doing it’ and ‘keep failing’ etc.

Maybe you could give us some concrete examples of organizations and groups that made a quantum leap, and how they sold the idea of their BHAG to their stakeholders, and how they failed and what happened when they failed, and then hopefully, what happened when they succeeded?

Short inspiring quotes are great, but when it comes to creating a strategy, it helps to have a little better guide, in my opinion. Oh, yeah, I forgot. You shouldn’t have a plan or strategy either, you should just jump and enjoy the freefall, and knit a parachute on the way down!

I am just joking about that last part!

Reply
Nick Fellers reply on May 8th, 2009 8:32 am:
@Ricardo Sierra, Q1: I think it’s more fiscally responsible to make a quantum leap than not. You can’t think about failure in terms of misusing money when it comes to quantum leaps. Failure in quantum leap terms means knowing where you stand in relation to the goal and if you’re not getting there… re-designing again. I think FAILURE in the sense of fiscal irresponsibility is NOT leaping and instead slowly bleeding in mediocrity.

Q2. Vision! Leadership! People!
Hard to make a leap without a clear vision. Leaping is about faith and determination. If you knew without a doubt you were going to get there then it would not be a leap. A great leader knows what a LEAP looks like (or can envision it) and will inspire others to jump with… think: Steve Jobs, Wendy Kopp (Teach for America) or Kennedy (Man on the moon). And, finally, it requires great people — this is all about attitude. This is Jim Collins’ bus metaphor.

A Quantum Leap is about Vision and Attitude — which DETERMINE strategy and tactics. In this post Tom was sharing (1) some quotes — and he said as much. (2) No one changes the world by safe tweaking and (3) the entire website is peppered with stories of failure and success — The Open Coaching is 80% stories.

Here’s a great story about Quantum Leap that I just read this morning:
Flip Video: Wrong, Wrong, Wrong and then, So Right
This is what failure looks like @ $590M payout.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/19/flip-video-wrong-wrong-wrong-and-then-so-so-right/

If the team is that reluctant to pursue the quantum leap then you have (1) the wrong leader or (2) no clear vision or (3) the wrong team.

Reply
Ronke - May 5th, 2009 11:14 am

I know these quotes and nuggets are powerful. Thinking about them can result in great audacious ideas that some would wonder if you have run nuts. But they are true.

One thing I have regretted is not being able to participate in your programmes for some reasons. But I know the opportunity will come one day as I continue to “think out of the box”.

Thanks for sharing them.

Ronke, Abuja, Nigeria

Reply
Nick Fellers reply on May 7th, 2009 10:57 am:
@Ronke, Thanks for your comment. It’s always cool to see how far the message travels. We’ll continue the nuggets coming!!!

Reply
Julie Crisp - May 7th, 2009 3:49 pm

The Winston Churchill quotation is my current motto, so I guess I must be ready for a quantum leap!

Reply
Marathon Running | forimpact.org - December 2nd, 2009 4:51 pm

[...] Somewhere between miles 7-15 my body says, “Stop! You idiot!” The distance part is mostly mental. In fact, I think much of training is really conditioning your mind to know what pain is real and what is not. What amazes me is that your mind can go far past that bar set by your body. So far in fact that it leads to more questions like, “Is there a bar in the first place?” [Lots of linked thinking to Quantum Leap] [...]