Smartcuts: How Hackers, Innovators, and Icons Accelerate Success

by Shane Snow Narrated by Shane Snow, Erik Bergmann

Overview

Entrepreneur and journalist Shane Snow (Wired, Fast Company, The New Yorker, and cofounder of Contently) analyzes the lives of people and companies that do incredible things in implausibly short time.

How do some startups go from zero to billions in mere months? How did Alexander the Great, YouTube tycoon Michelle Phan, and Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon climb to the top in less time than it takes most of us to get a promotion? What do high-growth businesses, world-class heart surgeons, and underdog marketers do in common to beat the norm?

One way or another, they do it like computer hackers. They employ what psychologists call ""lateral thinking: to rethink convention and break ""rules"" that aren't rules.

These are not shortcuts, which produce often dubious short-term gains, but ethical ""smartcuts"" that eliminate unnecessary effort and yield sustainable momentum. In Smartcuts, Snow shatters common wisdom about success, revealing how conventions like ""paying dues"" prevent progress, why kids shouldn't learn times tables, and how, paradoxically, it's easier to build a huge business than a small one.

From SpaceX to The Cuban Revolution, from Ferrari to Skrillex, Smartcuts is a narrative adventure that busts old myths about success and shows how innovators and icons do the incredible by working smarter-and how perhaps the rest of us can, too.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

08/11/2014
Journalist and Contently cofounder Snow is chomping at the bit to see even more radical changes in an already fast-moving world: “By the end of this book, I’d like to convince you that serendipity can be engineered, that luck can be manufactured, convention can be defied, and that the best paths to success—no matter how you define it—are different today from what they were yesterday.” Snow’s big idea is that we need to break away from traditional business practices, which allowed decades for big changes to come to fruition. The key, according to Snow, is learning to think like a hacker. He traces the book’s genesis to an article he worked on for Fast Company during the tech boom, and subsequent research into the behavior patterns of successful tech companies. Here, he discusses the ways in which rapid success has happened throughout history, with examples ranging from U.S. presidents to Jimmy Fallon. Snow also stresses the importance of masters (read: mentors) and the kind of iterative innovation computer programmers learn to do as a matter of course. Getting “rapid feedback” is essential—and is how Upworthy learned the most infuriatingly effective ways to get readers to click. Snow’s points are interesting, and his writing both earnest and engaging; readers are sure to find this book both inspiring and helpful. (Sept.)

From the Publisher

As fascinating as it is fun, Smartcuts is an engaging journey through the types of lateral thinking and creative strategies that so often underlie success.” — Maria Konnikova, New York Times bestselling author of Mastermind

“Smartcuts solves a major mystery, illuminating how visionaries and pioneers find faster ways to achieve their goals. With spellbinding stories and relevant research, Shane Snow has delivered one of the most entertaining and thought-provoking books of the year.” — —Adam Grant, Wharton professor and author of Give and Take

“Smartcuts is surprising and awesome. It’s Malcolm Gladwell meets Tim Ferriss. Part Good to Great, part McGuyver, this is a book every 21st century entrepreneur should read.” — Scott Gerber, Founder, Young Entrepreneurs Council

“Shane is living proof that Smartcuts work. He hacked his way into Fast Company, Wired and Ad Age, built a multi-million dollar startup by age 30, and now he’s written his first of what I’m sure will be many excellent books. Follow this guy!” — —Ryan Holiday, bestselling author of Trust Me I'm Lying and The Obstacle Is The Way

“Shane Snow is a fresh and future-thinking voice in today’s tumultuous business climate. You must read Smartcuts if you are a social entrepreneur or would like to be one, because what Shane teaches us most of all is to be “bigger than just business.” — —Soraya Darabi, Co-founder of Zady and Foodspotting

“[Smartcuts] is a manifesto for success for those who do not want to toil away unnoticed.” — Financial Times

“It’s worth its weight in 10 airport business books, in part because Snow is such a clear, beautiful writer who does not succumb to aphorism and business gobbledygook.” — New York Times Insider

New York Times Insider

It’s worth its weight in 10 airport business books, in part because Snow is such a clear, beautiful writer who does not succumb to aphorism and business gobbledygook.

Scott Gerber

Smartcuts is surprising and awesome. It’s Malcolm Gladwell meets Tim Ferriss. Part Good to Great, part McGuyver, this is a book every 21st century entrepreneur should read.

Ryan Holiday

Shane is living proof that Smartcuts work. He hacked his way into Fast Company, Wired and Ad Age, built a multi-million dollar startup by age 30, and now he’s written his first of what I’m sure will be many excellent books. Follow this guy!

Soraya Darabi

Shane Snow is a fresh and future-thinking voice in today’s tumultuous business climate. You must read Smartcuts if you are a social entrepreneur or would like to be one, because what Shane teaches us most of all is to be “bigger than just business.

Financial Times

[Smartcuts] is a manifesto for success for those who do not want to toil away unnoticed.

Maria Konnikova

As fascinating as it is fun, Smartcuts is an engaging journey through the types of lateral thinking and creative strategies that so often underlie success.

Adam Grant

Smartcuts solves a major mystery, illuminating how visionaries and pioneers find faster ways to achieve their goals. With spellbinding stories and relevant research, Shane Snow has delivered one of the most entertaining and thought-provoking books of the year.

Financial Times

[Smartcuts] is a manifesto for success for those who do not want to toil away unnoticed.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940173668769
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	09/09/2014
Edition description:	Unabridged

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