From the Desk of Eric Ries 

September Edition

"Our cultures evolve though a process of trial and error analogous to evolution in biological species. Like biological evolution, cultural evolution can - given enough time - produce impressively sophisticated results.

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That's from a piece called How do people learn to cook a poisonous plant safely? It's about the evolution of cooking methods for the cassava root, a potentially toxic plant that nonetheless has been eaten for centuries thanks to the discovery of a complicated set of preparations that make it edible. Those methods, which have changed the culture, are disseminated through imitation. As the author writes, "human civilisation is based less on raw intelligence than on a highly-developed ability to learn from each other."Reading this, I immediately thought of how the same is true for management. New practices evolve and spread incrementally in the same way, until finally, processes and norms that once seemed outlandish--even toxic to accepted company culture--become regular expectations.

Below are some discussions of my recent work and some other writing you might be interested in, as well as an announcement about the upcoming conference. As always, if you have thoughts or feedback to share on anything I've included, send them to: [email protected] 

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The 10th annual Lean Startup Conference in San Francisco in just a few weeks. There's still time to register, and if you can't make it in person, we'll be live-streaming so please sign up to join us that way.

There’s also an opportunity to win a ticket to the conference by helping us compile data for our first-ever State of Lean Startup report. We want to know more about how and when Lean Startup methodology is being used all over the world, by all kinds of people and organizations. In order to be entered for a chance at the conference ticket, fill out the form (which takes about 10 minutes) by 5 p.m. PST on October 4th. You’ll also be set to receive the report when it’s done.

[Hiring]AirGarage, a company working to repurpose single-use parking by renting it out to drivers on demand is looking for a Growth Experiments Lead. They welcome people of different backgrounds, experiences, abilities and perspectives and deeply value creating comfortable workplace environments that foster growth.Lean Startup Company is seeking an Innovation Consultant to develop and drive innovation programs with their clients.[Conversations and Coverage]Capitol Allocators: Lean Startup and the Long-Term Stock ExchangeThe Long-Term Stock Exchange raises $50 miliion in new funding10 books that will help you build the next startup unicornTake Care of Your People by Using Lean Startup Methodology10 Comic Book Ideas from Maryland Smith Business Experts a la Fed's "Story of Monetary Policy"Top business books that every startup founder and entrepreneur should read in 2019[Readings]Talent is everywhere, opportunity is not. We are all losing out because of this. "There are 2 billion children under the age of 15. Focussing our efforts on improving the conditions in which the young generation grows up is a big challenge, but also a fantastic opportunity. All who are in power today will be gone soon and the generation who is growing up now will take the lead. All will go through the education system we offer them today; whether they can realize their potential depends on the circumstances in health, shelter, food, prosperity, freedom, and education that we can provide for them."The Forecaster: The Man Who Decided D-Day

"The weather now battering the coast would continue through Sunday and into June 5th as expected, he said. June 6th, however, would be clear. Indeed if their forecast was right, the conditions would be absolutely perfect. Just as critically, so would the day after. Stagg knew that Eisenhower needed a two-day window. He told the supreme commander that this was it."

Protecting Sleep in the Hospital, for Both Patients and Doctors.

"If sleep were regarded as a continuous infusion of a medication that helped a patient heal faster, provided them with emotional stability, and ensured they were in the best mind-set to understand the risks and benefits of that care, we would think twice about disrupting it."

The dawn of the age of geoengineering."Between bickering over which country is paying the bill, the fact that the major costs of climate change are decades away, and countless more urgent political problems caused by the sudden surge of populism around the world, it’s possible sensible policies like carbon taxes won’t be fully adopted in time....But also, there is still a chunk of humanity with the determination, audacity, and ingenuity to succeed on a massive scale where political coordination has so far failed. Meet the geoengineers."How pharmaceutical industry financial modelers think about your rare disease

"If you discover that you or someone you love has an incurable disease, and you decide you want to do something to change that, it is likely that at some point you will want to convince a pharmaceutical company to take interest in your disease. When you do, hopefully you will talk good science and tell a good personal story too, but at some point, the project may be evaluated by someone whose job it is to create financial models and figure out whether there is money in it or not. Such is my situation."

Five Retailers Actually Doing Something About Industry Disruption

"Companies can see what’s going on. But a related issue — 'the ability to act on signals of change crucial to the future of the business' — came up as the third most-significant challenge on the list. Translation: it’s hard for large organizations with thousands of employees, established ways of doing things, and lots of fixed costs to take action on what they see."