Everything We Learned at Stanford Business School in 19 Minutes

Summary

In this episode, Sheree and Jean, the Tiger Sisters, share three powerful frameworks from Stanford’s MBA program that have transformed their approach to business and life. They introduce design thinking, which emphasizes empathy and user-centered design; the test-and-learn mindset, encouraging rapid experimentation over perfection; and the concept of reversible vs. irreversible decisions, focusing on making fast, data-driven decisions. Through real-life examples and practical exercises, they explain how these frameworks help speed up decision-making, improve problem-solving, and drive innovation, both in business and personal life.

Takeaways

• 😀 Sheree and Jean, the hosts, share mental frameworks they learned from their Stanford MBA experience that transformed both their business and personal lives.
• 😀 Design thinking is a problem-solving framework emphasizing empathy with users to understand their needs, and it is widely used in tech and design companies.
• 😀 The five steps of design thinking: empathize, define the problem, ideate, prototype, and test, are crucial for creating user-centered solutions.
• 😀 Conducting user research is essential to identify what users truly need, which is often different from what they say they want.
• 😀 The 'test and learn' mindset encourages launching early with scrappy products to gather real customer feedback instead of waiting for perfection.
• 😀 An MVP (Minimum Viable Product) teaches you everything you need to know to improve a product, and many businesses pivot based on initial user responses.
• 😀 Real-life examples, like Dropbox, Zappos, and DoorDash, highlight how testing MVPs early can validate ideas without heavy initial investments.
• 😀 The 'type one vs. type two decisions' framework from Jeff Bezos helps prioritize decisions based on their reversibility, encouraging faster action on reversible decisions.
• 😀 Type one decisions are irreversible and require deep, strategic thinking, while type two decisions are reversible and can be tested quickly.
• 😀 The hosts emphasize that the frameworks they discuss are not only for business but can be applied in personal decision-making and everyday life.
• 😀 The episode concludes with a preview of part two, where the hosts will share frameworks that helped them transition from corporate jobs to entrepreneurship.

Q & A

What are the three mental frameworks introduced in this episode?

The three mental frameworks introduced are design thinking, test and learn, and irreversible versus reversible decisions.

How did Sheree and Jean apply the mental frameworks from their Stanford MBA in their personal and business lives?

They applied these frameworks to make faster decisions, build smarter, and improve their overall life decisions both personally and professionally.

What is design thinking, and how does it help companies solve problems?

Design thinking is a framework that emphasizes understanding the user’s needs and empathizing with their experience. It helps companies design solutions based on real user problems rather than assumptions.

What are the five steps in the design thinking process?

The five steps in the design thinking process are: 1) Empathize (understand the users), 2) Define (identify the root problem), 3) Ideate (brainstorm ideas), 4) Prototype (build a low-cost version of the solution), and 5) Test (gather feedback from users).

What example did Sheree provide for applying design thinking in her experience at Snapchat?

Sheree shared her experience working on augmented reality shopping for beauty products at Snapchat, where they observed users in a store to understand their shopping behaviors before developing the product.

What is the concept of 'test and learn,' and how does it relate to starting a business?

Test and learn is a framework that encourages experimentation and iterating quickly rather than waiting for perfection. It stresses the importance of launching a minimal viable product (MVP) to learn from customer feedback.

How did the Tiger Sisters podcast exemplify the 'test and learn' framework?

The Tiger Sisters podcast started with a basic MVP—just one camera and poor-quality microphones. They focused on learning from audience feedback and iterated on the content and quality over time.

What is the difference between type one and type two decisions, according to the Bezos framework?

Type one decisions are irreversible and require careful, long-term consideration, while type two decisions are reversible and should be made quickly with experimentation and testing.

Can you provide an example of a company using type two decisions effectively?

Zappos and Dropbox are examples of companies using type two decisions effectively. Zappos tested their concept by manually fulfilling orders before building a fulfillment center, while Dropbox tested demand with a marketing video before creating the actual product.

What is the importance of making fast, reversible decisions in a startup environment?

In a startup, speed is crucial. Making fast, reversible decisions allows you to experiment, learn from failures, and pivot quickly, which is essential to survival and growth in an ever-changing market.