Why it matters
What this principle is for.
Thinking big is how you challenge assumptions about what is possible. It shocks people out of hunting for the problem with a simple patch, and it is often the only way to invent out of a dead end.
Look for a vision that is bigger than current reality, and for a path that is bold, rational, and still achievable. "Good idea. What would it look like at 50x?" is a thought stimulator, not a threat. The answer is usually a different approach, not a louder version of the same plan.
Why is a good question. Why not is just as good. Short-term math will talk you out of the durable bet. Over a decade, the thing that raises how often customers return, how much of their work they do with you, and how satisfied they stay is often the thing the quarterly model rejects.
Thinking big is disruptive. It is not accepted quickly. It raises problems with no known solution, it asks people to change, and it usually requires influence beyond your span of control. If someone only optimizes the process in front of them, they are not thinking big. If they cannot name how they would get from here to there, they are daydreaming.
Calibration
Under, just right, over.
Use the rows to score whether someone sets a bold, defensible direction, or whether they either sandbag or boil the ocean. Look for a stretch goal with a path, not a slogan.
| Situation | Under | Just Right | Over |
|---|
Examples
What it looks like in the work.
Ask what 50x looks like
A team has a good idea that would make a painful step faster. The leader asks what the work would look like if the goal were 50 times larger. The team stops speeding up the step and designs a way to remove it. That is thinking big. The question changed the approach; it did not just inflate the slide.
Bet on what is durable
Short-term math says do not invest, because this quarter will look worse. The leader still makes the bet because the thing is durable: it raises how often customers come back, how much of their work they do with you, and how satisfied they stay. A strategy built on a fad has to be rewritten every year.
Solve it so other teams can use it
The team could ship a one-off that only they can run. Instead they build a service that solves their problem and is simple enough for other teams to adopt. The bold part is not the feature list. It is the decision to create a platform instead of a local fix.
In the role
Individual and manager.
Individual
An individual who thinks big does not wait for a vice president to issue a vision. They reframe the problem they were handed, name a bigger customer outcome, and show a path that is bold and still defensible. They can say what they would do if the problem were 10 times larger, and they can say what they would stop doing to make room.
Manager
A manager who thinks big sets a small set of medium and long-term objectives, communicates them so the team can repeat them, and still protects near-term customer needs. They hire and aim people at the larger problem. They do not run a science project that never ships, and they do not let the team hide in month-to-month tactics.
Go deeper
Questions that make the principle concrete.
- Are you letting the current state define the solution, or are you looking for something that removes the pain point altogether?
- What would the work look like if the problem were 10 times larger than it is now?
- Which assumptions about team size, capability, market, or customer behavior are you treating as facts, and how are you testing them?
- Who is not your customer today, but should be, and what would it take to serve them?
- Is cost, history, or a failed attempt somewhere else constraining the idea before you have invented around it?
- Are you building a me-too product, or are you thinking big on behalf of the customer?
- How often do you run a session that is about possibilities rather than risks, and whose voice is missing from that room?
- If this idea still has to make sense in ten years, what part of the current plan is transient and should not be load-bearing?
- Can you explain how to get from the current charter to the bold direction, or are you asking the team to take a leap of faith?
- What would you stop, so the bigger bet has the people and time it needs?
From the blog
Writing that goes deeper.
- Biases and Fallacies Lead to Smol Thinking
The quiet ways a bold direction gets sanded down into a local patch.
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