3 Reasons Why You Should Embrace a Moonshot Mindset

Why a moonshot mindset? Peter Diamandis says that having a Moonshot Mindset means applying 10X thinking (or 1,000%) to all of your efforts and challenges. The result of 10x thinking are breakthrough technologies and disruptive business models. Moonshot thinking is the opposite of what happens on a day to day basis inside organizations, where incremental improvements (if any) are the modus operandi.

The curse of incrementalism is normal in established and crowded markets, where industry leaders are protected by branding, switching costs, or any other advantage that gives them power. The only way upstarts can compete with giants is by changing the game is through business model innovation or disruption.

To pursue radical innovation is to take bold risks; this is the core of 10x thinking. Here are 3 reasons why you should embrace a moonshot mindset:

  1. There’s less competition. As my friend Astro Teller, Alphabet’s “Captain of Moonshots” says, when you try to do 10% better, you’re putting yourself in direct competition with everyone else in your industry. And it’s a competition that you’re likely to lose.
  2. You’ll be forced to be truly creative. When you shoot for 10X improvement and try to do something radically hard, you approach the problem you’re solving in a completely different way.
  3. Anything is entirely possible. When you attack a problem (any problem) as though it were solvable, even if you don’t know how to solve it, you’ll be shocked at what you come up with.

Diamandis continues

With a Moonshot Mindset…

  1. You understand that “the day before something is a breakthrough, it’s a crazy idea.” Your Moonshot Mindset gives you permission to tackle crazy ideas.
  2. You are willing to take the risks necessary to transform industries and society for the better. You recognize that those with a Moonshot Mindset are the innovators making the world a better place, moving humanity forward, and charting the future.
  3. You understand that a Moonshot within the realm of your Massively Transformative Purpose (MTP) can be the adventure of a lifetime, giving you joy and a purpose-driven life.
  4. You are willing to aim at billion-person challenges. You recognize that the world’s biggest problems are the world’s biggest business opportunities.
  5. You understand that Moonshots striving for a 10X improvement (or 1,000%) offer one-hundred-fold the benefit as compared to 10% incremental improvement, but are rarely one-hundred-fold more difficult to achieve. A 10X improvement is 100 times more worth it, but it’s not 100 times harder.
  6. As a leader, you know that Moonshots focus and motivate your team, help you attract the best talent in the world, and allow you to solve interim problems while creating interim products and services along the way.

How would your business be different if you had a Moonshot Mindset?


Also published on Medium.