The Creator’s Code

The Six Essential Skills of Extraordinary Entrepreneurs

Simon & Schuster, 2015

15 min read

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Successful entrepreneurs must crack the “Creator’s Code”: a set of six indispensable business skills.

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Business strategist Amy Wilkinson shows how the entrepreneurs behind Airbnb, Chipotle Mexican Grill, eBay and other companies used six essential skills to identify problems, invent solutions and build their innovations into blockbuster businesses. Entrepreneurs, including SpaceX’s Elon Musk (also co-founder of PayPal and Tesla) and eBay’s Pierre Omidyar, share the six “essential skills” that make up the “Creator’s Code,” ranging from willingness to fail to unshakable focus on their goals. Anyone who works hard can learn these skills. You’re probably familiar with most of them, since they are staples of standard guides to entrepreneurship. However, Wilkinson’s in-depth interviews illustrating how brilliant “creators” applied these principles in real situations make her narrative distinctive. getAbstract recommends her insights to entrepreneurs, start-ups, small-business owners and everyone with a vision.

Summary

Cracking the “Creator’s Code”

Everyone has the capacity to build a substantial business. Most successful entrepreneurs aren’t innate creative geniuses. They don’t necessarily have elite educational credentials or extensive expertise. Yet they’ve mastered the Creator’s Code: “the six indispensable skills that transform dreams into reality.” Together, these capabilities unlock effective innovation, leadership and strategy. These skills are available to anyone willing to work at mastering them. Crack the code and you’ll attract the right collaborators, turn clients into devoted fans and win loyal backers. You’ll be on the path to making a difference in the world. The six essential skills are:

1. “Find the Gap”

Seek the “gaps,” the areas of life where processes don’t flow smoothly or where people have difficulty reaching their objectives. For example, college fullback Kevin Plank found opportunity in a mundane problem: His T-shirt got soaked with perspiration during football practice. This led him to start the $2.7 billion Under Armour company. San Franciscans Joe Gebbia and Brian Chesky spotted an opportunity during a weekend when their city confronted a shortage...

About the Author

Amy Wilkinson lectures at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and analyzes business for CNN and Fox News. She was a senior fellow at Harvard University’s Kennedy School, a White House Fellow, and a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars.

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R. T. 4 years ago

Nothing new or radical – but nevertheless I liked this book for the simple presentation of the ideas.

Amy Wilkinson