The Voltage Effect: How to Make Good Ideas Great and Great Ideas Scale
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- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2022-02-20 20:21:33
- Update Date：2025-09-06
- Status：finish
- Author：John A. List
- ISBN：B093YSPVJY
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Summary
A leading economist answers one of today’s trickiest questions: Why do some great ideas make it big while others fail to take off？
“Brilliant， practical， and grounded in the very latest research， this is by far the best book I’ve ever read on the how and why of scaling。”—Angela Duckworth， CEO of Character Lab and New York Times bestselling author of Grit
“Scale” has become a favored buzzword in the startup world。 But scale isn't just about accumulating more users or capturing more market share。 It's about whether an idea that takes hold in a small group can do the same in a much larger one—whether you’re growing a small business， rolling out a diversity and inclusion program， or delivering billions of doses of a vaccine。
Translating an idea into widespread impact， says University of Chicago economist John A。 List， depends on one thing only: whether it can achieve “high voltage”—the ability to be replicated at scale。
In The Voltage Effect， List explains that scalable ideas share a common set of attributes， while any number of attributes can doom an unscalable idea。 Drawing on his original research， as well as fascinating examples from the realms of business， policymaking， education， and public health， he identifies five measurable vital signs that a scalable idea must possess， and offers proven strategies for avoiding voltage drops and engineering voltage gains。 You’ll learn:
• How celebrity chef Jamie Oliver expanded his restaurant empire by focusing on scalable “ingredients” （until it collapsed because talent doesn’t scale）
• Why the failure to detect false positives early on caused the Reagan-era drug-prevention program to backfire at scale
• How governments could deliver more services to more citizens if they focused on the last dollar spent
• How one education center leveraged positive spillovers to narrow the achievement gap across the entire community
• Why the right set of incentives， applied at scale， can boost voter turnout， increase clean energy use， encourage patients to consistently take their prescribed medication， and more。
By understanding the science of scaling， we can drive change in our schools， workplaces， communities， and society at large。 Because a better world can only be built at scale。
“Brilliant， practical， and grounded in the very latest research， this is by far the best book I’ve ever read on the how and why of scaling。”—Angela Duckworth， CEO of Character Lab and New York Times bestselling author of Grit
“Scale” has become a favored buzzword in the startup world。 But scale isn't just about accumulating more users or capturing more market share。 It's about whether an idea that takes hold in a small group can do the same in a much larger one—whether you’re growing a small business， rolling out a diversity and inclusion program， or delivering billions of doses of a vaccine。
Translating an idea into widespread impact， says University of Chicago economist John A。 List， depends on one thing only: whether it can achieve “high voltage”—the ability to be replicated at scale。
In The Voltage Effect， List explains that scalable ideas share a common set of attributes， while any number of attributes can doom an unscalable idea。 Drawing on his original research， as well as fascinating examples from the realms of business， policymaking， education， and public health， he identifies five measurable vital signs that a scalable idea must possess， and offers proven strategies for avoiding voltage drops and engineering voltage gains。 You’ll learn:
• How celebrity chef Jamie Oliver expanded his restaurant empire by focusing on scalable “ingredients” （until it collapsed because talent doesn’t scale）
• Why the failure to detect false positives early on caused the Reagan-era drug-prevention program to backfire at scale
• How governments could deliver more services to more citizens if they focused on the last dollar spent
• How one education center leveraged positive spillovers to narrow the achievement gap across the entire community
• Why the right set of incentives， applied at scale， can boost voter turnout， increase clean energy use， encourage patients to consistently take their prescribed medication， and more。
By understanding the science of scaling， we can drive change in our schools， workplaces， communities， and society at large。 Because a better world can only be built at scale。
Reviews
Fernando Hoces de la Guardia
，
Interesting insights from the research done at private sector， but the constant hubris of taking credit for well stablished ideas （eg claiming that he came up with the idea of evaluating the cost-benefit of public policies in the margin） made it hard to enjoy
Jean
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fascinating。 quite informative。
Jacob
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This book was great！ At first glance， it may seem like a generic business book about scaling organizations， but List’s background in running field experiments makes for a much more compelling read。 He has experience running experiments in academia， at both rideshating companies， for the federal government， and in program evaluation for an education nonprofit in Chicago， among others。 Drawing from this experience， List explains some key reasons why good ideas never take off （e。g。， not generalizin This book was great！ At first glance， it may seem like a generic business book about scaling organizations， but List’s background in running field experiments makes for a much more compelling read。 He has experience running experiments in academia， at both rideshating companies， for the federal government， and in program evaluation for an education nonprofit in Chicago， among others。 Drawing from this experience， List explains some key reasons why good ideas never take off （e。g。， not generalizing to a broader audience， unintended spillovers， and unsustainable costs）， as well as some tips to get around these and scale ideas better。 His diverse background makes this relevant to people across many fields， and while it’s light on technical details， it was both informative and easy to read！ I loved hearing about all of the clever field experiments and their results。 Definitely recommended。 。。。more
Zunian Luo
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What’s your secret sauce—the chef， or the ingredients？ This is but one of several important questions you need to ask yourself in order to successfully scale， according to The Voltage Effect—a Michelin star cookbook in the world of scaling that gives a fresh perspective on what to do （and not to do） in your scaling journey。 Much like a well-crafted meal， a scalable idea requires several essential ingredients， ingredients which Head Chef John List calls the five vital signs。 Through bite-sized ch What’s your secret sauce—the chef， or the ingredients？ This is but one of several important questions you need to ask yourself in order to successfully scale， according to The Voltage Effect—a Michelin star cookbook in the world of scaling that gives a fresh perspective on what to do （and not to do） in your scaling journey。 Much like a well-crafted meal， a scalable idea requires several essential ingredients， ingredients which Head Chef John List calls the five vital signs。 Through bite-sized chapters topped off with captivating real-life stories on scaling failures， successes， and everything in between， Chef List explores the ins and outs of how to best utilize your ingredients to scale your next delicious idea。 Whether you’re an entrepreneur， policymaker， or just interested in how people take ideas to the next level， The Voltage Effect is sure to offer some serious （and scalable） food for thought。 。。。more
Elizabeth
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As heard on The Indicator from Planet Money:https://www。npr。org/2022/02/07/107895。。。 As heard on The Indicator from Planet Money:https://www。npr。org/2022/02/07/107895。。。 。。。more
Diego
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People who think about building the next Amazon or Google often wonder， what is the recipe？ What are the fatal mistakes that kill an organization before it scales？ This book will resonate with anyone who has worked in Silicon Valley， because those are the questions it explores。 It analyzes a number of common ways in which things go wrong， and what might be done to avoid them。 The first part of the book is a brief summary of recent behavioral economics findings。 It talks about some common biases People who think about building the next Amazon or Google often wonder， what is the recipe？ What are the fatal mistakes that kill an organization before it scales？ This book will resonate with anyone who has worked in Silicon Valley， because those are the questions it explores。 It analyzes a number of common ways in which things go wrong， and what might be done to avoid them。 The first part of the book is a brief summary of recent behavioral economics findings。 It talks about some common biases that lead us to believe that a small experiment will replicate at scale。 Example: McDonalds wants to know if people would like a more expensive burger， so it runs a focus group。 The participants love it。 They launch the product， but it flops。 It turns out that the focus group was not at all representative of the customer base， it was a self-selected bunch of McDonalds fans。 This is selection bias。The author draws many examples from his tenure as the resident economist for Uber and later Lyft。 These companies were rich sources of live data， and experimental playgrounds for all sorts of tricks。 One of the most important lessons of this book （which is well known in Silicon Valley） is that before investing heavily in a new product or service， you want to do a cheap and small test first。 The crux of the matter is ensuring that the test gives you valuable information。 This means that designing these experiments is completely nontrivial， and List shares numerous examples of his failures and successes。Another important point that will be familiar to Silicon Valley readers is the trap of the Sunk Cost Fallacy。 This is， failing to recognizing the signals of failure and cutting your losses because it feels bad emotionally。 You do not want to continue wasting money and time on something that has a high chance of failure， when you could instead be trying something new。 A less well known example is the marginal utility of a dollar spent。 You may be spending $100 on Facebook ads and $100 on Google。 Is that the right split？ Do not look at the average value， but at the value added by the last dollar。 It could be that ten more dollars spent on Google gives you 50x the value of spending them on Facebook， so shifting to 90/110 would give you much more for your money。 Diminishing returns often go unnoticed when you're not paying attention。The book is a quick read， and very enjoyable。 I thought List spends perhaps a bit too much time panning Uber with the benefit of hindsight。 Also， even though he makes a good attempt at being rigorous and scientific there is a fair amount of anecdotal evidence and opinion in the mix。 Those are minor flaws in my opinion。 In short， this book is worth reading if any of these are true:- you are a fan of behavioral economics。- you want to start a highly scalable， venture funded startup。- you are interested in how to implement effective public policy at a national scale。If you are already running a startup and most of this book surprises you， then you probably were not well prepared。 Read on and reduce your odds of failure！ 。。。more
Rohen Shah
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