Stanford 8 and Stanford 7 comparison

According to Robert I Sutton, Stanford 7 focuses on the scaling process based on his research with a colleague professor, Huggy Rao. Their seven-year study is based on their own experiences and interactions at Stanford, as well as those of people in their network. Many of Robert I. Sutton’s examples come from personal experience or those of Stanford grads. From the perspective of Brad Smith, president, chief executive officer, and chairman of Intuit, Stanford 8 focuses on the rate of transformational change and how to lead innovation and success in this fast changing environment. Intuit is a leading-edge company in Silicon Valley, so most of the references made by Brad Smith are from his personal experience and other companies.

Both Stanford 7 and Stanford 8 advocate for simplicity as a means to excellence. They both use simple examples such as the rule thumb and trampolines in Iraq to pass across their message. When explaining an effective way of impactfully communicating the public, both quote the “Keep it Sesame Street simple” expression. It is further cemented when both agree on the element of using simplified models to increase productivity within the organizations.

It is explained in both articles that leaders don’t have a monopoly on good ideas. Robert explains that no matter how smart a person is, they have limitations and how detrimental placing a sheerer cognitive load on them is. His thoughts converge with those of Brad when Brad explains his fundamental principle of there being greatness in everyone and the benefits that his company has reaped from applying it. Both Stanford 7 and Stanford 8 acknowledge the relevance of psychology in business, the importance of team effort and effectiveness of prototyping solutions to user needs.

Although at some point Stanford 7 criticizes differentiation on the knee surgeries because of its high expenses and failure rate, this confuted later on. The contradiction “Successful scaling depends as much on eliminating the negative as it does on accentuating the positive.” As explained by Stanford 8, the bad cannot be eliminated without trying, failing then knowing what to categories as bad and what not. In Stanford 8, Brad discourages the gymnast mentality. Consequently, he does not shy off from trying new projects because of high costs or fear of failure.

Overall the two articles have more similarities than differences. The delivery of content differed, but the message was fundamentally the same. They both elucidated how businesses can remain relevant and productive as they grow.