Thinking Exponentially: Will Henshall's Influencers

In his interview on yesterday’s episode of Smashing the Plateau, Will Henshall discusses the work and time involved in moving an idea (hit song or tech inspiration) from conception to success. Here, he provides a list of the people who have shaped how he approaches the entrepreneurial process:

1. Singularity University (www.singularityu.org)

Henshall is a graduate of Singularity University, and writes that “it is where I learned about exponential growth and what that actually means in our world.” He expended on this in his interview, describing how Singularity University is “based on the idea that exponential growth in any industry has profound implications that we cannot understand as human beings. Just the quick takeaway: if you take 30 steps away from where you’re standing now, you’d be at the end of the hallway; and if I take thirty steps from where I am now, I’d be on the edge of this little dock, and I’d be in the water (I’m right on the edge of the Bay here, in San Fransisco).

“But if you take thirty exponential steps, where each one is bigger than the last one, thirty exponential steps gets us to Italy, from California. Thirty-two gets us all the way around world and back again. Thirty-three is to the moon.

“You can see that this enormous hockey stick kicks in, of exponential change. And the staff and the faculty at Singularly University have been incredibly important in helping me think about the implications.”

2. Ken Rutkowski (http://businessrockstars.com)

“Host of a syndicated US talk radio show, Ken is one of the best networkers, and one of the most inspiring and kind men, I have ever met.”

3. Salim Ismail (www.salimismail.com) (look for his upcoming appearance on Smashing the Plateau!)

Ismail’s Exponential Organizations: Why New Organizations Are Ten Times Better, Faster, Cheaper Than Yours (and What to Do About It) (co-written with Michael S. Malone and Yuri van Geest) is “an incredibly relevant book…. about the new ways you can leverage exponential  growth in completely new ways in your start up.”

4. Guy Kawasaki (author of The Art of the Start; http://guykawasaki.com)

“Still one of the best books about starting up a start up.”

5. Eckhart Tolle (author of The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment; www.eckharttolle.com)

Henshall describes The Power of Now as “a very simple and life-changing philosophy.”