How The Greatest In The World Reverse Engineer Success

Peeling back layers to expose the original parts and putting them back together in a unique way is at the heart of innovation. getty

For years, I interviewed extreme high achievers such as Nobel laureates, astronauts, and Olympic champions to figure out what made them successful. I then reverse-engineered their path to success and boiled the commonalities down to their core elements, which I, in turn, teach to others and focus on in my upcoming book, The Success Factor. The process I used of reverse-engineering is a common practice used by elite athletes and thought leaders; everyone from Olympic champion Simone Biles to Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

Reverse engineering requires the user to systematically take things apart to explore their inner workings, distill them to their core elements and then siphon out key insights. For example, imagine taking apart a computer to determine its individual parts and envisioning how you can do it better, as Michael Dell did before launching Dell Computers. 

Sheer curiosity is a crucial motivator for reverse engineering and is routinely used by high achievers. They continuously do this practice to spark creativity, find hidden insights and learn new skills. In the process, they learn to look beyond was is obvious.

In his new book, Decoding Greatness, social psychologist Dr. Ron Friedman teaches

Dr. Ron Friedman shares how the most popular people and companies in the world, reverse engineered their path to success. Avi Pryntz-Nadworny

various ways to reverse engineer everything from a chocolate chip cookie recipe to the personal computer. The research on pattern recognition, creative genius, and skill acquisition has reverse engineering at its core. At the heart of disruptive innovation, Friedman argues, is the ability to act on curiosity by taking a proven formula of success and adding a unique twist. 

There are several ways you can accomplish this:

1. Blend several influences together;
2. Find ideas in outside industries and genres and blend them into your own industry.
3. Alter the composition of your physical and virtual team;
4. Be selective about the information you consume, and intentionally block out unnecessary influential voices.

In this process, high achievers are quickly able to distinguish between relevant and useless information. Their experience informs their ability to know what to focus on, and they ignore everything else. They seek essential clues and are experts in pattern recognition. 

If you wish to bridge the divide between your goal and current ability, consider the following framework:

1. Identify your key metrics
2. Create low risk, stretch opportunities
3. Extract more knowledge from your experiences
4. Master skills quickly
5. Anticipate future events before they happen

The last one might seem tricky, but you are already doing it every day if you stop and think about it. Just as athletes and chess masters can think several steps ahead, you do the same thing in your daily tasks. For example, you likely know how some people will respond to an ask, email, or new project.

For true learning to occur, you need to take time to reflect on what did and did not work. Then, look for insights, patterns, and predictions. This is how you turn experiences into wisdom.

Decoding Greatness shares effective tools you can use to reverse engineer almost anything. Courtesy of Lucinda Literary, LLC

Becoming great at something is more than just being brilliant or creative. Talent will only get you so far. The same can be said for hard work. Peeling the layers of greatness and then reconstructing it in a new and unique form is what makes people stand out. It is a business formula that worked for Apple, Starbucks, Chipotle, popular TED talks, and Marvel films. Using some of the techniques in Decoding Greatness to uncover the genius beyond what you admire and are curious about most will help you unleash your creative innovations and help set you on the path to success.