There are two modes of thinking: Open and Closed. Most founders get stuck in closed mode. The great ones master both.
Closed mode is the everyday, task-oriented mode. Think of doing your taxes or grinding through your inbox. It’s goal-oriented and geared towards getting shit done. Open mode is different. It’s relaxed, playful, expansive. There’s no goal, no right or wrong, no mistakes. Just curiosity and unexpected connections.
The problem? Closed mode is essential for execution. But it makes creativity impossible.
Most of us spend our lives stuck in closed mode, and it doesn’t help that nearly all startup advice is about how to get good at it. Growth tactics. Productivity hacks. Execution playbooks. Those things can make you a good operator. But to be a great founder, you need to think differently from everyone else. It’s the only way to build something new and come up with a strategy that wins. And for that, you need open mode, which nobody ever talks about.
The greatest founders in the history of business and tech have been masterful at shifting between the two modes — open to set a vision and a strategy, closed to put it into action, then back to open to evaluate and course-correct. But most founders only excel in one. They’re either visionaries who have a hard time executing, or operators whose actions tend to be linear and predictable. This is partly why many successful companies are built by founder duos, with one founder for each mode. Solo founders who master both are unicorns.
The good news is that it’s possible to learn how to get into open mode. The key requirement is that you create a space for yourself, both physical and psychological, where you are genuinely free to play with ideas without fear of making mistakes. And that involves five components:
- Space
- Time
- Patience
- Confidence
- Humor
The first three are about creating the conditions for creativity to emerge. The last two, confidence and humor, are the important ones. They’re about not taking yourself too seriously, removing all self-judgment, and being playful.
I first learned about all of this from John Cleese (yes, yes, the Monty Python guy) in a video about creativity. Check it out on YouTube to learn more.
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