To de-risk innovation, teams must avoid the trap of building easy foundational parts (the "pedestal") first. Drawing on Alphabet X's model, they should instead tackle the hardest, most uncertain challenge (the "monkey"). If the core problem is unsolvable, the pedestal is worthless.

An innovation arm's performance isn't its "batting average." If a team pursues truly ambitious, "exotic" opportunities, a high failure rate is an expected and even positive signal. An overly high success rate suggests the team is only taking safe, incremental bets, defeating its purpose.

For leaders overwhelmed by AI, a practical first step is to apply a lean startup methodology. Mobilize a bright, cross-functional team, encourage rapid, messy iteration without fear, and systematically document failures to enhance what works. This approach prioritizes learning and adaptability over a perfect initial plan.

Instead of defaulting to skepticism and looking for reasons why something won't work, the most productive starting point is to imagine how big and impactful a new idea could become. After exploring the optimistic case, you can then systematically address and mitigate the risks.

For ambitious 'moonshot' projects, the vast majority of time and effort (90%) is spent on learning, exploration, and discovering the right thing to build. The actual construction is a small fraction (10%) of the total work. This reframes failure as a critical and expected part of the learning process.

A moonshot isn't just a big goal. It requires three parts: a major global problem, a sci-fi sounding solution that would solve it, and a specific breakthrough technology that makes the solution seem just barely possible. This framework creates a testable hypothesis.

For frontier technologies like BCIs, a Minimum Viable Product can be self-defeating because a "mid" signal from a hacky prototype is uninformative. Neuralink invests significant polish into experiments, ensuring that if an idea fails, it's because the concept is wrong, not because the execution was poor.

Rewarding successful outcomes incentivizes employees to choose less risky, less innovative projects they know they can complete. To foster true moonshots, Alphabet's X rewards behaviors like humility and curiosity, trusting that these habits are the leading indicators of long-term breakthroughs.

At Alphabet's X, the primary role of storytelling isn't marketing but creating an 'architecture of understanding.' A compelling narrative must lay out a plausible, step-by-step path to the goal. This provides a clear hypothesis and a set of milestones that the team can then systematically test and disprove.