Case Study: Peter Diamandis

This is a case study of Dr. Peter Diamandis. I first came into contact with him as a supporter of the X-Prize (and I thought it was a HUGE, out of this world idea). Little did I know that this was a mere middle chapter in the life of this remarkable visionary.

Let’s examine his career using the principles of Becoming a Change Agent. The first thing to examine is his vision:

Humans should be a multiplanetary species. That is big and it is contagious. It is a clear statement of intention. It is a vision for his life as well as the planet!

The next step is to analyze his work in light of the Framework.

1.       Set Sail

By 1980 it was obvious the government’s approach to space exploration was too timid for the Diamandis vision. In fact, the United States’ last maned flight had taken place in 1976. As a college student, he created Students for the Exploration and Development of Space. 35 people showed up for the first meeting and it continues to spread.

In 1987 he and two colleagues founded the International Space University. It grew from a graduate-level summer program to have a permanent campus and 3,300 graduates today.

2.       Now – Waiting on government sponsored programs is waiting forever.  

Diamondis realized this in 1992 when the Administration made empty promises to return to the moon and Mars.

3.       The path to activating the vision and

4.       Taking steps along the way

Two things have always driven exploration, resources and tourism. So He took steps to leverage those activities into a human presence in space:

·         1992- Founds Zero Gravity, a for profit business that allows customers to experience weightlessness on parabolic airplane flights. Steven Hawking is his most famous customer.

·         1996- Announces the X-Prize, borrowing the idea of a contest in the same way that the Ortieg prize (won by Charles Lindbergh) jump-started the aviation industry.

·         2001-Space Adventures (a company he founded in 1998) arranges for Dennis Tito to visit the International Space Station

·         2004-Awards the $10 million Ansari X-Prize to Mojave Aerospace Ventures, who successfully completed the contest in their spacecraft SpaceShipOne. A total of $100 million was spent by 26 teams competing for the prize.

·         2005-Expands the X-Prize foundation to spur breakthrough work in other areas such as clean energy, education and health care

·         2008-Founds Singularity University, an intensive 10-week program in which students and faculty study emerging technologies to address “Humanity’s grand challenges”. To date, 24 companies have been spun off from these studies.

5. How do you read the map?

He wrote an alternative to Murphy’s Law called “Peter’s Laws” – If anything can go wrong, fix it. “No” means begin again one level higher. Do it by the book but be the author.

He has observed that small teams can accomplish amazing things with world-changing technology. The world’s biggest challenges are also the biggest market opportunities.

An era of unprecedented abundance is arriving. Today, a Maasai tribesman in Kenya has better mobile communications than President Reagan had in the White House. If it is a smart phone, it is better than President Clinton had. Their Google is exactly the same as Larry Page’s (a key executive at Google).

The key risk is risk aversion. There are no breakthroughs without risk. Society has moved from a stance of it is OK unless it is specifically illegal to it is wrong unless it is specifically permitted.

6. Keep it going

This year, Dr. Diamandis founded Planetary Resources, an asteroid mining company with backing from Larry Page, James Cameron and Ross Perot. The priority for the next 2-5 years is finding targets. The goal is to land robotic mining equipment on an asteroid in a little over 10 years.