If we look at the lives of path-breaking creative icons, entrepreneurs, and inventors, do we notice any themes beyond vision, and persistence? What really drives iconic, transformational change on both a personal and an organizational level? From Nobel Prize–winning discoveries to new inventions to works of art, many of our creative triumphs are not achievements, but are conversions, corrections after failed attempts. This is the subject of Lewis’s book The Rise. This SXSW talk considering the lives of even more diverse figures such as Travis Kalanick (Uber), Sara Blakley (Spanx), Robert Redford, author Dave Eggers, J. K. Rowling, Angela Duckworth, explorer Ben Saunders and others, to reveal the importance of play, grit, surrender, often ignored ideas, and the necessary experiments and follow-up attempts that lead to true breakthroughs. Smart, uplifting, and counterintuitive, this talk aims to change the way you think about creativity, innovation, and mastery.