- Innovation is significant positive change; so if something is done regularly, it can not represent significant change
- any seemingly grand idea can be divided into an infinite series of smaller, previously known ideas
- any major innovation or insight can be seen as the final piece of a complex puzzle falling into place
- no grand innovation in history has escaped the long hours required to take an insight and work it into something useful to the world
- what matters is the ability to see a problem clearly, combined with the talent to solve it
- epiphany is largely irrelevant because it can't be controlled
- there's no greater myth worth dispelling in the history of innovation than the idea that progress happens in a straight line
- nearly every major innovation of the 20th century took place without claims of epiphany
- six-pack of human shortcomings: greed, irrationality, short-sightedness, egotism, lack of imagination
- the myth of methodology is the belief that a playbook exists for innovation and it removes the risk from the process of finding new ideas
- "It doesn't matter where you start, as long as you start." -- John Cage
- innovation is best compared to exploration, you can't find something new if you limit your travels to places others have already found
- Categories of patterns for how innovations begin:
- hard work in a specific direction
- hard work with direction change
- curiosity
- wealth and money
- necessity
- combination
- Challenges of innovation:
- finding an idea
- developing a plan
- sponsorship and funding
- reproduction - low expenses mean the number of competitors can be large, making it hard for customers to find you
- reaching potential customers
- beating competitors
- timing
- keeping the lights on
- "Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new." -- Einstein
- every new idea in history has the big, red stamp of rejection on its face
- the love of new ideas is a myth: we prefer ideas only after others have tested them
- no matter how amazing an ideas is, its imagined benefits will pale in comparison to the real, and unimagined, fear of change
- the difference between how an innovator sees her work from how it's seen by others is the most frustrating challenge innovators face
- innovative ideas are rarely rejected on their merits; they're rejected because of how they make people feel
- Innovator's Dilemma - as companies grow they have more to lose, so they become more risk averse and less innovative
- Factors that determine how quickly innovations spread:
- Relative advantage - what value does this thing have compared to the old?
- Compatibility - how much effort is required to transition from the current thing to the innovation?
- Complexity - how much learning is required to apply the innovation?
- Trialability - how easy is it to try the innovation?
- Observability - how visible are the results of the innovation?
- all innovations today are bound to innovations of the past
- despite the myths, innovations rarely involve someone working alone
- "The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas." -- Linus Pauling
- anything can be used for things other than its intended purpose
- the history of management is rooted in factories, banks, and railroads, not in invention, creative thinking, or revolution
- professional management was born from the desire to optimize and control, not to lead waves of change
- the goal was to minimize change, optimize performance, and take control away from individuals
- management as a discipline is steeped in an old-school command and control attitude that is alive and well in the Internet age
- Execution - to shepherd an idea down the long, arduous path from conception to realization
- Factors of innovation:
- Culture - innovations must first gain cultural acceptance by aligning with existing values
- Dominant design - to gain acceptance, it must improve on the existing idea by a sufficient margin to justify the cost of switching
- Inheritance and tradition - people confuse their comfort for a belief with it actually being good
- Politics: who benefits? - you can predict how people in power will respond to any new idea if you first calculate its impact on them
- Economics -will the costs of changing to the new thing be worth it?
- Short-term vs long-term thinking - superior ideas can be rejected in favor of cheaper, shorter-term gains
- successful innovation often involves paying more attention to problems than solutions
- "If I had 20 days to solve a problem, I would take 19 days to define it." -- Einstein
- "A well-stated problem is half-solved." -- John Dewey
- "There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so." -- Shakespeare's Hamlet
- morality is invisible to the forces of innovation
- what you do for good reasons may be used for bad, and what is done with bad motives can lead to good
- as ridiculous as it is to accept all new ideas simply because they're new, it's equally silly to accept all traditions simply because they're traditions
- ideas new and old have their place in the future, and it's our job to put them there
- history is the best available tool for sorting out how things in this world tend to happen
- perhaps the greatest myth of all is that you need to be an expert in innovation in order to change the world
- the gap from knowing to doing is enormous, and few people are willing to do the work to close that gap
- the biggest difference between the greats and us was their dedication to their craft
- Pitch - the act of bringing an ideas to someone who has resources you need
- most people do not like change - they fear it
- pitchable idea must include a detailed proposal for converting the abstract idea into tangible and realistic plans
- Questions to answer before pitching an idea:
- what problem does this solve?
- whose problem is this? why is it important to them?
- how will you solve the toughest challenges?
- do you have a working prototype?
- why are you the right person to solve this?
- why should they give you money/support/time to work on this?