Craig’s Musings

Scott Berkun’s The Myths of Innovation is a refreshingly unpretentious read–one that I accomplished straightaway in an afternoon (off).

Here are my takeaways–all quotes are Scott’s unless explicitly noted otherwise:

• Innovation as an accumulation of smaller insights…connecting pieces…realizing picture (puzzle); therefore, take action to enable insights to occur more freely.
• Work passionately and take breaks to let the mind wander and the allow the subconscious to work on our behalf.
• Epiphany as an occasional bonus of working on tough problems
• “It is an achievement to find a great idea, but it is a greater one to successfully use it to improve the world.”
• “The secret tragedy of innovators is that their desire to improve the world is rarely matched by support from the people they hope to help.”
• “The greater the potential of an idea, the harder it is to find anyone willing to try it.”
• “Innovative idea are rarely rejected on their merits; they’re rejected because of how they make people feel.”
• Is your desire to find new ideas to conquer greater than your desire to protect the success you already have?
• “Wise innovators–driven by passion more than ego–initiate partnerships, collaborations, and humble studies of the past, raising their odds against the timeless challenges of innovation.”
• Imagination > Knowledge > Information

• I’ve put knowledge above information for some time know, but Albert Einstein’s belief that “imagination is more important than knowledge” (stated on page 83) captured my attention.
• How can content-centric applications do a better job of capturing the user’s imagination, let alone increate the knowledge derivative?

• Actually commit reminds me of something U2 bassist Adam Clayton said while being interviewed on the How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb DVD. His comments are captured here, although I recall them to be slightly different on the DVD.
• A group of people, a team or a band, has to commit before any real business can take place. Too often I see groups form for one reason or another without mutual commitment, and typically it’s just a matter of time until they disband, leaving some frustrated and others numb.

• “What problems does this innovation solve? Whose problems are they?”
• “What problems does this innovation create? Whose problems are they?”