The myths of innovation

The myths of innovation Web Directions South Sydney, Australia Friday AM Keynote Scott Berkun

Book goals: 1) What do we believe about innovation that isn’t true? 2) Why is the myth popular? 3) What is the truth and how can we apply it now?

The myths of innovation 1: The myth of epiphany 2: We understand innovation history 3: The sole inventor 4: People like it when you innovate 5: There is a secret method (shhh) 6: Good ideas are hard to find 7: The best idea wins 8: Solutions matter more than problems 9: Your manager knows more than you do 10: Innovation is good

The myths of innovation 1: The myth of epiphany 2: We understand innovation history 3: People like it when you innovate

What people focus on The work that makes eureka possible The work of innovation

Business Politics Luck / Randomness Timing What friends think is cool Charisma International Economics Wars & Disasters Time

Something is happening! Time

SORRY. Something is NOTHING HAPPENS. happening Time

SORRY. NOTHING HAPPENS. Flying cars Something Virtual Reality everything is happening Supersonic commuter travel Personal nuclear power Anything on the cover of Wired magazine Voice recognition, AI… Time

Something is happening Time

Something happened Time

The diffusion of innovation is a social process, based more on psychology and sociology than technology.

Innovation distilled 1. Delegate 2. Take risks / make mistakes 3. Reward initiative

quot;As our business grows, it becomes increasingly necessary to delegate responsibility and to encourage men and women to exercise their initiative. This requires considerable tolerance. Those men and women, to whom we delegate authority and responsibility, if they are good people, are going to want to do their jobs in their own way. quot;Mistakes will be made. But if a person is essentially right, the mistakes he or she makes are not as serious in the long run as the mistakes management will make if it undertakes to tell those in authority exactly how they must do their jobs. quot;Management that is destructively critical when mistakes are made kills initiative. And it's essential that we have many people with initiative if we are to continue to grow.“ -William McKnight, 3M Chairman, 1948

The myths of innovation Web Directions South Sydney, Australia Scott Berkun www.scottberkun.com

Photo Credits • http://www.sxc.hu/photo/127397 • http://www.sxc.hu/photo/653541 • Rome: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/Colosseum_in_Rome%2C_Italy_- _April_2007.jpg • http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/gallery • http://www.learnhistory.org.uk/cpp/luddites.htm • http://www.sxc.hu/photo/456847 • http://www.sxc.hu/photo/618860 • http://www.sxc.hu/photo/780429 (Phone) • http://interactivetools.com/staff/dave/damons_office/

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The myths of innovation

by berkun on Jan 04, 2008

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