Scott Berkun's presentation addresses the common myths surrounding innovation, debunking notions like the myth of the lone inventor and the belief that the best idea always wins. He emphasizes the complexities of innovation, including the importance of understanding context, problem-solving, and the need for creativity paired with persuasion. The document calls for a shift in mindset regarding how we perceive and approach innovation in practice.

1. The Myths of
Innovation
Scott Berkun / @berkun
www.scottberkun.com
QualityJam 2016
slides: bit.ly/berkun-qjam

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3. 3

4. The Myths of
Innovation
Scott Berkun / @berkun
www.scottberkun.com
QualityJam 2016
slides: bit.ly/berkun-jam

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Whoever uses the most jargon
has the least confidence in their ideas

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REIFICATION (n.)
when an abstraction is
treated as a real thing

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THE MAP IS NOT THE TERRITORY
- Alfred Korzybski

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19. Words you should stop saying
• Innovative / Radical / Paradigm-shift
• Transformative
• Revolutionary
• Breakthrough
• Disruptive
• Game changing

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21. Innovation : significant
positive change

22. Better questions to ask
• How do we make this better?
• What problem are we trying to solve?
• Whose problem is it?
• How well do you solve the problem today?
• What ideas have greater potential?
• For what tasks? In what situations?

23. 1. The myth of epiphany
2. We understand innovation history
3. People love change
4.
5.
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7.
8.
9.
10.
THE MYTHS OF INNOVATION

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NARRATIVE BIAS:
We remember simple stories, even if
false, more easily than complex
stories, even if they are true.

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NARRATIVE BIAS:
We prefer simple lies to complex truths.

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32. WHAT
HAPPENED FIVE
MINUTES
BEFORE?

33. EXPERIMENT

34. Success
Idea
?

35. Success
Idea
Proof of concept
Pitch
Prototypes
Plan
Acceptance of Risk
Commitment
Execution
Diagnostic:
Where do good ideas
die on your team?

38. EXPERIMENT

41. Lessons so far
• What happened before “the magic”?
• What mistakes did they learn from?
• What ideas were reused?
• What experiments are you doing? Rewarding?

42. THE MYTHS OF INNOVATION
1. The myth of epiphany
2. We understand innovation history
3. People love change
4. We love new ideas
5. The lone inventor
6. Good ideas are rare
7. Your boss knows more than you
8. The best idea always wins
9. Problems aren’t interesting
10. Innovation is always good

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WE ARE HERE?

49. 9090%
of startups in the
U.S. fail within the
first 4 years
Source, Wall Street Journal 2012
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1000087239639044372020457
8004980476429190

50. 9080%
of new product
launches fail in
the first year
Source, Forbes, 2010
http://www.forbes.com/2010/03/31/brand-flops-apple-ford-pepsi-
coors-cmo-network-brand-fail.html

51. Myth #8: The best idea wins
• Market timing
• Persuasion / Advertising
• Competition
• Ideas are easier than products
• We can’t predict the future

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53. Magellan
Zheng He
Amelia Earhart
Ponce de León
James Cook
Ernest Henry Shackleton

54. Ferdinand Magellan 1480-1521

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61. Lessons so far
Innovation ≈ Exploration
Discovery comes from taking risks
Who are your scouts for new ideas?
What scouting habits do you have?

62. THE MYTHS OF INNOVATION
1. The myth of epiphany
2. We understand innovation history
3. People love change
4. We love new ideas
5. The lone inventor
6. Good ideas are rare
7. Your boss knows more than you
8. The best idea always wins
9. Problems aren’t interesting
10. Innovation is always good

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•That’s not how we do things here
•We don’t have time
• We’ve tried that before
Reference: http://www.scottberkun.com/blog/2006/idea-killers-ways-to-stop-ideas/
Idea Killers

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AUDIENCE CHOICE:
A) EIFFEL TOWER
B) POST-IT NOTES

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Maurice Koechlin and Émile Nouguier
+

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Maurice Koechlin and Émile Nouguier
had to convince Stephen Sauvestre
to work on their design
++

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Eiffel to use their combined design contributions for

72. "We, writers, painters, sculptors, architects
…protest with all our strength, with all our
indignation in the name of slighted French
taste, against the erection … of this useless
and monstrous Eiffel Tower“
- Committee of 300, Le Temps, 1887
"this truly tragic street lamp" (Bloy)
"this belfry skeleton" (Verlaine)
"this mast of iron gymnasium apparatus, incomplete,
confused and deformed" (Coppée)
72

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74. Progress is Change
1. People resist change
2. Creativity generates possible futures
3. But even with great ideas, change is
still difficult and slow
4. Persuasion and perseverance are as
important as creativity

78. "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.
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.
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

79. "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.
"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.
"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

80. Progress is Change
1. People resist change
2. Creativity generates possible futures
3. But even with great ideas, change is
still difficult and slow
4. Persuasion and perseverance are as
important as creativity

81. Photo Credits
• 1507 map - https://www.levenger.com/LevengerPress/Excerpts/LPExcerpts_waldseemuller.aspx
• Map is Not the Territory - http://www.personalityhacker.com/are-you-an-ambivert-personality/
• @elenacu photo of isa15 - https://twitter.com/elenacu/status/667351442068529154
• http://www.flickr.com/photos/wwworks/220179466/
• http://www.sxc.hu/photo/127397
• http://www.sxc.hu/photo/653541
• 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
• http://interactivetools.com/staff/dave/damons_office/
• http://www.flickr.com/photos/wwworks/220179466/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Penn_Station3.jpg
• Eiffel blueprint: http://boingboing.net/filesroot/eiffeltourblueprint.jpg
▪ Eiffel Tower: http://paris-3013.blogspot.com/2013/01/paris-eiffel-tower-black-and-white.html
▪ OLED iPhone - http://cdn3.ipadizate.es/2016/03/iphone-oled-640x318.jpg

82. slides: slides: bit.ly/berkun-qjam
book: bit.ly/mythssummary
Scott Berkun / @berkun
www.scottberkun.com
Thank you.