Comments on: The secret behind radical innovation

By: Dee Gardner

Dee Gardner — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:01:03 +0000

I agree with Scott Frye completely. I want to take it one step further. Even though we may not be the innovators. We can use and share what we learn. In this way we can all participate in innovation. Using and sharing are so critical to new technology and new innovations.

By: Daniel Lowd

Daniel Lowd — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 08:22:12 +0000

It is true that people who succeed in the current system have little incentive to dismantle it. Why should librarians, bookstores, newspapers, or journalists try to make themselves obsolete? So it should come as no surprise that the innovators of these technologies had nothing to lose from the innovation.

But I think attributing all “radical innovation” to “misfits” is a mistake. Let’s look at a few other radical innovations. When Louis Pasteur invented vaccination, he was a biomedical researcher. The breakthroughs at Bell Labs and Xerox PARC came from experts, specialists, researchers. Thomas Edison was a researcher. Nikola Tesla was a researcher. Ben Franklin was a researcher.

For the most part, inventing new technology is the job of researchers and innovators, not librarians or scribes. Unsurprisingly, the most radical innovations often come from people who specialize in innovation. No secret.

By: Daniel Lemire

Daniel Lemire — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:05:03 +0000

@b1ff No doubt, it helps to be at Stanford near all the smart people, attracted there by the smart professors.

By: b1ff

b1ff — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:45:29 +0000

The first Google came from graduate students, who might have gotten some ideas from their cranky “University professor”…

By: Greg

Greg — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:49:19 +0000

Going a step further, I doubt it is just experts that have a hard time distinguishing misfits from cranks.

I am not even sure the misfits themselves know whether they are a crank or not until they put in the work, try their idea, and either succeed or fail.

By: Scott Frye

Scott Frye — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:12:48 +0000

Ah! But the real question is what is the ratio between cranks and misfits. How many start-ups fail for each Google or Amazon that succeeds amazingly. How many fail for everyone that even turns a profit? As always, the more risk you are willing to take the greater the benefits or failures you are likely to reap!

If you can, take the risk, dare to make the world a better place and if you fail, don’t be discouraged, just try again!

By: Francois Rivest

Francois Rivest — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:06:56 +0000

Great post!