Fri, 31 Aug 2007
Myths of Innovation
Scott Berkun, The Myths of Innovation,
O'Reilly
Hmmmmm. I'm not sure that this book is very
successful in its aim but it does make some good points.
The problem might be that this book is not written for
me, a creative person, and therefore, in most corporate
environments, the sworn enemy of all the middle-management
rules-based people.
To them he talks, spinning a readable yarn which
negates epithany and emphasises the work after ... the
idea. All very true but the likes of Einstein or
Newton are viewed with a somewhat tabloid eye, that
either trivialises or denies great achievment. So, you're
as good as them are you? (the usual aim) Well, I
certainly am not. There is even a ridiculous
statement that seeks to negate Newton's genius by
suggesting that his playing with alchemy and trying to
turn base metals into gold was just a mistake, and
with the implication that ole Isaac was just a regular
Joe fumbling around. What Newton was doing was
exploring unknown areas of science and what might
appear to be a mistake given our knowledge most
certainly wasn't then unless you were a blind believer
in the thoughts of the time. Even now, in fact,
there seem to be unkowns in relation to crystal
behaviour which might suggest the possibility of weird
things happening.
While he does approach the idea of a creative
workplace by mentioning the likes of Google he doesn't
do so in any depth. There is, of course, a reason why
larger companies have trouble doing this. It's not that
the people are all idiots. It's that these places need
rules to function and the freedom for minds to roam
in a sort of focussed freedom. So, it's matter of
balance and getting it right on a continued basis is
just plain difficult.
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