iPhone vs. Light Switch: which invention is more impressive?
If you could only pick one, would you rather have power in your home or a working iPhone? We…
Category: Innovation
The Many Mothers of Invention
[This is an excerpt from chapter 3 of the bestseller, The Myths of Innovation] All the clichés about beginnings…
Why has innovation slowed down? (Or has it?)
I do not like Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. I don’t like it because it’s made up, yet people treat…
The Myth of Epiphany
One of the most provocative chapters of The Myths of Innovation (book summary) is The Myth of Epiphany. This myth,…
Why Small Ideas Can Matter More Than Big Ideas
Americans are preoccupied by the size of things: big houses, big sandwiches, and big salaries. At leadership retreats, and…
How can Obama & Congress foster innovation in 2015?
Each week I take the top voted question from readers and answer it (submit one here). I jumped this one, submitted…
The Myths of Innovation: in 10 crazy acronyms?
A reader took their favorite ideas from The Myths of Innovation and made them into fascinating, but rather hard to…
Silicon Valley’s Youth Problem & The Myths of Innovation (NYTimes.com)
This essay in the NYTimes, Silicon Valley’s Youth Problem by Yiren Lu, is a kaleidoscopic essay on culture divide, and the…
The First Time I Saw The Web
In honor of the 30th anniversary of the web, here’s my story. I was a senior at CMU in…
Why Do Some Innovations Spread Slowly?
I’m a fan of Atul Gawande’s books (here’s my review of Checklist Manifesto). His essay in the New Yorker,…
The Meaninglessness of Google Glass
“The more we elaborate our means of communication, the less we communicate.” – J. B. Priestley [Update 1/16/15: Google…
Truths, myths and lies
There are two different uses of the word myth: A falsehood, as in “the weight loss myth” A story with…
The Best Definition of Innovation
For years I’ve studied use and abuse of the word innovation. In the business world, it’s often used as…
The 177 truths of innovation
In making the mega list of 177 innovation myths, I hoped the hours it took to research would pay…
The 177 Myths of Innovation & Creativity: Mega summary
The term Myths of Innovation has become popular on the web, but few articles on the subject link to…
The Top Women Innovators of All Time
Historical note: a disturbing element of history is its unfairness to women. The majority of our most famous inventors…
A class full of The Myths of Innovation
Many universities use The Myths of Innovation in courses on entrepreneurship or creativity, but David Burkus lined up his…
How to learn from a nuclear missile
One great way to learn is to study a field you know little about. By becoming a tourist, a…
Good Beats Innovative Nearly Every Time
[This post originally published on BusinessWeek] One troubling phenomenon is the push for everyone to be innovators. I suspect…
The amazing invention of Braille
While studying to write the Myths of Innovation I read hundreds of accounts of how world changing inventions came…