How Innovation Works

I was reading "How Innovation Works" by Matt Ridley. And in that he asks a question - what came first - the moon landing or baggage with wheels? You will be surprised to know that it was the former.

The reasons for baggage not having wheels are many - from the travel pattern to the design of travel areas to the demography of travel - but whatever it is, many a times, there is a particular time that an innovation takes root - and some ideas are simply ahead of their time. This was a fascinating story and there were others from olden to modern times.

One of the myths about innovation is the flash of insight that changes everything. While that flash does happen and you might get that insight or that brilliant idea - from there to actually making, selling and creating an impact are a far longer road.

And the history of innovation has repeatedly proven that innovation is a long and often difficult process. Innovations and innovators build from each other (and rightly so), jump disciplines and often go back and forth before becoming "the idea". (Though, in reality there is no "the idea" because someone is always tinkering with the thing that seems perfect today).

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Serendipity and Learning

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