Myths of innovation

There just cannot be enough books on innovation. I just finished 'the myths of innovation' by Scott Berkun. This compact book discusses the myths that surrond innovation. The innovations in this book: a ranked bibliography at the end of the book. Innovation and Entrepreneurship from Peter Drucker influenced the author the most.

Berkun shows that we do not know the perfect history of innovation (common history just hides too many facts), that innovation is not just done by lone inventors (it's often unclear who had an idea first and there's often a team involved) and that the best idea doesn't always win (Video2000 was the best system, but the VHS standard won).

Interesting is the myth that says that your boss knows more about innovation than you. Often innovation clashes with current management structures. Berkun describes five challenges that must be overcome:

1. Life of ideas
   Ideas need time to mature, this takes time. Also managers have to allow for this.


2. Environment
   Managers have to create an environment in which it is safe to come up with a new or strange idea.


3. Protection
   Young ideas are vulnerable and need protection, only managers can provide this.


4. Execution
   It is not enough to talk about abstract concepts, execution is needed to transform the innovation into something that can be put to use.


5. Persuasion
   Having a good idea is often nood enough: a decent amount of persuasion is needed to get funding, build a prototype or get the best brains for your team.

The book describes some more myths, but with so many innovation in front of us, it's just a matter of time before new myths need to be dispelled.

EXTRA FIELD-5:books, innovation, myths, Berkun