Book Review: The Myths of Innovation
Web professionals are well aware that we live in an age marked by an ever-increasing rate of innovation and change. Within the tech industry, we witness the endless buzz about the newest technological innovation of the week. Outside the tech industry, business publications trip over each other to cover the next innovative gadget, business model, leader, or workspace. With such wide-ranging use of the word innovation, how does it relate to a web professional’s day-to-day work, and how do we sift through the buzz to find the secrets of authentic innovation?
We have deep flaws in our collective memory of innovation and invention. Ask anyone to give an example of innovation and you’ll typically hear the same examples—the Gutenberg press, the lightbulb, the automobile, the television, the computer. Berkun’s point is that both memory and history rarely acknowledge the gradual breakthroughs and back-story that support those innovations. Acknowledging the rich, intricate paths behind innovations is a good start to correcting the myths.
Currently, the word innovation is about as muddied in the business world as intuitive or Web 2.0. In an effort to reclaim the rich and valuable ideas behind the word, author and consultant Scott Berkun exposes our misconceptions about innovation, and clearly shows us how to realign our expectations and assumptions about the concept.
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