The Myths of Innovation, by Scott Berkun

When I heard Scott Berkun was writing another book I knew I'd want to take a look at it.  When I heard the new book was about innovation I knew I absolutely had to read it.  Scott is a brilliant guy, and having graduated from Carnegie Mellon University and worked at Microsoft in the '90's, he's certainly got the credentials to back up a book on innovation.

His new book, The Myths of Innovation, more than lived up to my expectations.  Before I get into the details, I first want to note how quick and easy a read this one was.  The approximately 150 pages of core content could probably be handled on a 3-4 hour flight...if I wasn't such a slow reader.  Then again, this is one of those books that makes you stop and ask yourself questions as you read it; don't rush through this book without thinking through those questions that will undoubtedly come up in your mind (e.g., how does this apply to me?, what have I been assuming about this?, how can I use this to innovate better in my own role?, etc.)

How many times have you gathered a team and said "let's brainstorm a bit and figure out the solution to our problem"?  Most would probably agree that creativity doesn't happen at a designated time or location, but Scott's book helps dispel other popular myths as well (e.g., does innovation happen via epiphany?, is the so-called "expert in the field" more likely to come up with a great idea?, etc.)

Here are a few of my favorite excerpts from this great book:

Big thoughts are fun to romanticize, but it's many small insights coming together that bring big ideas into the world.

If we struggle to imagine past innovators doing amazing things in our workplaces, what makes us think we can do creative work in them?

But for most of us, even in one of these special moments, we fall back to the comfortable illusion that we already know everything there is to know.  We forget that the common sense we hold dear today was, years or centuries ago, discovered by an innovative mind willing to ignore the common sense of his own time.

Finally, if you want to see Scott's sense of humor in action, be sure to read the book's colophon.  I know...who reads the colophon, right?  I usually skip past it too, but this one's a hoot!

Comments

[Milan Negovan]

I love books with colophons! They really show that people behind them gave much love and attention to the layout, choice of typefaces, etc.