The Five Habits of Great Innovators

Re:The Five Habits of Great Innovators by apl on Saturday March 05, 2011 @05:26AM (#2291257)

Based on six to seven years of careful research, I'm pleased to announce that I can add several qualities to that list. Innovators generally:

  1) Interact with their environment in some way.
  2) Acquire between one and a hundred languages.
  3) Breathe oxygen.
  4) Innovate somewhere in some way.

Seriously, though, why do these fluff pieces never acknowledge phenomena like survivorship bias or inherent sampling error? I know plenty of people with these qualities who innovate nothing at all. Is this about necessary conditions, as opposed to sufficient ones? Is it just about neat correlations devoid of actual significance? Why do we never look at people who try but fail at innovating? Their biographies are equally or more instructive.

Well, enough complaining. The world is in dire need of sub-par business blogging. Continue.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The Five Habits of Great Innovators by InclinedPlane on Saturday March 05, 2011 @07:36AM (#2291381)

Horoscopes had this covered long long ago. Write in a way that's meaningless but seems meaningful (as a Sagittarius you are driven by your impulses, though usually tempered by a strong reason, etc, etc, etc.) There's always been a market for such drivel in every form.

Treat the ideas in such articles like scientific theories. Are they specific enough? Do they make specific predictions? Are they falsifiable? What does the evidence say? This article doesn't provide any insight whatsoever on innovators, it might as well be a horoscope.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The Five Habits of Great Innovators by F_J_H on Saturday March 05, 2011 @10:42AM (#2291623)

I agree that it is not the most scientific, in-depth article, but I've seen these themes echoed elsewhere by those who have studied innovators. At any rate, I find for myself that it is good to review the basics from time to time. When I read the blog, I thought "Hmmm...how often to I "frame shift" or think in terms of "systems". Not for everyone I agree, but a good reminder for me.

If you are looking for something on the topic that is a lot more "scientific", check out "Iconoclast: A Neuroscientist Reveals How to Think Differently" by Gregory Berns Ph.D. It's really quite good, and I found the appendix on how different drugs effect the brain to be interesting (where he basically shows that if you are looking to drugs to help you think differently/better, you might want to give it some more thought.)

[ Parent | on HN ]