The Myths of Innovation
The Myths of Innovation By Scott Berkun
May 2007
Pages: 192

| Table of Contents | Index | Sample Chapter


Table of Contents

  1. Chapter 1 The myth of epiphany

    1. Ideas never stand alone

  2. Chapter 2 We understand the history of innovation

    1. Why does history seem perfect?

    2. Evolution and innovation

  3. Chapter 3 There is a method for innovation

    1. How innovations start

    2. The challenges of innovation

    3. The infinite paths of innovation

    4. Finding paths of innovation

  4. Chapter 4 People love new ideas

    1. Managing the fears of innovation

    2. The list of negative things innovators hear

    3. The innovator's dilemma explained

    4. Frustration + innovation = entrepreneurship?

    5. How innovations gain adoption (the truth about ideas before their time)

  5. Chapter 5 The lone inventor

    1. The convenience of lone inventors

    2. The challenge of simultaneous invention

    3. The myth of the lone inventor

    4. Stepping stones: the origins of spreadsheets and E=mc2

  6. Chapter 6 Good ideas are hard to find

    1. The dangerous life of ideas

    2. How to find good ideas

    3. Ideas and filters

  7. Chapter 7 Your boss knows more about innovation than you

    1. The myth that managers know what to do

    2. Five challenges of managing innovation

  8. Chapter 8 The best ideas win

    1. Why people believe the best wins

    2. The secondary factors of innovation

    3. Space, metrics, and Thomas Jefferson

    4. The goodness/adoption paradox

  9. Chapter 9 Problems and solutions

    1. Problems as invitations

    2. Framing problems to help solve them

    3. The truth about serendipity

  10. Chapter 10 Innovation is always good

    1. Measuring innovation: the goodness scale

    2. Innovations are unpredictable (DDT, automobiles, and the Internet)

    3. Technology accelerates without discrimination

    4. The good and bad, the future and the past

  1. Appendix A Research and recommendations

    1. Annotated bibliography

    2. Ranked bibliography

    3. Other research sources

  2. Colophon

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