The Myths of Innovation

Chapter 11. Epilogue: Beyond hype and history

Much of this book has told you what not to do and what not to think. The motivation was not to be mean, nor to do my impression of Statler and Waldorf, the two cranky guys locked in the balcony on The Muppet Show. Instead, it was to provide a baseline of truth to free you from the misguided yet common notions around innovation that run rampant in business and popular culture today. I consider your time on this planet to be precious, and I wanted to prevent you from aiming at false targets. There is so much hype around creativity today that the simple truths get lost in the noise.

So far, this book has been structured as a kind of history book, as history is the best available tool for sorting out how things in this world tend to happen. And if you’re still here reading Chapter 11, history has done its job. But for this paperback edition, I want to do more than just point out what not to do. I want to leave you with the highest possible odds of success—however you define it.

When considering the creators of the great works of the past, it’s surprising how few of them studied innovation or creative thinking. From van Gogh to Edison, Steve Jobs to Dave Eggers, almost none of them studied any of these topics in any conventional way. They didn’t read innovation books, and they didn’t take innovation classes. They miraculously overcame the frightening ...