The Six Steps to Business Innovation by Building on the Ideas of Others
May 25, 2009
There really is nothing new under the sun, says entrepreneur Murray. All good ideas are constructed out of already existing ones, and rather than viewing borrowing as theft, we should view it as a necessary—even desirable—path to invention. Charles Darwin did it, as did George Lucas, Steve Jobs, Stephen King and a host of other innovators who knew how to take existing ideas and turn them into new answers to old problems. Murray draws heavily on his own experience and well-known successes—the evolution of the Walkman to the iPod, for example—to drive home his thesis, and even dips into the neurology of idea creation. The somewhat hashed-to-death point takes a more practical turn as Murray explains how the average organization can borrow successfully; his “Brilliantly Borrowed Brainstorming” system effectively lays out the steps, from identifying a good idea to adapting it to one's own uses. While somewhat repetitive, Murray's prescriptions are lucid and helpful, and this book should garner prime shelf space.
July 15, 2009
Half of this book is an unremarkable self-help program for creativity. On the premise that creativity results from the combination of existing materials, Murray advocates "borrowing" successful ideas and giving them new applications. He offers a six-step creativity program with such insights as the need to define a problem before you solve it and the admonition to eliminate weak points while enhancing strong points. As the six steps progress Murray provides inspirational anecdotes about various luminaries (Bill Gates, Albert Einstein, etc.), which occasionally support the point at hand. The second half of this book is a paean by the author, a former aerospace engineer, to his self-proclaimed brilliance. Through various flashbacks to his childhood and later, he attempts to build himself up into a mythic figure who has overcome all the odds and who breaks all the rules, producing one innovative triumph after another; a character very familiar to motivational speaking. VERDICT There are simply better-written, catchier, more motivational self-help books out there. There is also a legal danger for the unwary reader who gets too excited about "borrowing" successful ideas from others. Not recommended.Robert Perret, Univ. of Idaho, Moscow
Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
November 30, 2009
According to Murray, former head of innovation for a Fortune 500 company, the key to creative progress and fortune is borrowing and improving on the ideas of others. As dubious as it might sound, selective “borrowing” is ubiquitous; Murray argues that there are no truly original products or concepts; there are just reinventions—the Walkman begat the Discman begat the iPod. Patrick Lawlor gives a strong performance that attempts to make Murray sound a little less seedy and a little more relatable. Even if the author's conception of “borrowing” seems to dangerously skirt theft at times, Lawlor succeeds in winning the audience over with his straightforward, likable approach. A Gotham hardcover (Reviews, May 25).