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This is a point that we’ve been making for years (and often highlighting the research that proves this), but innovation and good ideas tend not to come from the proverbial “spark of genius.” Study after study after study has shown that’s almost never the case. Almost all good ideas come from people building on the works of others, with a minor tweak here or there, or a random decision based on a suggestion from someone new, after an idea percolates for months or years. The more open systems are to sharing ideas and spreading information and allowing those collisions to happen, the more likely that new good ideas and new innovations occur. That’s why it’s so harmful that today’s intellectual property systems are built on the false assumption that innovation really does happen through that “spark of genius.”
Entrepreneur and author Steven Johnson is about to come out with a new book on this particular topic, Where Good Ideas Come From and has been writing and speaking about some of what’s in the book — which highlights these same points. People have been submitting both his recent TED talk and his recent WSJ piece that makes these points clear:
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- Where Good Ideas Come From (themoderatevoice.com)
- Kevin Kelly and Steven Johnson on Where Ideas Come From (wired.com)
- Where Do Good Ideas Come From: A Q&A With Steven Johnson (freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com)
