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MurBorr 09-12-174 |
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Borrowing
Brilliance The
Six Steps to Business Innovation by Building on the Ideas of Others David
Kord Murray Gotham
Books, 2009, 292 pp. ISBN 978-1-592-40478-0 |
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Murray is an entrepreneur, inventor, and
executive. He claims there are no
original ideas, that all new ideas and innovations are “borrowed” and
reassembled. His goal is to “take the
creative process out of the shadows of the subconscious mind and bring it
into the conscious world.” (Introduction)
His six-step process is well illustrated with fascinating examples,
including examples from his own life, making the book very interesting and
providing insight into the author’s personality. It draws a number of parallels (misguidedly
in my opinion) between creative thinking and the “blind self-organizing
principles” of Nature. The first section of the book is about the origin
of an idea and it follows a construction metaphor. The first three steps are:
The second section is about the evolution of an
idea and it uses an organic assembly metaphor for its structure. The last three steps are:
(Introduction) Part I. The Origin of a
Creative Idea Chapter One. The First
Step—Defining The Problem as the Foundation of the Creative Idea Every good idea is a solution to a well-defined
problem. How the problem is defined
determines how it is solved. It is
more difficult to see the problem than to solve it. A good formulation of a problem is more
essential than the solution. “Constructing an idea foundation involves:
identifying a problem (choosing a site); determining root cause (laying the
footings); and understanding the scope (pouring the foundation).” (38) “Observation is the act of studying the
production and destruction of patterns.” (44) To get to the root cause, keep
asking “Why,” like a little child. After identifying a problem, define the set of
problems that surround it, a whole hierarchy of problems, each originating
from one above and creating more below.
Having identified the problem you begin gathering
materials to solve it. Borrow from
people, places, organizations, and things with a similar problem. Then ask what problems will be created by
the solution of this one! Decide which problem to begin solving. Do I start high or low? If the question is marketing, do I start by
deciding whether to use direct marketing or what color envelope and type of
insert to use? See the problems as a
chain. Look for the weak link? Chapter Two. The Second
Step—Borrowing Using an Exiting Idea as the Material to Construct a New Idea You borrow ideas and combine them with other
things to construct your creation. The
farther away from your subject you borrow materials, the more creative your
solution appears. If you borrow the
solution from your competitor, you’re a copy cat, and may risk legal
trouble. If you borrow an idea from
nature or poetry or your childhood experience, you’re a genius. “Keep your eyes open, hone your observational
skills. Observe your customers. Look for the making and breaking of
patterns.” (80) Observe both problems
and solutions. Scott Cook noticed that
customers were using a personal finance program for their small businesses
and he developed QuickBooks. Every
idea has an opposite. Look at
opposites for a novel approach. “Business history is filled with stories of
companies doing the opposite of the market leader and becoming market leaders
themselves.” (88) Seven-up marketed
itself as the “uncola.” Look into areas similar to yours. Look at nature. George de Mestral invented Velcro after observing
how burrs stuck to his socks. SONAR
and RADAR were patterned the guidance system of bats. Chapter Three. The Third
Step—Combining Connecting Existing Ideas to Form the Structure of the New Idea “Every idea is an amalgam of ideas that came
before….” (107) “By using a metaphor,
a comparison of one thing to another, you intellectually connect the two
things. Once this connection is made,
the metaphor is extended and the two things are allowed to grow, merging the
two ideas together.” (110) The extension of the metaphor creates the
framework for your idea. “Creative
thinkers are metaphorical thinkers.” (111)
Imagination is the result of new metaphorical understandings. (112)
The combining of ideas gives birth to a new thing. George Lucas combined mythology and science
fiction to produce Star Wars. Mark
Zuckerberg used the metaphor of a college yearbook to produce Facebook. Part II. The Evolution of a
Creative Idea Chapter Four. The Fourth
Step—Incubating The Subconscious Mind as the Womb for a Creative Idea Effective thinking is sometimes not thinking at
all. Put the idea away. Let it incubate. Your subconscious mind makes connections
your conscious gatekeeper won’t allow.
Feed your subconscious. “Repeat
to yourself: 1) What problem am I
trying to solve? 2) What solutions can I borrow to solve it? And 3) What
combinations can I make to solve it?
Write the problem out. Describe
the borrowed ideas. And start making
metaphorical combinations. Then
periodically review what you’ve written. …
You’re just trying to teach your subconscious….” (153) Pause in your thinking routine. Take breaks. Take walks. Spend time not thinking. Listen to your subconscious feelings. ”Listen to your mind when it hands you an
idea.” (171) Often misunderstandings
are the gateway to the subconscious.
What did you read, hear, or say wrong that turns out to be a pretty
good idea? Chapter Five. The Fifth
Step—Judging Judgment as the Driving Mechanism in the Evolution of an Idea Judgment is a means to enhance ideas, to drive
the evolution of them. Look for the weaknesses and strengths of an idea. Look for the potential objections. But before discarding it, look for the
value in it. What piece of it can you
use? What should survive? Use your imagination. Debate the strengths and weaknesses. Attack and defend your ideas. Eliminate the flaws and enhance the strengths. And examine how you feel about it. Feelings
often indicate something going on in your subconscious that may surface with
logic later on. Emotional judgment can
often sense an inconsistency or a beauty that pure logic misses. Intuition is the magnificent side of
judgment. Chapter 6. The Sixth
Step—Enhancing Trial and Error as the Passage to the Creative Solution The left brain takes things apart and the right
brain puts them together, perceiving the whole. Creative thinking needs right-brained skills
to be able to see how the pieces fit together, the form they make. Otherwise you get lost in details. The sixth step is really an iteration of
the first five, going through the process again, re-defining the problem,
re-borrowing materials, re-combining the structure, re-incubating the
solution, and re-judging it all again.
“In business, simplicity is critical because the
competition for solutions is fierce. … So you have to provide the world with
a simple idea, something easy to understand and pass, or else it gets lost in
the shuffle. Unnecessary complexity
kills it.” (239) When Murray worked for Intuit selling income tax
software, they had a 20% response rate on mailings asking people to update
for the next year – an unheard of mailing response. His boss wanted it improved! The solution: Murray mailed the software with an invoice
and a simple welcome rather than sending a promo mailer with sales
language. The customer only had to
send the fee to get the key to unlock the software in his hands that it appeared he had already ordered! |
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