innovation

P&G used to have somebody in charge of what they called commercial innovation, which is broadly defined as selling your product in different ways, without fundamentally changing the product itself.

Rail travel is a great example of an industry that is ripe for commercial innovation.

In Germany they have the BahnCard. A 25, 50, or 100 BahnCard are... See more

When you’re focused on something few others are thinking about, you find yourself constantly making the case to yourself and others that your vision is worth pursuing and worthy of other people’s attention. This ongoing need to justify your work creates a significant emotional overhead.

One does not get a jet engine by improving the propeller. One does not breed horses until they give birth to a car. Telephones did not come from research on mail. Where on earth did the inspiration for the transistor and these other "leaps" of innovation come from to begin with?

Take a coniferous forest. The hierarchy in scale of pine needle, tree crown, patch, stand, whole forest, and biome is also a time hierarchy. The needle changes within a year, the crown over several years, the patch over many decades, the stand over a couple of centuries, the forest over a thousand years, and the biome over ten thousand years. The... See more