2023-08-27 22:01:16
You are certainly familiar with the heroic image of the innovator, a solitary and daring genius, capable of revolutionizing practices and upsetting certainties. According to this vision, widely popularized by the laudatory biographies of the great entrepreneurs of Silicon Valley, innovation would be a fundamentally contesting process, which would involve erasing the past to rebuild everything from a blank page.
However, this romantic imagery is very largely questionable: in general, innovators rely on what preceded them and their real talent consists above all in cleverly reinterpreting existing solutions. In fact, innovation most often begins with copying. To copy ? Of course, you might tell yourself that copying is wrong, that plagiarism is a form of theft, and that you should rather strive for originality at all costs. Now, which is more morally reprehensible: copying an existing idea to allow the greatest number to benefit from it, or having the infinite presumption that one is the first to have an idea that no one has ever had? As Goethe said: “Everything has already been thought of, just think it over once more”, to which André Gide added: “Everything has already been said, but since no one is listening…”
One of the favorite phrases of innovators is the famous quote from Pablo Picasso: “Good artists copy, great artists steal”. Legend has it that it was, for example, one of the favorite quotes of Steve Jobs, who readily admitted having borrowed the principle of the Macintosh interface from Xerox. In a completely metaphorical way, the artist Banksy has also attributed this quote to himself by signing it in place of Picasso in one of his works. Similarly, filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, generally acclaimed for his creativity, explains that most of his iconic scenes are reinterpretations of films that marked him: he reuses shots, costumes, sets and music. More generally, all scientific work begins with a meticulous review of the existing literature, all artists begin by soaking up the work of the great masters of the past, and all creators are inspired by their predecessors. Albert Einstein mischievously pointed out that “The secret of creativity is knowing how to conceal your sources”.
Most innovations, whether it be the Lumière brothers’ camera or the microwave oven, are in fact grafts, transplantations, existing solutions transposed into a different context. To absolutely want to start from a blank page is not only presumptuous, it is above all extremely costly and excessively risky. Wanting to challenge everything is the surest way to scare away funders and confuse users. By relying on what already exists, we reduce the probability of failure, we integrate more easily into the ecosystems already in place and we reassure customers accustomed to offers that they already know how to use.
All in all, innovation is more a matter of ingenuity than of genius, of practical cleverness than radicality and of do-it-yourself than of revolution. Want to innovate? Start by copying what inspires you: any copy being imperfect, it is in this imperfection that perhaps the novelty will reside, and this novelty will make you an innovator.
1693175606
#Frédéric #Fréry #ESCP #Business #School #True #innovators #foremost #copiers #Strategies #Management