More RFID Journal Sites: RFID Journal Espanol RFID Journal Brasil RFID Journal Events RFID Journal Awards
Manufacturing EXPERT VIEWS
Text size:
T
T
T
Innovation Is Stupid
Amazon, eBay and Google were all dumb ideas.
By Kevin Ashton
June 7, 2010—Congratulations to this year's RFID Journal Award winners—Minera Norge, the Roy and Patricia Disney Family Cancer Center and Colombia's Almacafé—for their successful uses of RFID. When I hear great stories like theirs, I often wonder about the moment the innovation was conceived. Most conversations about new ideas, I suspect, go something like this:
Innovator (nervously): "I have this idea. It may sound a little crazy, but I think maybe we could [insert innovative idea here]."
Coworkers (laughing): "You want to do what? That's crazy."
Skeptic One: "That will never work. It's already been tried, and it's impossible because [major objection here, probably citing immutable laws of physics]."
Skeptic Two: "Even if it could work, no one would want it because [another major objection here, something to do with the way things have always been done around here]."
Skeptic Three: "Anyway, if it's such a good idea [insert name of some other, probably larger, company here] would have done it already."
Coworkers (nodding and laughing again): "So we all agree, it's a stupid idea."
Innovator (sadly): "I said it might sound a little crazy."
more Manufacturing articles
June 7, 2010—Congratulations to this year's RFID Journal Award winners—Minera Norge, the Roy and Patricia Disney Family Cancer Center and Colombia's Almacafé—for their successful uses of RFID. When I hear great stories like theirs, I often wonder about the moment the innovation was conceived. Most conversations about new ideas, I suspect, go something like this:
Innovator (nervously): "I have this idea. It may sound a little crazy, but I think maybe we could [insert innovative idea here]."
|
Skeptic One: "That will never work. It's already been tried, and it's impossible because [major objection here, probably citing immutable laws of physics]."
Skeptic Two: "Even if it could work, no one would want it because [another major objection here, something to do with the way things have always been done around here]."
Skeptic Three: "Anyway, if it's such a good idea [insert name of some other, probably larger, company here] would have done it already."
Coworkers (nodding and laughing again): "So we all agree, it's a stupid idea."
Innovator (sadly): "I said it might sound a little crazy."
