Engineering Innovation

Here is a column I wrote about innovation a couple of weeks ago.

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In LA I had the luxury to pick a screenwriter's brain about innovation. Over dinner, he mentioned the following.

1) Most ideas are either bad or unoriginal.

2) It's important to know the field you're trying to innovate in. His recommendation for screenwriters is to see lots of movies and tv shows.

3) "Live a robust life". Most aspiring screenwriters write about an aspiring screenwriter who moves to Hollywood. Have a personal story worth telling.

While he meant these specifically for aspiring screenwriters, they apply to anyone who wants to come up with valuable ideas. Especially that last one.

NELP, a university program I went on a few years back, has the adage: "how vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live."