Make It New

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SHORTTAKES Renovate Before You Innovate: Why Doing the New Thing Might Not Be the Right Thing By Sergio Zyman with Arm in A. Brott

Books

PORTEOLIO, SEPTEMBER 2004 256 PAGES, S24.95

Make It New FORGET THE TERRIBLE TITLE (IT REFERS OBLIQUELY

to the electrical current generated when we think). Ignore the lackluster examples (do we really need to hear again from Dean Kamen of Segway Human Transporter fame or Jay Walker of Priceline.com?}, And don't look for stellar prose from this contributing writer to MIT's Technology Review.

But the fact that they need to is inherently stupid. As Myhrvold notes in the introduction; "Invention is to technology what conception is to reproduction—^the moment that makes something original and unprecedented. As such it is the high-valued activity." Schwartz tries to make this palatable to bean counters by arguing that innovation can be forced. He contends that all inventions fall into one of four categories:

Instead, concentrate on this: Schwartz, with lots of help from Microsoft Corp.'s former chief technology offiO Build a better mousetrap. You take cer, Nathan Myhrvold, Juice: The Creative Fuel that an existing concept who wrote the forDrives World-Ctass Inventors and improve it. ward, has created an By Evan I.Schwartz O Recognize a latent impassioned plea to HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL desire. Folks never boost innovation in PRESS, AUGUST 2004 224 PACES, S24.9S knew they needed a your company Walkman until Sony That is no small unveiled it. thing. Still smarting from the Internet meltdown, and trying to O Create something the world has been clammake a profit in an economy that seems to be oring for. The lightbulb, for instance. growing no faster than a bonsai tree, there is O Get lucky. Like the folks who created the a natural tendency to be conservative, to take microwave oven and the laser. incremental steps that build off what has While the list of categories might help come before.The problem is that small risks jump-startyourthinking,the book's real point, lead to small rewards. Schwartz wants you to as Myhrvold observes, is that there's never been swing for the fences instead, increasing your a better time to have big ideas—or an easier commitment to originality and daring. way to share them worldwide. Once you get past the initial cost, the busiSchwartz, author of Digital Darwinism, ness case is compelling, as Schwartz notes, wraps his argument around profiles of invenquoting everyone from economist Joseph tors in a variety of fields. Schumpeter ("Invention plus capital equals Two things become clear time and time innovation") to GE Chairman and CEO Jeffrey again. First, the innovations that make the Immelt ("The only long-term source of profit, biggest difference in our lives are never creand the only reason to invest in a company, is ated in a linear fashion. And second, innovation in large companies frequently becomes a your confidence in its ability to innovate"). stealth affair as people sneak off from thetr In 1940, Schwartz points out, the U.S. Census "real" jobs to work on something new. Bureau eliminated "inventor" as a separate job They fear, correctly, they will be penalized for category. It may be time to reinstate it. wasting resources, though that's inherent in PAUL B. BROWN is the author of numerous nonficthe invention process; after all, no one comes tion books, including Publishing Confidential, pubup with a working prototype first time out. lished by Amacom. Please send comments on this No wonder they hide what they are doing. review to [email protected].

Well,you can't say he doesn't know the subject matter. Zyman, who was in charge of marketing vwhen the CocaCola Co. introduced (and then pulled just 77 days later) New Coke, argues here that innovation is a) over-rated, b) costly and c) dangerous since it can potentially distract a company from what it does best. Renovation—by which he means revitalizing what you already have—is easier, he contends (because you already have a customer base} and faster (because you already have most of the expertise in-house). While Zyman lays out a framework for how to renovate efficiently, his major contribution is getting you to think about improving what you have before trying something radically new. The Art of the Start: The Time-Tested, BattleHardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything By Guy Kawasaki PORTFOLIO, SEPTEMBER 2004 240 PAGES, $26.95

Millions of trees have died needlessly to produce hundreds of books about turning an idea into a business. What saves this one, by an Apple Computer Inc. veteran who now runs a venture capital firm, is its relentlessly upbeat, inspirational tone—i.e., in starting your firm, you have a chance to change the world— and its incessant preaching about keeping your eye on the big picture. Concentrate on getting your product to market as soon as possible. Don't start out wasting a lot of time on processes. And from day one, figure out how your company is going to make money.