“No matter who you are, most of the smartest people work for someone else.” This quotation is widely attributed to Bill Joy, co-founder of Sun Microsystems. Whenever you begin thinking that unlearning may no longer be necessary just remember this quotation. If nothing else, it should help keep you humble and open to the idea [...]
Create a Mental Detour
August 22, 2012 By 1 Comment
For the past six months a local bridge in my neighborhood has been undergoing a major renovation. Initially, I considered it quite a hassle because the bridge served as a link to my favorite grocery and liquor stores (and this summer has been very hot and I enjoy a cold beer!) Over time, I’ve adjusted. I [...]
Unlearning & Creativity
October 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment
This past summer IBM released a survey of 1500 CEO’s across the globe and they said that creativity was the most important leadership quality for guaranteeing future success. How does one become creative, though? Part of the answer begins with the ability to unlearn. It’s now generally understood that today’s more successful companies have figured out [...]
Heroic Failure
September 30, 2011 By Leave a Comment
If you want to facilitate creativity and encourage innovation you are going to have to embrace the idea that many ideas and products will end in failure. Failure, as I have said before, is thus something that must be encouraged. But how does one “encourage” failure? One idea, which was suggested in this article, is [...]
A Man Unlearns
August 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment
The following poem was written by an unknown monk living in the 11th century. It’s relevance to today is, however, undiminished. When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world. I found it was difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation. When I found I couldn’t change [...]
