Chapter 4
A Respect for the Origin of Ideas
Ever since I was a boy, I’ve known the adage, “There’s nothing new under the sun.” I interpreted this to mean that, wherever the sun shines, there are no truly original ideas—not lately anyway. The puzzlement is that, if there are no truly new ideas, then what is innovation all about? Didn’t Jonas Salk invent a totally new vaccine that eliminated a dreaded disease from the Earth? You may ask, “Isn’t the iPod a brand new idea that has revolutionized personal portable entertainment and made Apple, Inc. even more powerful?”
Universal Principles
I have come to my own reconciliation of the “nothing’s ...
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