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The Myths of Innovation
book

The Myths of Innovation

by Scott Berkun
August 2010
Beginner
246 pages
5h 59m
English
O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Audiobook available
Content preview from The Myths of Innovation

Chapter 1. The myth of epiphany

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While waiting in the lobby of Google’s main building, I snuck into the back of a tour group heading inside. These outsiders, a mix of executives and business managers, had the giddy looks of kids in a candy factory—their twinkling eyes captivated by Google’s efforts to make a creative workplace. My clandestine activities unnoticed, we strolled together under the high ceilings and brightly colored open spaces designed to encourage inventiveness. No room or walkway was free of beanbag chairs, ping-pong tables, laptops, and Nerf toys, and we saw an endless clutter of shared games, brain-teasing puzzles, and customized tech gadgetry. The vibe was a happy blend of the MIT Media Lab, the Fortune 500, and an eccentrically architected private library, with young, smart, smiley people lingering just about everywhere. To those innocents on the tour, perhaps scarred survivors of cubicle careers, the sights at Google were mystical—a working wonderland. And their newfound Google awe was the perfect cover for me to tag along, observing their responses to this particular approach to the world of ideas (see Figure 1-1).

One of the creative interiors of Google’s main campus in Mountain View, California.
Figure 1-1. One of the creative interiors of Google’s main campus in Mountain View, California.

The tour, which I took in 2006 after they moved to their ...

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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9781449396374Errata Page