Borrowing Brilliance: The Six Steps to Business Innovation by Building on the Ideas of Others

There really is nothing new under the sun, says entrepreneur Murray. All good ideas are constructed out of already existing ones, and rather than viewing borrowing as theft, we should view it as a necessary—even desirable—path to invention. Charles Darwin did it, as did George Lucas, Steve Jobs, Stephen King and a host of other innovators who knew how to take existing ideas and turn them into new answers to old problems. Murray draws heavily on his own experience and well-known successes—the evolution of the Walkman to the iPod, for example—to drive home his thesis, and even dips into the neurology of idea creation. The somewhat hashed-to-death point takes a more practical turn as Murray explains how the average organization can borrow successfully; his “Brilliantly Borrowed Brainstorming” system effectively lays out the steps, from identifying a good idea to adapting it to one's own uses. While somewhat repetitive, Murray's prescriptions are lucid and helpful, and this book should garner prime shelf space. (Sept.)