From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
What I realised was, that in studying other manufacturing companies, in particular Toyota, I could see that their mechanism for distributing responsibility and pushing it far down the organisation turned them into a creative enterprise! This is the opposite of what most people think, which is that the purpose of manufacturing is to reliably produce the same thing over and over again.
For many years, motorsport resembled a pyramid—a well-established, widely recognized structure with Formula 1 at its pinnacle. When Formula E emerged, it occupied a completely different position. It remains somewhat set apart, and only in recent years has it begun to be recognized as established motorsport by the broader community.
The objective was to engage with endeavors so unique that they defied categorization, the pioneering ideas born on the fringes, among the mavericks.
Our core belief is in the immense potential of technology as a force multiplier, particularly when it's rendered accessible and intuitive. From the onset, we have viewed the internet through the lens of software, rather than merely brochureware.
I often tell students we work with that there will be moments when they, as newcomers, propose ideas or approaches that are innovative and correct simply because they bring a fresh perspective, uninfluenced by established norms or the supposed limits of what's possible.
The design and collaborative power of an individual engineer or technologist is more powerful than it's ever been. The tasks themselves are getting more accessible too. Putting a robotic spacecraft out into space is becoming fairly routine.
In the future, these kinds of blood tests will become commonplace. They will allow us to offer treatments for Alzheimer's disease 10, 20, or even 30 years before symptoms start to manifest, much like how we currently handle cholesterol. This early detection and intervention will be our strategy for combating Alzheimer's.
Israel is not called 'the start-up nation' for nothing. We have great statistics to show the number of start-ups per capita, the number of PhD's per capita, V/C Dollars per capita, Patents per capita and more. Israel creates a huge amount of innovative start-ups which are often bought out before they are even revenue producing!
My fun statement is that if I see the same thing, three times in one week, from disparate news or information sources, I have to move quickly as it's a trend that's likely to happen.
There's an entirely different category of knowledge, the utility of which isn't immediately apparent. This category is equally, if not more, crucial, especially for those aspiring to make creative or innovative strides.
When it comes to the growth of knowledge, you need to double down on the capacities you already have; you want to build on cities that possess a foundation. When you build in a remote location, costs skyrocket, attractiveness is hard to engineer, and the complementarities that help knowledge stick to a place simply aren't there.
80% of self-made billionaires we studied made their mark in mature, competitive markets. They weren't all 'exactly' new products that came out – they were maybe a variation of a business model or existing product that pleased the customer in a different way.