Entrepreneur, innovator, inventor, and former Fortune 500 executive David Kord Murray was kind enough to take some time and answer a few questions about his provocative and insightful book on innovation Borrowing Brilliance: The Six Steps to Business Innovation by Building on the Ideas. Thanks to David for his intriguing and informative answers.
Your book is titled Borrowing Brilliance: The Six Steps to Business Innovation by Building on the Ideas. What was the background to writing this book and the significance of the title?
David Kord Murray: Borrowing Brilliance is about innovation and creativity and the title refers to the source of ideas: that you build new ideas out of existing ideas. Einstein said, “The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.” But don’t misunderstand this, you simply borrow the materials and then use these materials to construct a new idea. I studied hundreds of creative thinkers, and their ideas, and was able to trace the source of their great ideas from other ideas they borrowed. For example, Charles Darwin borrowed ideas from geology and economics in order to construct an idea for biology.
How do you define a brilliant or creative idea?
David Kord Murray: There are two elements to a creative idea: 1) one that’s new or different; and 2) one that’s useful. You could design a car with square wheels – it would be new and different – but it wouldn’t be very useful. In the book, I say that you build new ideas out of existing idea which is another way of saying that new ideas are “combinations” of existing ideas. To make them useful, you have to properly define the problem you’re trying to solve. An idea is the solution to a problem. For example, Sony invented the “Walkman” by combining a small tape player with a small pair of headphones -- a unique combination that no one else had made – and used it to solve a portable entertainment problem.
What are some examples of borrowed brilliance happening in the real world?
David Kord Murray: Apple is particularly good at evolution. Every few months a new iPod comes out, they’re going to announce a new one next week. I’m sure it’s going to be a little bit better than the one before it … maybe it’ll have more memory, more intuitive controls, better battery life. And you can see how they combined it with cell phone technology and came up with the IPhone … and it too continues to evolve. Re-defining their problems, and then re-engineering them to solve these problems. They understand that the process never ends.
If people do borrow ideas freely from others, why don't many of those people admit that the idea was borrowed from someone else?
David Kord Murray: Because they’re afraid to and/or because they don’t realize they’ve done it. We’re taught that taking ideas is wrong. We’ve developed a legal system that discourages it in the form of patents and trademarks. But the reality is that ideas are built out of existing ideas – all of them – that’s how the mind works. You can’t make something out of nothing. However, you need to borrow and combine – not just borrow – just borrowing is stealing an idea. You need to improve it by re-structuring it, adding or subtracting things to it, or reorganizing it. Most of this happens in the subconscious, in the shadows of the mind, and so you don’t always know where the idea came from, even if you originated it.
David Kord Murray (photo left)
For creating business ideas, how do many of the best ideas originate outside of business?
David Kord Murray: Not enough. The further from your industry that you borrow an idea, the more creative the idea. If you borrow directly from a competitor, then that’s not very creative. If you borrow from another industry, well that’s more creative. If you borrow from outside industry, like from nature, the arts or the sciences – then that’ll be truly creative. (But don’t pass up good ideas just because they don’t have a strong creative perception.)
The book is about creative thinking and ideas. How does a person begin the creative process?
David Kord Murray: It begins with the problem. Identifying it. Understanding it. And then defining it and re-defining it. When I’m working on a concept development team we spend a lot of time on the problem. The first chapter of my book is devoted to understanding problems and how to define them. For example, In the 1920’s Henry Ford defined his problem as “building the least expensive car.” And he did and was very successful. But William Durant over at General Motors defined the problem a little differently, he said “let’s build a car that people can afford.” This led to a huge innovation … the formation of GMAC and the financing of automobiles. GM was able to make much more interesting cars and make them affordable through monthly payments.
When an idea is created, how does it evolve to a final form?
David Kord Murray: Ideas are constantly evolving. For the creative thinker, there never is a final form. Look at Facebook. It began as a website for Harvard University freshman. It was a place you could go to check out pictures and bios of the incoming freshman class. In fact, Mark Zuckerberg originally copied the HOT OR NOT site – where you ranked two pictures of incoming freshman – who was better looking. But today it’s one of the top social networking sites, 250 Million users. They’re constantly adding new things, solving problems, and making unique combinations of things. Things like a “wall” to post messages. Photo albums. And status updates. They pass judgment and then enhance the site. And if they don’t … someone else will. They go back and re-define, re-borrow and re-combine.
Do you think Apple has a final form for the IPod? Of course, in business we have to make decisions about when the product is ready for market. But those are business decisions, not creativity decisions.
What is the first step a business person should take toward developing creative ideas, and borrowing brilliance?
David Kord Murray: Again, I think it begins with the problem. My six step process is:
Step One: Defining—Define the problem you’re trying to solve.
Step Two: Borrowing—Borrow ideas from places with a similar problem.
Step Three: Combining—Connect and combine these borrowed ideas.
Step Four: Incubating—Allow the combinations to incubate into a solution.
Step Five: Judging—Identify the strength and weakness of the solution.
Step Six: Enhancing—Eliminate the weak points while enhancing the strong ones.
What is next for David Murray?
David Kord Murray: I’m going on the road for two months to evangelize about creative thinking. I’ve got speaking engagements and I’m visiting with dozens and dozens of companies interested in innovating. I think people realize that creativity and innovation are no longer an option, and every business and every employee needs to understand the concepts of creativity, and how to become more creative.
My book review of Borrowing Brilliance: The Six Steps to Business Innovation by Building on the Ideas by David Kord Murray.
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