Physics, Complexity and Innovation
May 28, 2019 | Terry Sharrer
We’ve all seen the beginning of an innovative idea, and watched it grow into a start-up company, take off commercially, and be swallowed by a larger company that can only innovate by buying other peoples’ “inventions.” This thought-piece explains how innovation most often happens: “All phase transitions are the result of two competing forces, like the tug-of-war between binding energy and entropy in water. And that’s where we begin with teams and companies: when people organize into any kind of group with a mission, and a reward system tied to that mission, they also create two competing forces—two forms of incentives. We can think of the two competing incentives, loosely, as stake in outcome and perks of rank.” MORE
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