How Breakthroughs Happen: The Surprising Truth About How Companies Innovate

by Andrew Hargadon, Kathleen M. Eisenhardt (Foreword by)

This book presents lessons from the famous 'Invention Factories' past and present. Did you know that the incandescent lightbulb first emerged some thirty years before Thomas Edison famously 'turned night into day'? Or that Henry Ford's revolutionary assembly line came from an unlikely blend of observations from Singer sewing machines, meatpacking, and Campbell's Soup? In this fascinating study of innovation, engineer and social scientist Andrew Hargadon argues that our romantic notions about innovation as invention are actually undermining our ability to pursue breakthrough innovations. Based on ten years of study into the origins of historic inventions and modern innovations from the lightbulb to the transistor to the Reebok Pump athletic shoe, How Breakthroughs Happen takes us beyond the simple recognition that revolutionary innovations do not result from flashes of brilliance by lone inventors or organizations. In fact, innovation is really about creatively recombining ideas, people, and objects from past technologies in ways that spark new technological revolutions. This process of 'technology brokering' is so powerful, explains Hargadon, because it exploits the networked nature--the social side--of the innovation process. Moving between historical accounts of labs and factory floors where past technological revolutions originated and field studies of similar processes in today's organizations, Hargadon shows how technology brokers create an enduring capacity for breakthrough innovations. Technology brokers simultaneously bridge the gaps in existing networks that separate distant industries, firms, and divisions to see how established ideas can be applied in new ways and places, and build new networks to guide these creative recombinations to mass acceptance. How Breakthroughs Happen identifies three distinct strategies for technology brokering that managers can implement in their organizations. Hargadon suggests that Edison and his counterparts were no smarter than the rest of us-they were simply better at moving through the networked world of their time. Intriguing, practical, and counterintuitive, How Breakthroughs Happen can help managers transform their own firms into modern-day invention factories.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Startup, Education

272 pages, Hardcover

First published June 5, 2003

Reviews

[Fabian · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Idea of a Technology Broker I found to be very compelling. Meaning someone who make connections between different fields to create a new field.

Also debunking the myth of the sole inventor make a lot of sense.

And the fact that inventions are often a combination of previous inventions istead of something completely new. So one has to look in the past to invent for the future.

Great book overall.

[Rich Guess · Rating 3 out of 5]

Technology brokering as a concept is good, the book does a good job of setting up the concepts and provides good examples. The last quarter(ish) of the book feels like a rehash of the topic, so it gets a little redundant at the end.

[Cciufo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Met the author at a conference and he gave me a copy of his book. For me, this material is like "mother's milk" - I completely subscribe to his theories and I know that they work.

However, the book became redundant at times. As well, it sometimes seemed like the book added more "structure" to his theory than was necessary, perhaps to legitimize it.

Regardless, this is a must-read for any techie or tech company executive. Andrew is totally on target with this material.

[Jerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

The corporate world is once again on fire about innovation, yet they usually fail to see that it shows up from unexpected, unplanned, un-"strategic" initiatives.

[Jack Vinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://blog.jackvinson.com/archives/2...

[Lori Grant · Rating 3 out of 5]

An optional-read book on innovation for knowledge workers and entrepreneurs.

[SizemoreLabs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Central message: don't bother trying to create something entirely new. Innovate by combining parts of existing inventions.

[Michael Sizemore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Central message: don't bother trying to create something entirely new. Innovate by combining parts of existing inventions.