Must-Read Book: The Innovators

How a group of hackers, geniuses, and geeks created the digital revolution

In this book, you learn

How innovators were able to turn their visionary ideas into disruptive realities

What led to their creative leaps

Why did some succeed and others fail

From huge, clunky machines to fast, globally connected handheld devices

The computer, programming, the transistor, the microchip, video games, the Internet, the personal computer, software, online, and the web; these are the technological breakthroughs that made modern devices and networks possible and made the digital revolution happen.

When we look at these advances in sequence, we realize that every innovation solved problems, but also created new challenges that needed to be addressed next. Speedy processing required more memory. A greater range of operations required separate programs. Ever-expanding calculating capabilities demanded simple user interfaces. Growing communities of users required vast networks to link them together.

Innovation was stimulated by necessity and demand, and driven by political, social, and economic issues. The challenges of World War II, the Cold War, and the space race created urgency to develop more powerful machines and to analyze data better and faster.

“The computer and the Internet are among the most important inventions of our era, but few people know who created them.”

Whether development was driven by the military, universities, or corporations, the digital revolution provides us with ever smaller, cheaper, faster, and more attractive devices.

The essential contribution of women

Women played pivotal roles in the development of the computer, particularly in wartime code-breaking and programming the ENIAC. In the early days of the revolution, women were recruited to punch cards — a task thought to be merely secretarial. Among the heroines of the digital era figure Ada Lovelace, who was honored by the US defense department when it named its high-level object-oriented digital language after her; and Grace Hopper, who long before Bill Gates recognized that hardware would become commoditized and that programming would be where the true value resided.

The fundamental elements of innovation

1- Collaboration and teamwork

“Most of the innovations of the digital age were done collaboratively.”

History shows that true innovation is rarely one single individual’s effort. It’s rather based on collaboration, integration and incremental improvements. In other words, innovation requires teamwork. Those teams benefit from the collaboration of both technical geniuses and practical operators. Google needed both Sergey Brin and Larry Page. Apple needed not only Steve Jobs but Steve Wozniak too. Microsoft needed as much Bill Gates as Paul Allen.

“The Internet was originally built to facilitate collaboration. By contrast, personal computers, especially those meant to be used at home, were designed as tools for individual creativity.”

Similar to these people, innovators must be ready to put their blood, sweat, and tears into their work and when their ideas failed, they must be ready to pivot and change course.

2- Combining faculties

Although scientific breakthroughs were necessary, engineers were also needed to put the big ideas of the digital revolution into practice, and business savvy was required to bring the product to market.

Innovation requires the interplay of different kinds of knowledge, such as mathematics, quantum physics, chemistry, metallurgy, logic, writing, marketing, and design. The combination of all these faculties brings together science and the humanities.

“The truest creativity of the digital age came from those who were able to connect the arts and sciences.”

In short, innovation comes from those who are able to link beauty to engineering, humanity to technology, and poetry to processors.

Takeaways

The first programmer was a woman, and her program was a result of mathematics and poetry.

The personal computer was invented by hackers and hippies.

The Internet was a combined effort by universities, the military, and private companies.

About the Author

Walter Isaacson is an American writer and journalist. He has been the chairman and CEO of CNN and Managing Editor of Time magazine. He has written the biographies of Leonardo da Vinci, Steve Jobs, Benjamin Franklin, and Albert Einstein.