Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World
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As economist Joseph Schumpeter famously observed, originality is an act of creative destruction.
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“On matters of style, swim with the current,” Thomas Jefferson allegedly advised, but “on matters of principle, stand like a rock.”
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After all, if you don’t swing for the fences, it’s impossible to hit a home run.
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If you’re about to bet aggressively in blackjack, you might drive below the speed limit on your way to the casino.
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But in reality, the biggest barrier to originality is not idea generation—it’s idea selection.
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“You gotta kiss a lot of frogs,” he often told his team, “before you find a prince.”
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Being original doesn’t require being first. It just means being different and better.
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As psychologist Abraham Maslow noted, when you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
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The experimental approach served Leonardo da Vinci well: he was forty-six when he finished painting The Last Supper and in his early fifties when he started working on the Mona Lisa.
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In The Godfather: Part II, Michael Corleone advises, “Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.”
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As journalist Robert Quillen wrote, “Progress always involves risk. You can’t steal second and keep one foot on first base.”