Malcolm Gladwell's latest article in the New Yorker is about ideas and inventions.
Instead of waiting around for brilliance to arrive, at Intellectual Ventures they put the smart people together in a room and pretty much instruct them to dream up important new things.
And guess what: it works!
My first thought is: Wow, innovation is available practically whenever we want it. You just have to decide you want to innovate, and then get the smart people together with a tape recorder, food, and an aggressive lawyer. (Actually, read the whole article -- there's plenty more to it, but close enough.)
My second thought is: Basketball could use some innovation.
If I could put ten really smart people together in a room, a few things I'd want to put on the agenda:
I'm sure there a million others. Fire away in the comments. Then maybe we should actually hold this brainstorming session.
