Worth a read

Tuesday, 24 November 2009 04:59

The power of productive borrowing

“Borrowing Brilliance: The Six Steps to Business Innovation by Building on the Ideas of Others”, written by David Kord Murray, was released in South Africa in September 2009. It describes the power of piggybacking ideas in the development of innovation – a meta-review.

What is it all about?

According to author Murray, there is no such thing as a truly original idea. From Gutenberg through to the Google boys, most successful business ideas came about because someone borrowed or adapted an idea from somewhere else. Success therefore depends not on groundbreaking innovation, but rather on one’s ability to pick and then combine others’ ideas to solve current problems and create new opportunities.

“Borrowing Brilliance” provides a six-step programme to borrowing ideas. Once you have defined the problem you want to solve, you then move on to search for solutions developed by others with similar problems. Thereafter the material you have gained is refined and is reworked into innovative solutions.

“Borrowing Brilliance” is filled with examples and anecdotes, and discusses the borrowing of people as diverse as Charles Darwin, Steve Jobs and George Lucas.
One of the key lessons of the book is that ideas can be borrowed from sectors different to your own – for example, from the scientific, entertainment and arts industries.
According to Murray, brilliance is within the reach of us all – as long as we know where to look and borrow from.

Who is the author?

David Kord Murray began his career as an aerospace engineer working on the conceptual development of the International Space Station. He has also been an entrepreneur, inventor and Fortune 500 executive. “Borrowing Brilliance” is his first book.

What do others say?

“Borrowing Brilliance” is described as a simple, practical and easy-to-read book that provides new insight into practical problem solving. Murray has also been praised for the storytelling style of the book (as opposed to a textbook approach).
Murray received most praise for the fact that “Borrowing Brilliance” demystifies the innovation process and shows that creativity, rather than being inborn, is a learned skill.
However, some criticised the fact that “Borrowing Brilliance” is repetitive at times, with both ideas and anecdotes being referred to more than once.

Australian Women and Leadership Forum: "In contrast to some of his heroes – such as Malcolm Gladwell and Edward DeBono – Murray’s debut book is less ambitious in its scope or challenge. But that lends it a certain strength. “Borrowing Brilliance” presents a singular message, teased out in step-by-step analysis. Given its lucid arguments, “Borrowing Brilliance” has scope to find wide appeal amongst the majority of us otherwise intimidated by the idea of brilliance."
“BusinessWeek”: "Murray repeats his main points – even some anecdotes. But his aim is to demystify the thing that makes many a manager sweat profusely. And he’s living proof the method can produce results."

How do I get hold of it?

“Borrowing Brilliance” is published in South Africa by Arrow Books. It is available at Exclusive Books at a recommended retail price of R219.00.

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