

"Lucky things happen to entrepreneurs who start innovative, morally compelling companies." - vlad
http://www.inc.com/welcome.html?aw=600&ah=600&destination=http://www.inc.com/magazine/20050101/lucky-or-smart.html

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jfornear
Inspiring read...

 _The countless meetings with absolute assholes who had no interest in
learning about the Internet, the single most significant business innovation
of their lifetimes._

What do you think will be the next significant business innovation of our
lifetimes? While we're on the topic of luck and timing...

~~~
rokhayakebe
We had Printing, then Manufacturing came, and now Networking. Frankly I do not
see any other significant business innovation coming. If there were to be any,
I would hope we would see new methods that speed the process of finding new
drugs (not narcotics).

~~~
Hexstream
"Frankly I do not see any other significant business innovation coming."

You have a severe lack of imagination. Consider that while there will be N
business innovations in all, there will only be one that will be the last. So
I'd say it's more likely there will be many more than no more.

~~~
rokhayakebe
In the article the "business innovation" was the Internet (computer
networking). Innovation in such a magnitude wont happen again anytime soon.

That is the same magnitude of change that was brought by Printing and
Manufacturing. Every other innovation was/is a byproduct of those advances.

But if you may can you please give an idea of the next significant business
innovation?

~~~
brand
It's bad form to ask him to defend his point when you're defending your own by
reiteration. Why won't innovation in such a magnitude 'happen again anytime
soon'?

~~~
rokhayakebe
Because disruptive, game-changing, mind-flipping innovations take years to be
accepted. Only a few individuals will understand the potential impact, the
rest won't see it or understand it if they witnessed it.

So maybe that "next big thing" is already here. Maybe you saw it, read about
it here or heard a couple of nerds talking about it, but chances are you would
not care for it, or appreciate it because you would not know it.

The next big thing is the unknown unknown and it takes years for people to
comprehend it.

~~~
nailer
Maybe that (generally) unknown unknown is gene therapy? Look at the recent
discoveries of communities with strong genetic HIV resistance.

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CalmQuiet
Yes it's an interesting story. And _sometimes_ lucky things happen to
innovative and morally compelling enterprises. But competence, attunement to
developing markets, and a cautious nature that happens to cause you to divest
from a dotcoms just before the bubble bursts... Well, it's only _partly_ about
"luck." ...or being morally compelling. ...and sometimes benefits scoundrels,
too.

So there are no new morals in this story.

As for "the next significant business innovation(s) of our lifetimes." There
are those that we are harnessing our _vision_ and _persistence_ to make happen
right now.

------
Hexstream
"The second difference between business luck and everyday luck is that luck in
business can be created, whereas everyday luck cannot. You can't will yourself
to find $20 on the sidewalk. But you can create a company that gets lucky more
often than the average company. Indeed, there is a pseudo-scientific formula
for creating business luck. The key element is this: Lucky things happen to
entrepreneurs who start fundamentally innovative, morally compelling, and
philosophically positive companies.

Why? Because lots of smart people will gather around companies with these
qualities. As it turns out, precious few such companies exist. And the vast
majority of human beings, and certainly most of the smart ones, are
constitutionally caring creatures who would, if given the chance, prefer to
spend their valuable time in a positive setting contributing to the betterment
of society rather than in a negative setting contributing to its detriment.
Shocking, I know, but true."

 _In other words, karma exists and it's social!_

------
diN0bot
> "Unbeknownst to me, and surely with some sort of anarchic motive, these
> lawless, long-haired, multi-pierced, tattooed, incredibly charming and smart
> hacker hooligans built a piece of software on Tripod that had nothing to do
> with offering practical advice to anyone. Instead, this software gave
> individuals the power to publish their own "personal homepages.""

this is why developers should seek to get paid for their work as well as
receive shares.

~~~
tom_rath
Getting equity is pretty spiffy. It also implies you're taking on risk to
receive it.

Would you be willing to forfeit your salary for a few months if things didn't
work out and revenue dried up, or are you only interested in an arrangement
that rewards you with ownership and a guaranteed salary regardless of
performance?

------
davi
"I have often dreamed of a study that somehow measures the impact of ego on
workplace productivity. The results, I imagine, would be staggering, with as
much as a 50 percent increase in productivity resulting from the eradication
of egos."

I've wondered if the surge in productivity following WWII was, in part, due to
something like this.

