The Medici effect : breakthrough insights at the intersection of ideas, concepts, and cultures

Includes Index.

The intersection: your best chance to innovate: monkeys and mind readers -- The rise of intersections: the sounds of Shakira and the emotions of Shrek -- Break down the barriers between fields: sea urchin lollipops and Darwin's finches -- How to make the barriers fall: Heathrow Tunnel and restaurants without food -- Randomly combine concepts: card games and sky rises -- How to find the combinations: meteorite crashes and code breakers -- Ignite an explosion of ideas: submarines and tubular bells -- How to capture the explosion: MacGyver and boiling potatoes -- Execute past your failures: violence and school curricula -- How to succeed in the face of failure: Palm Pilots and counterproductive carrots -- Break out of your network: ants and truck drivers -- How to leave the network behind: penguins and meditation -- Take risks and overcome fear: airplanes and serial entrepreneurs -- How to adopt a balanced view of risk: elephants and epidemics -- Step into the intersection and create the Medici effect.

Why do so many world-changing insights come from people with little or no related experience? Charles Darwin was a geologist when he proposed the theory of evolution. And it was an astronomer who finally explained what happened to the dinosaurs.

Frans Johanssons The Medici Effect shows how breakthrough ideas most often occur when we bring concepts from one field into a new, unfamiliar territory, and offers examples how we can turn the ideas we discover into path-breaking innovations.