“Good ideas are always crazy until they’re not.” — Larry Page

The Paradox of Innovation

“Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.” — Bertrand Russell

“To be great is to be misunderstood.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Your success in life is proportional to your willingness to be misunderstood for long periods of time. Real innovation is about everyone agreeing with you… later. If everyone agrees with you, you’re not truly innovating — you’re conforming.

“Those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

Dance to your music. Let everyone join in later.

True innovation is generally met with misunderstanding and ridicule — not applause. This is not a bug; it’s a feature. If an idea is genuinely novel, by definition no existing framework can fully accommodate it. The resistance you feel is evidence of originality, not a signal to stop.

Innovation needs failures — they are the tuition you pay for learning what works.

The Innovator’s DNA

1. 質疑
2. 觀察
3. 實驗
4. 建立人脈
5. ⭐️ 聯想 - 探索互不相干的新事物
   1. Pierre Omidyar - eBay
      1. He failed to buy shares in a hot tech company’s IPO, fueling a desire to build fairer, more efficient markets
      2. His fiancée wanted a hard-to-find mint tin candy box
      3. Local classified ads were terrible at matching niche buyers with sellers
   2. Steve Jobs - Apple
      1. Calligraphy (鑽研書法)
      2. Meditation in an Indian ashram (印度教僧院打坐)
      3. Mercedes-Benz craftsmanship (研究賓士汽車工藝)

The Long Nose of Innovation