Voices
NAVEEN
JAIN
HUFFINGTON
07.15.12
Why Non-Experts
are Better at
Disruptive Innovation
BESTSELLING AUTHOR Malcolm
Gladwell says it takes 10,000
hours to become expert at something, whether it’s playing the
guitar, charting the stars or writing software code. In his landmark book, Outliers: The Story
of Success, Gladwell looks at why
certain people are successful and
postulates that, among other
things, a combination of circumstances and the ability to become
expert at something produces truly exceptional people and ideas.
That’s an interesting thesis on
the part of Gladwell, and perhaps
true in yesteryear, but in today’s
world of growing exponential
technologies, I beg to differ.
I believe that people who will
come up with creative solutions
ILLUSTRATION BY MIKE LEMANSKI
h: 360 px
w: 341 px
@ 300 dpi
to solve the world’s biggest problems — ecological devastation,
global warming, the global debt
crisis and distribution of dwindling natural resources, to name
a few — will not be experts in
their fields. The real disruptors
will be those individuals who are
Naveen Jain
is the founder
of World
Innovation
Institute,
Moon
Express,
inome and
InfoSpace