Nate’s Notes 206: How Innovation Really Happens | Martin Reeves and the Creation of the Like Button

Thanks for listening to this episode of Meikles & Dimes with Martin Reeves. Though we often think of innovation as heroic, deliberate, and isolated, it’s often serendipitous, unpredictable, and social. In fact, the idea of inventions as private property, which reinforces the often incorrect notion that inventions are made by single inventors, is a relatively recent invention in human history.

And then of course we never know the impact of innovation. The Like button blew up an industry and created a host of new challenges and problems to be solved.

In summary, whether in the field of academic papers, the creation of the Davy lamp, or a simple Like button, innovation is rarely an isolated, independent event.

That’s a simple idea. Please take it seriously.

Martin Reeves Bio:

Martin Reeves is chairman of the Boston Consulting Group’s Henderson Institute, a think tank dedicated to developing new insights from business, technology, economics, and science. He is a coauthor of several books, including his most recent book, Like, which describes the genesis of the Like button, which was created in part, by his co-author Bob Goodson. I hope you enjoy learning from Martin Reeves today.