Read this. Evslin is exactly right when he writes that
no survey or focus group will ever tell you what the next great thing is going to be. That kind of idea, that kind of product, comes from visionaries who understand a new technology well enough to dream up an unintended use and who are stubborn and skillful enough to implement what nobody even knew to want.
To design a product that changes lives – that’s what I want to do. Not exactly the most straightforward task, though. Tom, if you’re reading this through the trackbacks – or anyone else who reads this post – how exactly do you develop this sort of vision? Are you born with it? Can you develop it? Plan for it? Or is it simply luck?
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
I’ve been lucky enough to know a few people who have
this capability and I think they were born with it.
However, I don’t think it’s extremely rare, just
rarely exercised.
In order to be effective at creating paradigm-shifting
products, you need to discipline yourself out of
herd-think. This is very difficult since we are
genetically programmed to follow the leader.