Since I like to simplify things, let’s simplify the world of medicine into two types:

1. Preventive medicine (e.g., a daily baby aspirin to prevent heart attacks);
2. Emergency medicine (e.g., a clot-busting drug injected during a heart attack).

Now, if we’re talking about you and your personal heart, which one of those two would you prefer?

Unless your masochistic tendencies are higher than mine, I’m guessing you chose #1, right?

I’d like to suggest that you start thinking of innovation as preventive ...

Innovation comes in all shapes and sizes.

Take the first iPod, for example. What an innovation!

Oh, I’m not talking about the device itself.

I’m talking about the marketing campaign.

Look, the iPod was an innovation, sure. But what was it, really?

It was, at its core, just a 5 GB hard drive. That’s all. And Apple could have marketed it that way. “Looky what we just made—a really small, really cool looking 5 GB hard drive!!!”

How do you think THAT would have sold?

But what ...