Week 4 Reading Reflection

          The biggest surprise for me in this week's reading was regarding the major misconceptions of innovation. At first glance, I thought that technology and engineering of innovative products was very planned. After reading the text, I realized that the try/test/revise approach to innovation could be extremely effective. It was also interesting to read that small projects do in fact develop better innovations than larger projects because they encourage working in more effective teams. Finally, the author pointed out that, while technology is a driving force for innovation, customers and markets have an even larger impact on the probability of success.

          The exercise about our two brain hemispheres was slightly confusing for me. I am very verbal and logical in my thinking so I had some difficulty when I was trying to think of right-hemisphere-type-solutions to problems as described in the text. One question I would ask the author would be, "do you think you used your left-hemisphere skills or your right-hemisphere skills better when writing the textbook?" Another question I would ask would be, "which principle of innovation do you feel is most important to success?" I already have my own opinions on these questions and it would be interesting to see how my views compare to the author's. One slight difference of opinion between the author and I would be that I don't think they gave technology enough credit for its huge impact on the innovative process and on customers. Technology has drastically changed the entrepreneurial mindset in recent decades and has made the entire world much more interconnected as a global market for entrepreneurs to find a niche in.

Top 5 World Problems

Rank-ordering the world's five biggest problems from "most serious" to "least serious"

1. The water crisis

2. Radical terrorist groups

3. Fuel (need for alternate sources)

4. Nuclear weapons

5. Climate change and extreme weather events

          I chose the water crisis as the top problem because I believe there is a lack of awareness and a lack of urgency about the issue. Many countries around the world don't have a potable water supply and the countries that do are using up their resources faster than they can be replenished. There is just not much being done about this issue worldwide and I think it will begin to creep up on us this century. Radical terrorist groups are also an imminent threat. They can strike unexpectedly at any time, which places them near the top of my list. Nuclear weapons are behind radical terrorist groups in my mind because a nuclear strike requires more coordination and desperation. A nuclear strike is pretty clearly less likely than a terrorist attack to occur. Climate change is also a huge issue that can hopefully be corrected over time.

          

Rank-ordering solutions to the world's five biggest problems from "most-possible to implement to least-possible to implement"

1. Using alternate resources such as solar power and electricity as fuel

2. The "green movement"

3. developing ways to conserve water consumption

4. improved screening of immigrants

5. weakening the threat of nuclear warfare

          Finding alternate energy resources is a very feasible solution compared to some of the other things listed. There have already been many advancements in this field and I only anticipate more. Although the price of oil has become much more reasonable over the past year, we do not have an endless supply of oil. Solar power, wind energy, and electricity are the future of fueling vehicles. The "green movement" has also already began to an extent. I believe society is buying in to this collective eco-friendly mindset. Finally, screening of immigrants to protect against terrorism and reducing the threat of nuclear warfare are much more difficult solutions to implement efficiently and effectively.