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The Secret Truth About Executing Great Ideas
Video

The Secret Truth About Executing Great Ideas

99U, 2011

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Editorial Rating

7

Qualities

  • Applicable

Recommendation

Frans Johansson explains that most tales of success begin with chapters full of failure, disappointment and frustration. It’s those who experiment, persevere and adjust who ultimately win the day. Johansson’s delivery is a bit scattered and confusing, but he’s enthusiastic and raises salient points. He cites examples of great ideas brought to completion, including the “burqini” (a burqa-type swimsuit), Muhammad Yunus’s Grameen Bank and the ice hotel tourist attraction in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden. If you think you have a breakthrough idea that will leave your mark on the world, getAbstract recommends that you watch this presentation and then think of some more.

Summary

Designing a bikini isn’t particularly innovative. But creating a burqa that Muslim women can wear comfortably in the water proved a runaway hit. Aheda Zanetti invented the “burqini,” a successful innovation, by combining two different entities to create something entirely new. Winning concepts form at the sweet spot where widely dissimilar industries, cultures or fields intersect. When pioneers execute these ideas properly, they seem readily apparent in retrospect.

Muhammad Yunus created the idea of “microcredit,” drawing from the fields of business and ...

About the Speaker

Entrepreneur Frans Johansson is the author of the best-selling book The Medici Effect.