Covid Myths – Evolution is the largest most successful Randomised Controlled Trial ever, why have biologists and public health experts ignored that compass completely?

For the past 20 years, I have been a student of innovation. At Cisco, John Chambers had tasked our consulting team to help the world’s largest companies innovate and thrive. As the head of the automotive practice, I can’t say our team had the easiest task…but it was one of the most inspirational period of my life. Not to mention I enjoyed a stable job!

The car industry – despite what many might think – is probably one of the most innovative industries on the planet. We were challenged to say the least … we ended delivering amazing innovation, notably the concept of the virtual dashboard, now widely adopted in cars.

As a student of innovation, one needs to bridge worlds as Thomas Edison did in his days, seek inspiration in alternative universes that – at one point – had to solve similar issues to yours, but in a radically different context.

During my years at Cisco, I was very fortunate to collaborate regularly with Silicon Valley innovation firm IDEO. One way IDEO approaches innovation consists in studying extreme implementations in a different field. Say you want to reinvent a cooking tool, you might want to study the design of surgical tools, or fighter jet controls.

Seeking inspiration in nature – aka biomimicry – is the most extreme you can get:
How far is a desert snail from building architecture? or shark skin from bacteria-free hospitals? … Over a decade ago, I remember vividly watching Janine Benyus’s TED Talk presentation in absolute awe. Wonderfully insightful.