James Surowiecki’s in his recent article “Thinkers and Tinkerers”, which was published in the January/February issues of Foreign Affairs magazine, takes a good look at two interesting book, which in his view compliment each other very well. One is “The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution” by Walter Isaacson and the other is “Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future” by Peter Thiel. I took some of his observations, dipped them into the infinite pool of Jewish wisdom and I am hereby presenting you with my own thoughts on the topic.
Rule#1: Find a good partner or, even better, put together a strong diverse group
Would you agree that Steve Jobs was an ultimate genius of innovation and marketing? Many would. But as James Surowiecki recently wrote, Walter Isaacson sees it quite differently. For him, “true engine of innovation is collaboration”. And it’s not just collaboration, as Isaacson specifically refers to “strong teams made up of diverse thinkers from…different disciplines”. Interestingly enough, we find similar principle in the world of Torah study and Jewish prayer. It is a known thing that in observant Jewish circles, people study Torah in what is called Khevrutah (חברותה). As a matter of fact, the best way to learn Torah is to have a company of at least 10 men, as the Sages instructed. And it is certainly the prescribed way for daily prayers that are to be conducted in the presence of a minyan, which is a quorum of 10 Jewish men. “The [understanding of] Torah is acquired in a company”, Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Brakhot, 63. And in the 8th chapter of the same tractate, a famous question: “When is an opportune time [with highest chances of prayers to be heard or accepted]? At the time of communal prayer”.
As Isaacson said in The Innovators, bright individual can come up with a brilliant concept, a group of creatives can turn that same idea into the market-ready product. Says Hillel the Elder: ”Do not separate yourself from the community” (Ethics of The Sages, 2:4). You have to live and create within the context of your community. For a number of different reasons. On one hand, people can bring you new ideas and inspiration. On the other hand, it is important that whatever you create can be useful and applicable to the rest of your community or society. Therefore, it is imperative – no matter how genius or enlightened someone is – that he stays closely connected to his community, to the real world.
Rule #2: Believe
Belief, faith or emunah in Hebrew, is a controversial concept in our world. For Isaacson, as Surowiecki continues writing, that faith that dramatic fundamental 
technological change was possible and that it was going to benefit the society has become a big unifying factor for the innovators he talks about. What I see him as referring to is not merely a narrow, yet often praised, belief in yourself, we often hear about in self-help books and in media. I see his point being much broader. What he has in mind is a belief in global, comprehensive, all-pervasive change in how society and people operate. To take it even further, it is an unconditional belief in yourself, in the system. And of course in the Jewish world, this would be emunah or belief in HaShem, the Creator of the world, in a unifying principle that governs our universe and makes everything possible
Rule #3: Reach for the impossible
There is a concept in the Jewish tradition that is very fundamental and central to Jewish existence. It is called Tikkun Olam. And it goes hand-in-hand in believing in the arrival of the Messiah/Mashiakh. Many writers and commentators, ancient and modern, actually cite this as an intriguing across-the-board national characteristics of the Jewish people, regardless of their level of observance – this belief, which at times looks almost naive, in the need and their ability to make the world a better place. According to the Jewish tradition, this change will happen when the Mashiakh arrives. But he can only arrive when the conditions for his arrival are in place. Which can only happen through the righteous actions of all of us. What is even more interesting , and it is directly related to our discussion, is that this change, this transformation that needs to take place in the world in order for Mashiakh to arrive and the final change that will occur after his arrival are not some small, local, minor changes. We are talking about a full and complete, fundamental change in how the world operates and how people live their lives, interact with each other, etc. This goal of bringing the Mashiakh and uplifting the world is one of the fundamentals of Judaism, as outlined by Rambam (Maimonides) in his 13 Principles of Fath (aka “Ani Ma’amin”).
Peter Thiel in his Zero to One describes what he sees as the main issue of most of today’s startups and innovators: accepting a pessimistic view of what’s possible. What Thiel in essence says is that to be a true innovator and entrepreneur you need to believe in the impossible and wish for the impossible to happen. Eliyahu Goldratt, the author of the The Goal, which is a must read in every major business program in the country (and if you have not read, do yourself a favor and order it now), said in one of his lectures that in order to truly change and come with innovative ideas a business or an individual needs to think in terms of impossible goals. If you put in front of yourself or your organization a goal that is just a bit more challenging than your previous one, you will find a solution that you will simply help you continue doing what you are doing now but a little bit better. But it will not bring about a real change that you desire. When the goal looks impossible, it forces us to realize that we cannot accomplish it by slightly improving our current process. It demands from us to forget everything we know and come with something that is really life-changing, a radical positive change.
*This article partially relies and uses quotes from the ideas spelled out by James Suroweicki in his piece published in the Foreign Affairs magazine (Foreign Affairs, Jan/Feb 2015, p. 77)
**Pictures above are courtesy of Amazon.com
Aharon's Wisdom 