Copying proves to be rather rewarding
As the world becomes more complex and everything moves at double-quick time, businesses and people are under constant pressure to innovate - to discover new ways of doing things, engage a wider target audience, work faster and better, and accomplish more using the same amount of, or fewer, resources.
Coming up with new solutions to problems is well and good if it enhances efficiency, but really, is it necessary to create something from scratch? Does it have to be an invention when it can be an innovation? The title Copy, Copy, Copy is a dead giveaway as to the answers - a loud "nay" and an equally resolute "aye" respectively.
The author, a leading British business thinker, advocates building on an idea that has worked before, instead of holding fast to the "tyranny of the singular". The phrase refers to the notion that each problem or challenge is unique, and demands a unique and singular solution. To him, this view is "genuinely unhelpful", even though seeing things as being "singular" is flattering to the problem owner and would-be problem solver. "The tyranny of the singular makes it harder to select good solutions," he says. A better solution is to copy - and "copy badly".