Week 4 Reading Reflection

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 

I was surprised by the list of idea killers listed after the example of Fedex was given.  I've heard many of the "idea killers" told to me and I am guilty of telling people the same thing.  When the idea of overnight shipping was given and a person responded by saying that if it was profitable, the post office would have done it.  I thought this was interesting as Uber is a new ride share idea that I'm sure received a lot of negative criticism before being implemented.

2) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

The four types of innovation include, invention, extension, duplication, and synthesis.  I found it hard to think of the differences between extension and synthesis as they both use existing ideas to create a new formulation.  At what point does an extension of a product turn into synthesis of a new product?

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why? 

I would ask the author to give better examples explaining the differences between extension and synthesis.  I would also ask the author to better explain the potential answers to the appositional relationship exercises that I completed.  After completing the exercises, I wasn't sure if my answers were what the author was looking for or not.

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

After reading this chapter I have to wonder if really anyone can be the innovator/entrepreneur that is described by the author or if these traits are reserved for certain personality types.  Being an ENTJ, I often find myself agreeing with most of the statements regarding entrepreneurs, but I know many other personality types that are opposite and don't fit the entrepreneur description because of their personality type.  I agree with the author that anyone can be an entrepreneur and problem-solver with practice, but there are others that are better suited for the task.