<p>Who is the author of Whiplash?</p>

<p>Whiplash is written by Joi Ito and Jeff Howe.</p>

Technology & the Future

Whiplash Book Summary - Whiplash Book explained in key points

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Whiplash summary

Name: Whiplash
Rating: 4 (49 reviews)
Author: Joi Ito and Jeff Howe

Joi Ito Jeff Howe

How to Survive Our Faster Future

4 (49 ratings)

16 mins

Brief summary

Whiplash by Joi Ito and Jeff Howe explores the concept of "emergence," or how new ideas and innovations arise from the complex interactions of diverse groups. They use examples from music, art, and technology to show how embracing chaos and collaboration can lead to creative breakthroughs.

Topics

Strategy Innovation

Table of Contents

Whiplash
Summary of 6 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 6

What’s in it for me? Learn how to stay innovative in today’s dynamic work environment.

A generation ago, staying afloat in the world of work wasn’t too complicated. If you managed to land a job you liked and did your work satisfactorily, chances were that you could count on keeping it until retirement. This is no longer the case.

Today, more and more things are becoming decentralized – information, corporations, even currencies. And with decentralization comes unpredictability; holding down a job for life is nearly impossible.

So what are you supposed to do in this new environment where the old rules no longer apply? That’s what these blinks are here to help you with. Part roadmap to today’s changeable workplace terrain and part handbook for how to navigate it, these blinks will equip you with the tools you need to stay flexible and innovative.

You’ll also find out

how nylon is a product of disobedience;
why it’s better to be a reed than an oak; and
why science is far from infallible.

Paradigms can prevent the recognition of great innovations.

If you throw a baseball up in the air, it’s going to come down, right? Or what if you fly north in an airplane with limitless fuel? Well, you’ll eventually come back to where you took off.

So why do these answers seem so commonsensical?

Well, it’s because they chime with our current paradigm – that is, the worldview that underlies our theories about how things should function. Part of that paradigm is gravity, which causes airborne balls to return to earth and prevents airplanes from floating off into space. But, as the philosopher of science Thomas Kuhn points out, paradigms can shift.

Paradigm shifts entirely revolutionize commonly held beliefs. And since people will defend their beliefs at almost any cost, these shifts are usually strongly resisted. Even most scientists will defend current paradigms.

For instance, before the Copernican Revolution in the sixteenth century, it was believed that the sun orbited the earth, and many scientists continued to believe this for decades, despite clear evidence to the contrary.

But nonscientific paradigms exist as well, and are often just as ingrained. Each age comes with a different set of social assumptions and theories. According to the French philosopher Michel Foucault, people have certain systems of norms and beliefs that dictate their actions. These systems change over time, and every generation has its own. As in science, they usually don’t change without vigorous resistance.

The unquestioning acceptance of current paradigms, plus a resistance to paradigm shifts, has prevented the acknowledgment of history's greatest innovations.

Take Louis and Auguste Lumière, the brothers who developed the first “living photographs” – later known as motion pictures – in 1895.

Audiences were initially captivated by the moving images. But it only took a few years for the novelty to wear off, prompting one of the brothers to declare that “the cinema is an invention without any future.” Consequently, the brothers opted to focus on color photography.

So why could neither the brothers nor the audience see the true potential of this new medium? Well, they were committed to an old paradigm, according to which photos were only capable of telling the story of a single moment, not spinning longer, complex tales. It didn’t even occur to them to transform pictures into the modern “film.”

The world we live in is constantly changing and increasingly unpredictable.

Do you ever feel like time is moving faster and faster, like the last year zipped by much more quickly than the year before it? Well, you might be onto something; a quick glance at earth’s history shows that the world is, in fact, changing at an unprecedented rate.

To make this clearer, let’s imagine the history of earth as a single calendar year, with the formation of our planet occurring on January 1. It wasn’t until December 1 that the first land animals appeared. And it took until 11:50 p.m. on December 31 for our hominid ancestors to start walking upright. On New Year’s Eve, less than a second before midnight, recorded history begins.

With information now freely available, authorities have become less important.

It used to be that authorities ruled the roost. From royal families to spiritual leaders and politicians to major corporations, the people with the power called the shots. But this is about to change, and all because of the unprecedented access to information that we have today.

Prior to the advent of the internet, the public had limited access to information – and this access was granted or denied by the people in power. By and large, the public accepted the information given to them; they obeyed orders and rarely challenged the official narrative. Today, however, the internet has made information available to virtually everyone, and the veracity of official claims can easily be scrutinized and challenged.

You can react flexibly to unexpected events by using a pull strategy.

Do you think you could predict which of the world’s ten most active volcanoes will erupt next? Sounds impossible, right? Well, it is. Nonetheless, many organizations still saddle a handful of their top people with a comparable responsibility: predicting which events (be it a natural disaster or a shift in the market) are most likely to occur, and then allocating resources accordingly.

This method – putting resources where top people think they are most likely to be needed – is called the push approach. But this method is inflexible and sluggish. All feedback from lower-level employees must first move up through the tiers of management before it can be considered and acted upon. And only then can someone at the top address the issue.

Disobedience drives innovation.

Did you have a favorite activity as a child? Whatever it was, let’s imagine you liked to draw. What would have happened if, while at school, you refused to set aside your crayons when the bell rang for class? You likely would have been disciplined in some way. Now let’s imagine you’d been allowed to draw and had gone on to become the next Picasso . . .

The point is that rules can suffocate possibility. If everyone went about their normative days in predictably normative ways, innovation would cease entirely. That’s why breaking the rules is sometimes better than following them.

When faced with flexible enemies, you have to be more resilient than strong.

Which plant do you think would stand a better chance of weathering every storm: an oak or a reed? Most people would choose that symbol of strength, the oak. But even an oak can be broken by a strong enough wind, whereas the reed, supple and slim, is certain to bounce back after the storm.

Modern companies should do away with oak-like tendencies and try to be more flexible, like the reed.

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What is Whiplash about?

Whiplash (2016) explains the new rules of our fast-changing world. The current moment is defined by emergent technologies and innovative ideas, and the only way to stay afloat is to adapt. Forget the principles of yesterday and start developing strategies that work today.

Whiplash Review

Whiplash (2016) by Joi Ito and Jeff Howe is a thought-provoking exploration of the future of innovation in a rapidly changing world. Here's why this book is worth reading:

It offers a refreshing perspective on the concept of innovation, challenging traditional notions and sparking new ideas.
With its in-depth interviews and real-life examples, the book provides fascinating insights into the world of technology, art, and entrepreneurship.
Drawing on personal experiences and diverse perspectives, the authors paint a vivid picture of the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead in our interconnected world.

Best quote from Whiplash

Today, the biggest threats to the status quo come from the smallest of places, from start-ups and rogues, breakaways and indie labs.

—Joi Ito and Jeff Howe

Who should read Whiplash?

People with an interest in technology and digital developments
Entrepreneurs and start-up owners
Anyone who wants to learn about business strategies

About the Author

Joichi Ito, a technology expert and entrepreneur, is the director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Laboratory. A visiting professor at Harvard Law School, he also serves on the boards of PureTech Health and the New York Times Company.

Jeff Howe is an assistant professor at Northeastern University. In 2006, he coined the term “crowdfunding” in an article for Wired magazine. His writing has also appeared in TIME magazine, the New York Times and the Washington Post.

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