Seven Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs

“Innovation is a new way of doing things that results in positive change,” writes Carmine Gallo, author of a new book called The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs: Insanely Different Principles for Breakthrough Success (McGraw-Hill). Innovative businesses and entrepreneurs drive the kind of job creation needed to power us out of the lingering economic doldrums. And nobody does innovation better than Apple in the second Jobs era. Yet his methods have been difficult to reduce to a simple formula. As Jobs himself once told an interviewer, imitators often end up being “like someone who’s not cool trying to be cool. It’s painful to watch.” Gallo says the key is to think more broadly than a reductive, step-by-step process would allow. “Innovation is often confused with invention,” he writes. “Not everyone can be an inventor, but anyone can be an innovator.” See also our slideshow based on Gallo’s previous best-seller, The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs, and don't miss our brief history of Apple.