Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Dilemma of the Day: Making Money vs Influencing Debate

Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Laureate in Economics, says:
The reason that we [academics] write these things [books] is not to make money but to influence ideas [that] influence the shaping of the intellectual debate.
Source: Joseph Stiglitz. The Sixth Annual Frey Lecture in Intellectual Property.February 16, 2007 at Duke Law School. (12m.45s).

In contrast, major Silicon Valley innovators, both companies and VCs, break this dilemma by making money AND influencing the world. The Stiglitz' view highlights the difference between invention (i.e. production of concepts) and innovation (implementing concepts on a large scale). In innovation, the goal is to shape the debate for the sake of changing the world and making lots money in the process.


tags: dilemma, quote, business, invention, innovation



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