Innovation without borders

America has always liked the idea of the loner, the loner-hero and we like the idea of someone who is willing to think differently. (But not all countries like the loner-hero. One experience in Botswana he shares with us.) Children there are taught to stand in line, don’t think differently and so how do you break out of this culturally to encourage people to challenge orthodoxy? (Describe the excitement you’ve seen in the Indian business and development sectors.) I think India does have a can-do spirit and on the one hand in India there’s a lot of bureaucracy but they also have this can-do spirit. But India has this attitude of lets turn our problems into solutions. And they have a lot of social solutions: microlending, the nano car, one of the largest hospital groups in the world. (What are the obstacles there to succeeding?) One of the obstacles was, can we really get world class health care in India? And the answer for this man was yes. (What does it mean to outsource innovation?) That’s outsourcing a capability and we’re steadily losing that capability of innovation. Our capabilities are becoming commodified also which is dangerous.