Ryan Mathews

Mathews and Wacker are self described futurists consulting for some of Americas largest corporations. They say that, " ...part of the reason for writing this book was to try to understand why companies appeared to be so willing to pay for advice they they clearly weren't prepared to take."

One answer might be that executives would rather Mathews& Wacker look stupid and take the risks - which could suggest that true innovating companies may never contact M&W in the first place.

They seem fixated on the idea that fringe deviants are the only source of new ideas (the future mainstream) and spend time with Hip Hop artists (fashionable when the book was written) et al. As they say, " The greatest works of art and triumphs of science have their roots in the twisted mind of the deviant , the pariah, the social leper."

This seems to be questionable: Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin or more recently Bill Gates, Larry Page or Sergey Brin were notably prosperous, well educated and well connected before they made any breakthroughs. Also, it's only recently that art requires social lepers and plenty of this is a fake (fashion) buzz.

Overall I'm not convinced although the the Deviance and Business chapter is interesting.… (mere)