Includes bibliographies and index.

"Don't tell me it's impossible. Tell me you can't do it.": what makes some people spectacularly innovative?
"I gang my own gait ... ": a sense of "separateness"
"He's like a walking moonshot.": extreme confidence
"Ideas came in an uninterrupted stream ... ": the creative mind
"Once she had recognized a certain way as a right one, she pursued it without compromise ... ": a higher purpose
"Work made the Earth a paradise for me.": driven to work
"The sixties produced an anarchic mind-set ... ": opportunities and challenges of an era
"It's not about the money. It's about the people you have, how you're led, and how much you get it ... ": access to resources
"You get creative people, you bet big on them, you give them enormous leeway and support ... ": nurturing the potential that lies within

"The science behind the traits and quirks that drive creative geniuses to make spectacular breakthroughs. What really distinguishes the people who literally change the world-those creative geniuses who give us one breakthrough after another? What differentiates Marie Curie or Elon Musk from the merely creative, the many one-hit wonders among us? Melissa Schilling, one of the world's leading experts on innovation, invites us into the lives of eight people-Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, Elon Musk, Dean Kamen, Nikola Tesla, Marie Curie, Thomas Edison, and Steve Jobs-to identify the traits and experiences that drove them to make spectacular breakthroughs, over and over again. While all innovators possess incredible intellect, intellect alone, she shows, does not create a breakthrough innovator. It was their personal, social, and emotional quirkiness that enabled true genius to break through-not just once but again and again. Nearly all of the innovators, for example, exhibited high levels of social detachment that enabled them to break with norms, an almost maniacal faith in their ability to overcome obstacles, and a passionate idealism that pushed them to work with intensity even in the face of criticism or failure. While these individual traits would be unlikely to work in isolation-being unconventional without having high levels of confidence, effort, and goal directedness might, for example, result in rebellious behavior that does not lead to meaningful outcomes-together they can fuel both the ability and drive to pursue what others deem impossible"