Innovation

..., or Creativity (I'm not sure which is which sometimes), can't be forced. We don't always know which ideas will stick, but if we take the shotgun approach (or the brute force approach) and try to make innovative or creative products we will fail (at least most of the time).

That's what I think Google's problem has been. Do you understand Google+ ? I certainly don't. It's not as intuitive as Facebook or Twitter and it doesn't seem to be working. Add it to the list of many failed Google ideas. I actually liked Wave--at least I thought the idea had merit even if the production was a loss--but not all "good ideas" pan out.

Apple has been successful for 10 years as a tremendously innovative producer. This was certainly attributable to Jobs but I think that the Apple culture is different too. Google's culture is more like Microsoft's and although Google will continue to be a large and successful company for many years, I'm pessimistic that we'll see much more innovation from them. Not that they won't try (nor and I suggesting that they should not try), but we may find their innovative products to be more surprise and less expectation.

Mark Cuban, however, is one who always seems to have simple, good, and creative ideas