It is difficult to innovate but by unlearning you learn | Marco Dussin | TEDxMilano
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0:06 - 0:09When we know a secret,
-
0:09 - 0:12we generally amaze children
by telling them, -
0:12 - 0:13"A little birdie told me".
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0:13 - 0:18But actually whoever is only able
to repeat such things -
0:18 - 0:21gets to be considered some sort of parrot.
-
0:21 - 0:23According to farming tradition,
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0:23 - 0:26swallows are sacred animals,
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0:26 - 0:30the owl, however,
is the bearer of bad news. -
0:30 - 0:31In Mozambique,
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0:31 - 0:35some tribes have learned
to speak to sparrows -
0:35 - 0:38and they help them find honey.
-
0:40 - 0:43People such as Icarus,
and Leonardo da Vinci -
0:43 - 0:46were inspired by the flight of birds
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0:46 - 0:50and dreamed of eventually flying.
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0:51 - 0:53Crows from New Caledonia
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0:53 - 0:56have incredible abstraction capacities.
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0:56 - 0:59Using branches and trees,
they can build the tools -
0:59 - 1:03they need to search for food.
-
1:03 - 1:08Now, this implies
enormous cognitive capacities. -
1:08 - 1:10Because actually,
they know how to build them -
1:10 - 1:14just by having seen other crows
use these working tools. -
1:14 - 1:17In othr words, they can build
their working tools -
1:17 - 1:21without ever seeing the process
that's needed to create them. -
1:21 - 1:24This phenomenon is extremely interesting,
-
1:24 - 1:27because it allowed
the evolution of such tools -
1:27 - 1:31as well as the evolution
of the crows themselves. -
1:31 - 1:37This phenomenon was considered
possible only for the human race. -
1:39 - 1:42Based on this,
-
1:42 - 1:46please look inside your TED bag,
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1:46 - 1:50look inside, there is a little bag.
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1:50 - 1:53"Wait to open" is written on it.
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1:53 - 1:57Inside this bag you'll find
six coloured bricks. -
1:58 - 2:00As I've just said,
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2:00 - 2:04crows know how to build their tools
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2:04 - 2:09without ever seeing
the instructions to do so, -
2:10 - 2:15the experiment we'll do now
is to try and do the same thing. -
2:15 - 2:17Think of a duck.
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2:17 - 2:20Have you ever seen a duck in real life?
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2:20 - 2:21If you haven't,
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2:21 - 2:24then surely you've seen one
in some documentary, -
2:24 - 2:27in a cartoon, in a comic book, ok?
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2:27 - 2:28What does a duck look like?
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2:28 - 2:33What do their feet look like?
What do their breast and neck look like? -
2:33 - 2:35Does a duck fly?
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2:35 - 2:39Imagine it, build it in your minds.
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2:39 - 2:42Now I want you,
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2:43 - 2:46with the six bricks in your hands,
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2:46 - 2:48to build a duck.
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2:48 - 2:52I'll give you about a minute,
don't copy those next to you. -
2:52 - 2:56Please use your six bricks
to build your duck. -
2:58 - 3:02When you've finished
building it, hold it up, -
3:02 - 3:04so I can see who has won.
-
3:04 - 3:10Now, please pay attention,
because this part is extremely fun. -
3:11 - 3:13So, look.
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3:13 - 3:16Look at your ducks, look at those
of the people next to you. -
3:16 - 3:18Hold them up, hold them up.
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3:18 - 3:20Are there any ducks that are the same?
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3:20 - 3:23Has anyone next to you
built a duck like yours? -
3:23 - 3:25(Bustle)
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3:27 - 3:31What I've just had you do
is an extremely interesting exercise, -
3:31 - 3:34I had you build a duck,
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3:34 - 3:37without giving you
the instructions to do so. -
3:37 - 3:40I asked you to observe ducks,
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3:40 - 3:44I never said that there was
a right and a wrong duck, -
3:44 - 3:47and it's most likely that when we look,
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3:47 - 3:52most of the ducks inside this theatre
are different from one another. -
3:53 - 3:57But what I actually asked you to do
is something more. -
3:57 - 4:03I asked you to use
your mental model of duck. -
4:03 - 4:07You all have a mental model
of what a duck is in your minds: -
4:07 - 4:10in other words,
you've observed ducks in life. -
4:10 - 4:13There are lots of different ducks
in the world, right? -
4:13 - 4:15There are many types of ducks,
-
4:15 - 4:19but you synthesized them in your heads
and simplified them into a model. -
4:19 - 4:23Now, your model does not have
all the details of a duck. -
4:24 - 4:27You don't know how many feathers
a duck has, I don't know, -
4:27 - 4:29but your model is enough detailed
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4:29 - 4:33to understand it is a duck
and not a heron or a rooster. -
4:33 - 4:39Now, there are people who innovate
just as you've done, -
4:39 - 4:42in other words, they are good
at observing reality, -
4:42 - 4:45they know that there are
multiple realities -
4:45 - 4:48and they manage to synthesise
models in their minds -
4:48 - 4:54that allow them to produce
products or services to people, -
4:54 - 4:56whether they are new, never seen before,
-
4:56 - 5:00and most importantly,
able to improve human lives. -
5:00 - 5:01This is what your creativity does,
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5:01 - 5:06it pushed us to create
a wide variety of different ducks. -
5:06 - 5:09Now I'll throw at you one more exercise.
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5:12 - 5:16This is one of Picasso's many studies
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5:16 - 5:22where he tried to study and simplify
the way reality can be depicted, -
5:22 - 5:27and he was able to produce,
with one simple stroke, a simple line, -
5:27 - 5:32what essentially can be
easily identified as a rooster. -
5:33 - 5:36So what process is this?
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5:36 - 5:38It's a further simplification process.
-
5:38 - 5:42Mental models are very convenient
because they really allow us, -
5:42 - 5:45with just a simple stroke,
a simple detail, -
5:45 - 5:47to decipher reality.
-
5:47 - 5:51There are people who innovate like this,
-
5:51 - 5:54in other words they know
how to look deep into things, -
5:54 - 5:58or rather, they know how to look deep
into people's souls. -
5:58 - 6:01They know how to understand
the essence of your dreams, -
6:01 - 6:03the essence of what you like most,
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6:03 - 6:05the essence of happiness.
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6:05 - 6:08And they are able to synthesize it
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6:08 - 6:12into something that we
commonly call an icon, -
6:12 - 6:17a product, a service,
something that you commonly use -
6:17 - 6:19and recognise by a simple trait.
-
6:22 - 6:26Let's turn our little exercise into
something a bit more complicated and fun. -
6:26 - 6:30If I had asked you to build a "non-duck",
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6:30 - 6:32what would you have built?
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6:32 - 6:34Would you have started with a plan,
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6:34 - 6:36or would you have started
by moving your hands? -
6:36 - 6:38Now I'm going to make it harder:
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6:38 - 6:41what if I had asked you to describe
to the person next to you -
6:41 - 6:43what an aeroplane is.
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6:43 - 6:46and she had never even seen one?
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6:46 - 6:49You might have told them:
"An aeroplane is quite similar to a duck". -
6:49 - 6:53It can be the same colour as a duck,
it more or less flies like a duck, -
6:53 - 6:55but it doesn't lay eggs.
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6:55 - 6:56(Laughter)
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6:56 - 6:59Therefore sometimes
we try and use mental models -
6:59 - 7:02to explain to others
something they have never seen before. -
7:02 - 7:04Let's make it even harder:
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7:04 - 7:08what if I had asked you to describe
to the person next to you -
7:08 - 7:12something that in reality
doesn't yet exist, -
7:12 - 7:16but it's something you want to create,
like your innovative product, -
7:16 - 7:18What would you have told them?
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7:18 - 7:22Well, now it gets very difficult.
It's difficult to conceive in your head, -
7:22 - 7:24elaborate what you are thinking,
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7:24 - 7:26and it's even more difficult
to describe it to others -
7:26 - 7:28or let others help you.
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7:28 - 7:31There are people who innovate this way:
-
7:31 - 7:35in other words, their minds
are able to come up -
7:35 - 7:40with products, services,
that are so innovative -
7:40 - 7:47that not only they're hard to think of,
they're also hard to explain to others. -
7:47 - 7:51Now, how do these people do it?
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7:51 - 7:54How do they manage to bring
other people on board? -
7:54 - 7:56How do they describe said things?,
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7:56 - 8:00Well, they are people who fully understand
how things work in this day and age. -
8:00 - 8:02They know how to tackle things.
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8:02 - 8:07They have understood that change
is today's zeitgeist. -
8:07 - 8:08Why?
-
8:08 - 8:11Because this day and age
is characterised by speed. -
8:11 - 8:14What do I mean by "fast times"?
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8:14 - 8:20Fast times are times where you
always feel like you're late, -
8:20 - 8:24Or those times when those
who have to create products and services -
8:24 - 8:27arrive on the market
just a little too late. -
8:27 - 8:29While our times are fast,
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8:29 - 8:33they have also allowed us
to realize something else: -
8:33 - 8:38the times we live in are "not linear".
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8:38 - 8:40What do I mean by "not linear"?
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8:41 - 8:43I'll explain it to you with an example.
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8:43 - 8:46Think of your grandparents,
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8:46 - 8:50and all the epic changes
they must have lived in their lives. -
8:50 - 8:53I'm sure some of the changes
our grandparents lived -
8:53 - 8:57were of really epic proportions
and revolutionary for all humanity. -
8:57 - 8:58Of great impact.
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8:58 - 9:03But how many changes? Five maybe?
Maybe ten in their entire lives? -
9:03 - 9:06How many changes did
their grandparents experience? -
9:06 - 9:07Less perhaps.
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9:07 - 9:10Now think of yourselves,
think of your children. -
9:10 - 9:12Analists say, over the next 20 years
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9:12 - 9:18the human race will change more
than we did in the past 300 years. -
9:19 - 9:22So what do I mean when I say,
our times are not linear? -
9:22 - 9:25It means that it doesn't necessarily
follow a straight line. -
9:25 - 9:27A straight line makes you think,
-
9:27 - 9:29tomorrow will be more or less
like today or yesterday. -
9:29 - 9:31But everyone knows,
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9:31 - 9:33some lines aren't straight,
but rather exponential, -
9:33 - 9:37if not totally unpredictable
and unexpected. -
9:38 - 9:41Furthermore, our times are complex.
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9:41 - 9:43What does complex mean?
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9:43 - 9:49Complex system means, there are
so many relationships among its parts -
9:49 - 9:51there's no room for simplification.
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9:51 - 9:53Nature is complex:
-
9:53 - 9:56think of the forest,
think of nature's ecosystems. -
9:56 - 9:59The human body is complex,
our brain is complex. -
9:59 - 10:04It's not so easy, it's not even possible
to isolate one part and simplify it. -
10:04 - 10:08Now, what is important
within this complexity -
10:08 - 10:10is that the networks and connections
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10:10 - 10:15are their most important,
interesting metrics. -
10:15 - 10:20Lastly, our times are marked
by unpredictability. -
10:20 - 10:26Unpredictability has always been deemed,
or has often been deemed by our companies, -
10:26 - 10:27a negative thing.
-
10:27 - 10:29We tried to plan everything,
-
10:29 - 10:33we have always been afraid to think
that the future is unpredictable. -
10:33 - 10:38But in fact, unpredictability
is a great driving force for innovation. -
10:38 - 10:39We learn this from Darwin,
-
10:39 - 10:43he says that unpredictability
allowed our species to evolve -
10:43 - 10:46and adapt to the world we live in.
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10:48 - 10:51So what should we do now?
-
10:51 - 10:56Over the years, I have met
hundreds of entrepreneurs -
10:56 - 10:59that are asking themselves
this very question. -
10:59 - 11:03Some have understood what to do,
others haven't yet: -
11:03 - 11:06some made it, some don't.
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11:06 - 11:09Everybody recognizes
it is extremely difficult, -
11:09 - 11:12but there is something else
that I see in every one of them, -
11:12 - 11:17two characteristics shared
by all people who try and innovate today. -
11:17 - 11:20They have a deliberate, immense,
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11:20 - 11:25an extremely strong desire
to be able to experiment; -
11:25 - 11:31and once again, a deliberate, immense
and extremely strong desire to "unlearn". -
11:31 - 11:34What do these two things mean?
-
11:35 - 11:37Now, we have said:
-
11:37 - 11:41our times are marked by uncertainty;
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11:41 - 11:45and in our times,
uncertainty is a positive metrics. -
11:45 - 11:49If you're unsure, what can you do?
How can you react? -
11:49 - 11:52What can you do, if you can't
always foresee everything? -
11:52 - 11:56A good idea is to start betting,
instead of promising; -
11:56 - 11:58and to bet well,
-
11:58 - 12:03a good idea is to start
by taking one step at a time. -
12:03 - 12:05In other words, I'll take a small step
-
12:05 - 12:08towards the direction
I think I want to go in, -
12:08 - 12:10and then I'll ask myself how it's going.
-
12:10 - 12:13If I ask myself how it's going,
I'll ask others too. -
12:13 - 12:16You see this would imply
being extremely kind -
12:16 - 12:19towards ourselves and towards others,
-
12:19 - 12:23that is, I'd really have to accept
asking myself how it's going. -
12:23 - 12:26Now I'm not saying
everything should lack direction, -
12:26 - 12:27I'm really not saying
-
12:27 - 12:31that winging it is more or less
like having an objective; -
12:31 - 12:35I am actually saying, objectives
should be reached one step at a time, -
12:35 - 12:37and at each step we continue to learn.
-
12:39 - 12:44This need to learn is a second key term:
-
12:44 - 12:47in other words, for years
we have turned our companies -
12:47 - 12:50into learning organisations,
-
12:50 - 12:54that is, we've started to think
that learning is a good measure -
12:54 - 12:57that allows us to move
with the times, and it's true. -
12:57 - 12:58Luckily this was the case,
-
12:58 - 13:02luckily we realised
that learning is important. -
13:02 - 13:04But at a certain point it also happened,
-
13:04 - 13:07and some companies
I work with do that, -
13:07 - 13:12that everything that they learned,
be it ordinary data or big data, -
13:12 - 13:14everything that they learned
-
13:14 - 13:18made them sometimes think
they could predict the future. -
13:18 - 13:21Man has always hoped
to predict the future, -
13:21 - 13:24but we all know you can't
really predict the future. -
13:24 - 13:27We are not even able to predict
tomorrow's weather forecast. -
13:27 - 13:28Therefore, probably,
-
13:28 - 13:32instead of focusing on how to become
learning organisations, -
13:32 - 13:34what I'd like to suggest
-
13:34 - 13:37is to concentrate on how to become
unlearning organisations, -
13:37 - 13:42in other words, sometimes it's harder
to unlearn than to learn. -
13:42 - 13:47Unlearning implies moving
into a slightly uncomfortable state. -
13:47 - 13:50Looking at the world,
looking at the things you are doing -
13:50 - 13:52and realizing that, maybe,
-
13:52 - 13:55what you learned
for yesterday or for today, -
13:55 - 13:58will no longer be relevant
today for tomorrow. -
13:58 - 14:02In other words, you can't apply
old rules to new worlds, -
14:02 - 14:05and unlearning makes way
for learning something new. -
14:06 - 14:08It takes a lot of courage to do it.
-
14:08 - 14:11It really is an exciting challenge,
-
14:11 - 14:15both for the entrepreneuring world
and for the outer world. -
14:15 - 14:19Perhaps what you normally do in your life
should be brought into the working world, -
14:19 - 14:23Why keep it out of your working life?
-
14:24 - 14:28Now, the important question for us all
-
14:28 - 14:30is the one we've asked ourselves
at the very beginning: -
14:30 - 14:34what type of innovator are you?
-
14:34 - 14:39Are you innovators that look at the world,
acknowledge its diversity -
14:39 - 14:44and know how to add new products
that will create even more happiness? -
14:44 - 14:48Or are you innovators who know
how to look deep into human being's souls -
14:48 - 14:53and recognise the fundamental traits
that all people have in common -
14:53 - 14:56and produce what we call icons?
-
14:56 - 14:59Are you innovators
who know how to experiment? -
14:59 - 15:01Do you know how to experiment and be kind
-
15:01 - 15:03towards the results
of your experiments? -
15:03 - 15:06Or are you innovators
who know how to unlearn -
15:06 - 15:08and therefore sometimes realise
-
15:08 - 15:10that you need to let go
of some old traditions -
15:10 - 15:13to make way for new ideas and new methods?
-
15:15 - 15:22Whatever type of innovator you are,
the reason why you do it is important. -
15:22 - 15:25I mean, from my experience
-
15:25 - 15:29I see innovators who generally
don't innovate only for themselves -
15:29 - 15:33and they don't even innovate
for innovation's sake. -
15:33 - 15:36You don't innovate
only to change processes -
15:36 - 15:40and you don't only innovate
to make more money either. -
15:41 - 15:47The main reason why you innovate
is the life and soul of innovation, -
15:47 - 15:52it is the amount of connections
you've known how to create around you. -
15:52 - 15:55It is the life line
that drives you to innovate -
15:55 - 15:59as well as the measure
of how well you were at doing it. -
15:59 - 16:03The more connections you have,
the more you will, and did, innovate. -
16:05 - 16:11Never before has there been
a better time to innovate, -
16:11 - 16:14and if you don't believe me,
-
16:15 - 16:17pick up the ducks you created.
-
16:19 - 16:25Listen to this thing,
your smile while building them, -
16:25 - 16:31the smile that people next to you
had on their faces while building. -
16:31 - 16:33Here, this is the measure
-
16:33 - 16:38of how today is the day to innovate
and create new connections. -
16:38 - 16:39Thank you.
-
16:39 - 16:43(Applause)
- Title:
- It is difficult to innovate but by unlearning you learn | Marco Dussin | TEDxMilano
- Description:
-
Cognitive ability, mental models and innovation: creativity leads us to always build new things. But in ever faster, nonlinear times, how can we stay in balance? Marco Dussin leads us to focus on ourselves and others to understand how to move and how to innovate with a new look, embracing unpredictability: the real thrust that allows us to change and evolve.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.
Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx
- Video Language:
- Italian
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDxTalks
- Duration:
- 17:00
Muriel de Meo approved English subtitles for Innovare è difficile, ma disimparando s’impara | Marco Dussin | TEDxMilano | ||
Muriel de Meo accepted English subtitles for Innovare è difficile, ma disimparando s’impara | Marco Dussin | TEDxMilano | ||
Muriel de Meo edited English subtitles for Innovare è difficile, ma disimparando s’impara | Marco Dussin | TEDxMilano | ||
Muriel de Meo edited English subtitles for Innovare è difficile, ma disimparando s’impara | Marco Dussin | TEDxMilano | ||
Muriel de Meo edited English subtitles for Innovare è difficile, ma disimparando s’impara | Marco Dussin | TEDxMilano | ||
Muriel de Meo edited English subtitles for Innovare è difficile, ma disimparando s’impara | Marco Dussin | TEDxMilano | ||
Muriel de Meo edited English subtitles for Innovare è difficile, ma disimparando s’impara | Marco Dussin | TEDxMilano | ||
Claudia Di Lorenzo edited English subtitles for Innovare è difficile, ma disimparando s’impara | Marco Dussin | TEDxMilano |