The Misfit Economy: Lessons in Creativity from Pirates, Hackers, Gangsters and Other Informal EntrepreneursA book that argues that lessons in creativity, innovation, salesmanship, and entrepreneurship can come from surprising places: pirates, bootleggers, counterfeiters, hustlers, and others living and working on the margins of business and society. Who are the greatest innovators in the world? You're probably thinking Steve Jobs, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford. The usual suspects. This book isn't about them. It's about people you've never heard of. It's about people who are just as innovative, entrepreneurial, and visionary as the Jobses, Edisons, and Fords of the world. They’re in the crowded streets of Shenzhen, the prisons of Somalia, the flooded coastal towns of Thailand. They are pirates, computer hackers, pranksters, and former gang leaders. Across the globe, diverse innovators operating in the black, grey, and informal economies are developing solutions to a myriad of challenges. Far from being "deviant entrepreneurs" that pose threats to our social and economic stability, these innovators display remarkable ingenuity, pioneering original methods and practices that we can learn from and apply to move formal markets. This book investigates the stories of underground innovation that make up the Misfit Economy. It examines the teeming genius of the underground. It asks: Who are these unknown visionaries? How do they work? How do they organize themselves? How do they catalyze innovation? And ultimately, how can you take these lessons into your own world? |
Contents
The Misfit Philosophy | 19 |
UNLEASHING YOUR INNER MISFIT | 47 |
THE MISFIT REVOLUTION | 195 |
Acknowledgments | 223 |
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Common terms and phrases
Aaron Swartz Abdul-Wahab Accenture allowed artists asked Barbe Berdish Bichlbaum bring build Bulloch camel milk challenge Chungking Mansions Clay committed copycat copying corporate create creative crew culture Cure Violence Defy Ventures drugs employees entrepreneur experience Fabian Facebook farmers feel Fernandez festival Ford friends Gage gang guayusa hack hacker Hacker Ethic Hoke Hostetler hustle idea illegal industry innovation intellectual property invention khat LARP Latin Kings learning live Mack mainstream MaKey Mark Zuckerberg million Misfit Economy mission Moises Naim Nathaniel Borenstein Netflix open-source organization patent percent piracy pivot prison production provoking Puntland Rediker Ronald Riley Ruiz Sam Roberts science fiction sector shanzhai share skills Slutkin social Somalia space spoke start-up started story strategy success things tion Today told trade Tumblr underground United Vermeulen wanted Weiler