If you want to go far, you must go together.

Walter Isaacson, author of Jobs biography, has a new book, the core idea of the innovators is that innovation is a team sport. In one of the book's cases, AOL's co-founder Steve Case has written a book review to further elaborate on this point.

Isaacson no waste of breath, although the book is about a group of hackers, the story of how entrepreneurs and Geeks make the digital revolution, he points out on the first page of the book: Most innovations in the digital age are done through collaboration, and innovators are not telling stories that are singles, but how this group of people collaborate And why their ability to collaborate in a team makes them more creative.

Isaacson's last book, Jobs biography, tells the story of one of our generation's most iconic entrepreneurs. But the story's focus on jobs also makes some people mistakenly think that following jobs will lead to success. Is that passionate leadership is of course important and essential, but ultimately it is up to teamwork.

There is a proverb in Africa called:

If you want to walk fast, go alone, if you want to go far, you will go together.

Explaining the causes of the technological revolution, Isaacson pointed out that the real progress of the technological revolution came from creating together-working together, relying on each other's ideas, and advancing innovation together.

Isaacson a chapter devoted to the "online" revolution, which addresses the evolution of AOL. He sharply pointed out that AOL's vitality lies in the community-the interaction between people. Those early adopters were not just consumers, but contributors, pioneers in helping with the advancement of products and services. When AOL started its company in 1985, only 3% of the people were online, and the online time was only 1 hours a week.

AOL's popularity took 10 years. It was already clear at the very early times that it was not far to walk alone. The internet, which can become part of the public's daily life, is not a day's work, it needs the union's efforts. PC makers have to turn out affordable, consumer-friendly computers. The manufacturer wants to build a modem into the PC so that the PC becomes a central, attractive element from the peripherals, helping to lead the user into a new era of interconnection with the world. Communication networks need to establish low-cost connectivity to reduce the connection rate from $10 per hour to 10 cents. Software designers need to develop attractive graphical interfaces to make the Internet more popular. Content companies need to provide attractive services. (20 ago Isaacson was the head of Time magazine's new media initiative, and he met Steve Case to reach an agreement to put Time magazine on AOL.)

In other words, in order to open up the internet era, everyone needs to do their jobs.

But the innovator's story is not just the past, but the road map to the future. This week, Steve Case again took a lap in Central America to see how the Silicon Valley, outside New York, is thriving and innovative. His feeling is that the prosperity of innovation and community is due to the joint efforts of like-minded people, the team of these people, local universities, various incubators, accelerators, technology centers, and the joint efforts of forward-looking decision-makers.

Although we occasionally see a company as a one-man monologue. But the most exciting and far away companies are often the work of a great team and a huge community behind them.

Isaacson's role of collaboration is not only a historical experience, but also a signpost for present and future innovators.