After Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas, many people believed he had simply stumbled upon it by chance, arguing that anyone with the same luck could have done the same. At a grand banquet, a nobleman challenged him, saying, “Mr. Columbus, we all know the Americas were there. You just happened to arrive first. If it had been us, we would have discovered it as well.”
In response, Columbus remained calm. He picked up an egg from the table and asked, “Ladies and gentlemen, who among you can make this egg stand upright on the table?” Everyone tried, but none succeeded.
Columbus smiled slightly, tapped the egg gently on the table so that it stood upright. He then said, “Yes, it does seem simple. Discovering the Americas is also not difficult, just like standing this egg upright. But before I did it, who among you had done so?”
The essence of innovation lies in accepting and practicing new ideas, new perspectives, and new changes. More importantly, it is about seeing problems from different angles. People often say, “Is that really innovation? I already knew that.” Yet true innovation often depends on whether one dares to think and dares to act.