Martin Reeves is Chairman of the BCG Henderson Institute and author of The Imagination Machine and his newest book, Like: The Button That Changed the World . A prolific strategist and researcher, Martin is known for uncovering practical lessons from unexpected places and helping leaders rethink innovation for the real world. In this conversation, we trace the surprising story of the “like” button—how a few lines of JavaScript, cultural quirks, and serendipitous accidents reshaped business models, advertising, and even human behavior. Martin reveals why most groundbreaking ideas don’t emerge from lone geniuses, but from messy communities, chance encounters, and recombinations of old ideas into something new. Whether you’re leading innovation at scale or just curious about the unintended consequences of technology, this episode will change how you think about creativity, feedback, and the ripple effects of small decisions. In this episode we cover: Why the “like” button is the ultimate case study in serendipitous innovation How social signals scale beyond social media into CX, commerce, and B2B services The role of culture, language, and naming in shaping adoption and meaning Why second-order effects of innovation often matter more than first-order ones A practical lens for spotting and leveraging serendipity inside organizations Episode Timeline: 00:00 – Introduction 02:00 – Guest Introduction 03:45 – Toaster Projects and Innovation 06:13 - Origins of the Like Button 08:25 - Cultural History of the Thumbs Up Gesture 14:31 - Multiple Inventors and Facebook's Role 34:27 - Inside the Code: How Likes Work 36:11 - Future Implications of Like Technology Additional Resources: Book Website: LikeBook.org Martin’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-reeves Book: Like: The Button That Changed the World Thank you to our guest, our executive producer Zach Ness, our editor James Pearce, and the Outthinker team. If you enjoyed this episode, please follow, download, and subscribe. I’m your host, Kaihan Krippendorff—thank you for listening. Follow us at outthinker.com/podcast
