David Epstein has a habit of going against conventional thought. In 2019, he surprised the world when he came out with the bestselling book Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialised World, in which he argued that contrary to what many believed, having specialised knowledge of a field was not necessary to succeed in it.
The book sparked a lot of debate, topped bestseller charts and was shortlisted for the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year award. In his latest work, Inside the Box: How Constraints Make Us Better, Epstein tackles another very conventional line of management thought, that of the importance of “thinking outside the box.”
While many thinkers stress the importance of thinking outside the box, Epstein insists that an equal amount of innovation actually happens when you think inside the box. In other words, constraints are good for us.
The very implication that creativity works better when chained might shock some, but just as he did in Range, Epstein builds a compelling case for this line of thought. He begins with the example of General Magic, the company that set out to create a super portable do-it-all device in the early 1990s, based on the vision of one of its founders, Marc Porat (the man who coined the term “information technology”).
The General Magic disaster: Having the concept, the talent, and even the capital is not enough!
Porat came up with the concept in 1989 when he was with Apple’s Advanced Technology Group. He called it the “Pocket Crystal”. It was a thin, glass rectangle that was a touchscreen with no buttons at all. It was a computer that could fit into a pocket and could do everything from mails to messages to films to booking tickets, and what’s more, its design “must offer the kind of personal satisfaction that a fine piece of jewellery brings.”
Not only was the concept fantastic, Genera Magic even had the team for it. Its founders were all former Apple wizards, one of them being Andy Hertzfield, who was legendary for his work on the Macintosh. Add to that partnerships with Apple, Sony, Motorola and AT&T and many others, and the project had everything it needed to succeed. And yet, it failed miserably. So much so that General Magic is barely remembered today.
“A little less freedom” helps Epstein points out that the main reason for General Magic’s failure was the fact that there were no real restrictions or restraints on those involved in the project.
As a result, while General Magic’s offices were packed with innovation, creativity and camaraderie, the total absence of tight deadlines and schedules meant that the company was never able to come out with a proper product.
As Epstein rather directly points out, what was needed was “a little less freedom”: “With their combination of resources and talent, the team could do anything, so they often did. If an engineer had an idea they thought was cool, they went ahead, even if it was superfluous or pushed back a deadline – when deadlines existed at all.”
General Magic’s case was not a one-off either. Venture capitalist Bill Gurley tells Epstein: “We have a saying in venture: ‘More startups die of indigestion than starvation.” Inside the Box revolves around how restrictions and deadlines can often actually help rather than restrict creativity. Epstein walks us through how Pixar gives its executives time to work on projects but makes sure they are not distracted from the main objective and do not end up pursuing perfection for its own sake. Similarly, Tony Fadell reveals how he actually asked for deadlines for his team when they were working on the iPad and the iPhone.
Pixar pro tip: ‘An abundance of resources leads to sloppiness’
Inside the Box points out the perils of operating without constraints, which Epstein says often results in projects going over budget and not delivering products on time. This is especially the case of projects which have immense potential.
“With few constraints, exciting projects get too large too fast, going from big idea to giant endeavor extremely quickly,” he writes, referring to a study by researcher Bent Flybvbjerg that tracked giant undertakings. Pixar’s Ed Catmull agrees, saying “I found early on that an abundance of resources leads to sloppiness.” Moral of the story: be creative, but to get results, set limitations.
Some might be annoyed by his championing of restrictions, which goes against the conventional “give talent space and leave it free” line of thought, but Epstein’s fluent narration ensures that one races through the 300-odd pages of Inside the Box. The book comes packed with examples and insights, and dozens of “I never knew this” moments, which make it one of those rare business books that are actually fun to read. One reads about how the director of The Incredibles actually was so fixated on getting the fish in an aquarium in the background of a scene just right that work on major characters was delayed, how Steve Jobs was kept out of some meetings because it was felt that his personality would influence opinion, and so on.
All of which make Inside the Box one of the must-read business books of 2026. It makes one think while being informative and entertaining. Range has a worthy successor.
Inside the Box: How Constraints Make Us Better
David Epstein
Macmillan Business
304 pp
Rs 899
Inside the Box author David Epstein. (Source: davidepstein.com) 
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