Buckminster fuller Quote by Jonathon Keats
![“[Buckminster] Fuller was an independent operator coming up with these madcap ways of combining things with absolutely no strings attached and the fact that world changing now is happening within the corporation by and large, and that disruption is ironically what corporations do.” quote by Jonathon Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/ee0/jonathon-keats-10822_buckminster-fuller_buckminster-fuller-was-an-independent-op_35124.jpg)
“[Buckminster] Fuller was an independent operator coming up with these madcap ways of combining things with absolutely no strings attached and the fact that world changing now is happening within the corporation by and large, and that disruption is ironically what corporations do.”
About This Quote
Fuller’s independent, unconventional approach to innovation shows that transformative change often emerges from within large corporations, despite their typical resistance to disruption.
In simple terms: Innovation can arise from inside big firms.
Key Takeaway
Disruption is not exclusive to startups.
Themes
innovation
corporate culture
disruption
independence
systems thinking
Mood
inspired
optimistic
Type
observation
commentary
When to use this quote
- corporate R&D teams
- entrepreneurial intrapreneurs
- strategic innovation labs
Key Concepts
systems integration
creative autonomy
Practical Applications
- designing cross‑functional initiatives
- leveraging internal resources for breakthrough ideas
Questions to Reflect On
- How can corporations foster independent thinking?
- What structures enable internal disruption?
![“The interesting thing writing about [Buckminster] Fuller is really to attempt to resurrect all of that and to do so for a new generation that has not grown up with him.” quote by Jonathon Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/310/jonathon-keats-10822_buckminster-fuller_the-interesting-thing-writing-about-buck_3168700.jpg)
![“[Buckminster] Fuller said that everything at the time was basically a horse and buggy in the form of an automobile and it had that boxiness and basically aeronautics hadn't been invented.” quote by Jonathon Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/5bb/jonathon-keats-10822_automobile_buckminster-fuller-said-that-everything_134972.jpg)
![“I didn't grow up with [Buckminster Fuller]. I never met him. I was once close to meeting him as a child at a ski resort one summer. He died in 1983. Only in 1999 or so, 2000, when I was working as an editor at San Francisco Magazine, did I really come back around to that name because Stanford…” quote by Jonathon Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/dde/jonathon-keats-10822_archives_i-didn-t-grow-up-with-buckminster-fuller_3035794.jpg)
![“We're back around to [Buckminster] Fuller again. Back around to the recognition of patterns, which may be true or may not be. But nevertheless, have enough of a semblance that they're worth exploring. That, to me, is where my work begins.” quote by Jonathon Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/334/jonathon-keats-10822_being-true_we-re-back-around-to-buckminster-fuller_1816940.jpg)
![“I think that [Buckminster] Fuller certainly would have found a way in which to be funded by Google in a way that he was funded by the Marine Corps and everybody else. He would have remained obstinately his own creature.” quote by Jonathon Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/704/jonathon-keats-10822_buckminster-fuller_i-think-that-buckminster-fuller-certainl_1675141.jpg)
![“[Buckminster] Fuller's idea of progress is a very 1950s organization man out of the military sort of idea of progress. So as a result, you have something like: we've got bad weather in New York City; let's put a dome over it. And so I don't want to put a dome over Manhattan and I hope that nobody…” quote by Jonathon Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/864/jonathon-keats-10822_bad-weather_buckminster-fuller-s-idea-of-progress-is_1517956.jpg)
![“[Buckminster Fuller] could do four, five hours straight where some people would leave, eat, get a snooze and come back and he's still going. He was like a fireplug.” quote by Paul Laffoley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/75c/paul-laffoley-7077_buckminster-fuller_buckminster-fuller-could-do-four-five-ho_543300.jpg)
![“There were other auto manufacturers that were confabulating as much as [Buckminster Fuller] was, making claims about how cars resembled this or that aspect of nature.” quote by Jonathon Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/d9d/jonathon-keats-10822_aspect_there-were-other-auto-manufacturers-that_440815.jpg)
![“We clearly recognize the need for something that is what [Buckminster Fuller] represents and therefore it becomes really useful and really interesting to look at the ways in which world changing today totally misses everything that was valuable.” quote by Jonathon Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/92f/jonathon-keats-10822_buckminster-fuller_we-clearly-recognize-the-need-for-someth_100464.jpg)
![“Architects in urban planning are talking about this but they're not talking about it yet I don't think at that level that [Buckminster] Fuller is talking about when he talked about putting a dome over Manhattan, which is to say an attempt at integrating all of these different technologies in a way…” quote by Jonathon Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/560/jonathon-keats-10822_architect_architects-in-urban-planning-are-talking_285452.jpg)
![“I would certainly never want to inflict anything on the world exactly as [Buckminster Fuller] envisioned it because there is a technocratic worldview that I find horrific.” quote by Jonathon Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/d11/jonathon-keats-10822_buckminster-fuller_i-would-certainly-never-want-to-inflict_340658.jpg)
![“On the other hand, the way in which that car fit into this whole very roundabout way of attempting to solve the problem of what - the problem that [Buckminster Fuller] perceived as being the cause of his daughter's death and meningitis. I mean how you get from your daughter dying from meningitis…” quote by Jonathon Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/3d8/jonathon-keats-10822_attempting_on-the-other-hand-the-way-in-which-that_562873.jpg)
![“Where Google and [Buckminster] Fuller overlap are in the potential for putting together disparate technologies in ways that can lead to something that might be a larger solution to a larger problem.” quote by Jonathon Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/975/jonathon-keats-10822_buckminster-fuller_where-google-and-buckminster-fuller-over_672435.jpg)
