Successful managers do not merely sit around waiting for brilliant ideas to occur to them; they work methodically. Thomas Alva Edison (1847–1931) showed us how to innovate systematically.
When one of Edison’s assistants went to see him feeling somewhat dejected after numerous experiments had not produced the desired result, the tireless inventor retorted: “Listen, I conducted 50,000 experiments to invent a new battery. The fact that those 50,000 possibilities do not work is a great result!”1 Not without reason is Edison also attributed with the insight that: “Genius is 99 percent perspiration and 1 percent inspiration.”2
Edison was the archetypal inventor. In his lifetime he registered over 1,200 patents, the first when just 21 years old and the last at the ripe old age of 81. Edison was self-taught, attended school for only three months, and started working when he was 12. During his lifetime he developed more than 2,000 appliances and processes. Most people think of Edison as the man who invented the light bulb, but that is not actually the case. The light bulb was invented roughly 25 years before Edison popularized it by the precision engineer Heinrich Goebel, who had used one to illuminate his New York workshop since 1854. What Edison invented was city illumination, which is something quite different, but definitely more significant, bearing in mind the benefits to its users. Edison succeeded in making the breakthrough to mass production. That was his achievement. And his systematic approach to innovation was legendary.
What can Edison teach us? Well, innovative managers know that innovation is sparked by an idea. But instead of suppressing “crazy” ideas, effective managers ask themselves: “What would it take to turn this crazy idea into something sensible, something that constitutes an opportunity for us?” So while there is no shortage of ideas, the true challenge lies in applying them (as described in Chapter 15 on Steve Jobs). Most ideas will turn out not to be worth following up. For this reason, you and your colleagues and employees should seriously ask yourselves this question: “What do we need to find out, learn, and do before committing ourselves to putting this idea into practice?” In so doing, focus your attention on really essential innovations, rather than striving for small changes and minor improvements. Edison carried out 6,000 experiments before finding the right filament for his light bulb. All the time, what kept him going was a single big idea. Remember, too, that big and small aspects are not at all mutually exclusive. No doubt it was recognition of this fact that prompted Edison to ask his engineers and scientists “to invent something small every 10 days and something big every 6 months.”3
To innovate systematically, you will need to be aware of the seven main sources of innovation. The first four ought to prompt action within your organization4:
1. The unexpected, such as an unexpected success, an unexpected failure, or an unexpected outside event.
2. Incongruity relates to a situation in which expectations regarding observable reality and reality as it “ought to be” do not tally with the actual situation.
3. Process necessity, such as an innovation required to meet a need intrinsic to a process.
4. A sudden change in market or sectoral structures that takes everyone by surprise.
The three other sources of innovation involve changes stemming from outside the organization:
1. Changing demographic structures.
2. Changes in perception, mood, and meaning within the broader context.
3. New knowledge, both scientific and nonscientific.
If you systematically explore these seven sources of innovation, you will go far. Nonetheless, even if you reliably spot opportunities for innovation and take excellent steps to make practical use of them, errors of judgment are bound to occur. So bear in mind what Edison said in 1926, shortly before one innovation achieved its worldwide breakthrough: “I have determined that there is no market for talking pictures.”5—and doggedly continue your systematic approach.
Set a date with your key colleagues and employees to work through the seven sources of innovation listed above in relation to your organization.
Which idea should you take up in depth tomorrow with a view to assessing or facilitating its viability?