Thomas Edison and Innovation
This post originally appeared January 4, 2010 on BetterProjects.net
The long-lasting light bulb. The phonograph. The motion picture camera. When we think of big successes in innovation, Thomas Edison’s name can’t help but make the list. The man holds 1,093 patents, making him one of the most prolific inventors in the history of the world.

So what lessons can we draw from this failure of Mr. Edison? First, just because you can build it, doesn’t mean you should. Technology is great, but sometimes something more simple, even just a better manual process, might be more appropriate.
Second, don’t let failure stop you in your tracks. Edison’s failure with the doll happened 40 years prior to his death. He didn’t let this one stop him; he was inventing up until just months prior to his death. Learn from failure and make better decisions next time.
Third, learn timing. You don’t always have to be first, but you do need to be timely. Being there with the right idea or product at the right time is better than being early or late. There wasn’t much Edison could do to wait 90 years for his doll to be viable in the marketplace, but there is nothing to say he couldn’t have created the genesis for the idea and then left that for his heirs to fulfill when the necessary technology had reached a cost and size ratio that was likely to make such a doll a success.
Those are the lessons I got from this article. What did you pick up from it?