Category: Great Innovators

Innovation Insights from Jeff Bezos and Amazon

    As a boy brought up in Florida, Jeff Bezos developed a keen interest in computers.  He graduated from Princeton in 1986 with a degree in computer science and electrical engineering. He then worked for an investment firm in New York before quitting his well-paid position in 1994 to start Amazon, just as internet commerce was beginning to take off.  He started the company in his garage where... Read More--

The Founder of IKEA was the Master of Frugal Innovation

Ingvar Feodor Kamprad was born in 1926 on a small farm in the Swedish province of Småland. He had an austere upbringing and the lessons he learnt in thrift stayed with him throughout his life. At the age of six the boy started a business selling matches to neighbours. He bought the matches in bulk and sold them in small inexpensive packs. He went on to sell seeds, pens, pencils and even fish in this... Read More--

David Bowie – The Arch Innovator

David Bowie Born David Jones in January 1947, David Bowie renamed himself in 1966 to avoid confusion with Davy Jones of The Monkees.  He was a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, arranger, painter, and actor. He was a highly influential musician who continually re-invented his sound and persona, from the 1960s hippy of Space Oddity, through Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane, Pierrot,... Read More--

The Leader of Innovation Paints a Vision of a Better Future

Anne Mulcahy When Anne Mulcahy was appointed CEO of Xerox Corp. in 2001, many people were surprised, including Mulcahy herself. She had never run a company before and had little financial experience, having worked mainly in Sales and Human Resources functions. Xerox faced huge financial problems and the stock price fell 15% on news of her appointment. The financial market had little confidence in her... Read More--

Innovation Lessons from the Master, Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs was adopted at birth in 1955. He grew up in California. He dropped out of college but voluntarily took a course in calligraphy. He found it beautiful and fascinating. The marriage of aesthetics and technology became his life-long obsession. Jobs led a company which embodied the combination of art and science. He was an eclectic revolutionary. Computers, cell phones, tablets, films, animation,... Read More--

Apply your Creativity Everywhere – Like Salvador Dali

In January 1952 the renowned artist Salvador Dali appeared on the US TV game show, ‘What’s My Line?’ The panel members were blindfolded and had to question the guest to determine his identity. Almost every question they asked he answered in the affirmative. ‘Are you a performer?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Are you a writer?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Are you an artist?’ ‘Yes.’ And so on until one of panellists... Read More--

How a Boy enabled the Blind to Read

Louis Braille Louis Braille was born in 1809 in Coupvray, a village near Paris. His father was a saddler and little Louis liked to play in his father’s workshop. Unfortunately at the age of three he accidentally pushed a sharp tool called an awl into his eye. His eye became infected. The infection spread to his other eye leaving the small child completely blind. Despite this terrible setback, Louis... Read More--

Reinvent Yourself

Madonna Louise Ciccone has sold over 300 million records worldwide and is recognized as the best-selling female recording artist of all time by Guinness World Records. She was born in 1958 in Bay City Michigan. She attended the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance before joining the group Breakfast Club where she sang, and played drums and guitar. In 1981 she left the band to... Read More--

An Innovation Lesson from Walt Disney – Ignore the Doubters

Walt Disney As a young man Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor because “he lacked imagination and had no good ideas.” It was an inauspicious start for a man who went on to be one of America’s most innovative leaders. In 1921, he founded his first animation company in Kansas City. It failed. He had to dissolve his company. He could not pay the rent and it is said that he was in... Read More--