Category: History of Innovation

What is the #1 Factor in Whether a Startup Succeeds or Fails?

Mesoamerican Wheeled Toy In Mexico archaeologists have found toy models made by the ancient Olmec peoples some two thousand years ago.  What is remarkable about these models of animals is that they have little wheels on them so that children could push them along the ground.  It appears that the Olmec people – one of the oldest known civilizations of the Americas – had invented... Read More--

The Dangers of Conformity

Henri Tajfel Henri Tajfel was born in Poland in 1919.  As a young man he left Poland because of restrictions on Jews in universities and went to France to study chemistry at the Sorbonne. At the start of World War II, he volunteered to serve in the French army and was subsequently taken prisoner by the Germans. He survived the war in prisoner-of-war camps but on his return home he found that... Read More--

What is the Opposite of Vertical?

The Story of Barnes Wallis and the Bouncing Bomb. A key principle of lateral thinking is to consider the opposite. If everyone is heading west think about going east. If the fashion is fast then consider slow. If the crowd is selling then contemplate buying. Which brings us to this question, what is the opposite of vertical? Barnes Wallis was born in Derbyshire, England in 1887. ... Read More--

Eight Companies that Switched What They Did

Peter Drucker famously said, “Every organisation must prepare for the abandonment of everything it does.”  Here are examples of eight successful companies which switched from one activity to another in order to meet a customer need. Tiffany was started in 1837 by Charles Tiffany and John Young, in Brooklyn, Connecticut, as a “stationery and fancy goods emporium”.  In 1862, during... Read More--

The Accidental Innovation

  Thomas Sullivan was a tea merchant in New York.  In 1908 he despatched to customers samples of tea leaves in small silken sachets for them to try. Some people thought that the sachets were to be used like metal infusers.  Customers were supposed to empty out the contents but instead they put the whole bag into the teapot and then added hot water. Sullivan heard back that the customers were... Read More--

Recession, Survival and Innovation

In times of severe recession should you cut costs and focus on survival or take the opportunity to invest in innovation so that you can benefit from the eventual recovery?  Well the short answer is that you have to survive first.  If the cash dries up and you cannot pay the rent then a pipeline of great innovative products and services is of little help.  So it is natural that companies hunker down,... Read More--

Remove the Pump Handle. Find the Root Cause.

In August 1854, there was a deadly outbreak of cholera in the Soho district of central London. Cholera leads to diarrhoea, vomiting, dehydration, and in many cases to death. Thousands of people fell ill and over 600 died. At that time, medical authorities believed that cholera was caused by ‘miasma’ – a type of ‘bad air’ possibly from decaying bodies. But a local doctor, John Snow, was... Read More--

When the World Zigs, Zag.

John Bartle, Nigel Bogle and John Hegarty founded their eponymous agency in 1982 after leaving the TBWA agency. They started with a highly unusual principle for an advertising agency – no creative pitches. Nigel Bogle argued that if they really were more creative than other agencies, they should not give away their best ideas free in their pitches. They should focus on strategy. It was a radical... Read More--

Wikipedia – A Lateral Idea in Action

In the 1930s there were 2000 salesmen in the USA knocking on doors and selling sets of Encyclopedia Britannica. They were selling a highly regarded product and were on handsome commissions. By 2000 the set comprised 32 volumes of carefully researched entries provided by 100 full time editors and 4000 contributors. First published in Edinburgh in 1768, Encyclopedia Britannica became a trusted reference... Read More--

Breaking Taboos – Two Lessons for Innovators

During WWI there was tremendous demand for bandages and sterile dressings for Allied wounded on the Western Front.  The US company, Kimberly-Clark, developed a new cotton-like material from wood-pulp.  It was highly absorbent.  They manufactured this in large quantities to supply gas-mask filters and field dressings.  When the war ended in 1918 the company was left with large stocks of materials... Read More--