Consultants Learn How to Innovate Like Edison
Confab, the conference for successful consultants and those who want to be, was fortunate to have as its kick-off keynote speaker Sarah Miller Caldicott, President of The Power Patterns of Innovation, grand-niece of Thomas Edison and co-author of the book, Innovate Like Edison: The Success System of America’s Greatest Inventor. According to Caldicott, while most people know about Edison’s inventions, they don’t know that he started 150 companies and had thousands of employees. His companies were quite flat in structure, unlike traditional hierarchical companies, a structure to which today’s companies are returning in order to create innovation. Edison’s companies resulted in some of the largest in businesses today such as G.E. and Con Edison. His patents created by 1910 have created $6.7 billion in market value today. If the market value number included patents that Edison sold, it would come in at over one trillion dollars.
How can we learn from Edison about innovation? According to Caldicott, Edison used analogy and fantastical story telling to come up with inventions. He kept a notebook and often drew pictures and diagrams of inventions, which helped engage right brain creativity and made it easier to communicate his ideas with employees. He valued solitude and was aware that some of the best ideas came from quiet time. He surrounded himself with a small and diverse team of great minds to facilitate innovation.
This keynote presentation got great reviews from attendees, and many attended a two-part follow-on workshop that was offered by Caldicott to help consultants learn detailed processes for helping their clients create an environment of innovation.
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