Edison on Innovation: 102 Lessons in Creativity for Business and Beyond

5.7. Lesson 39: Be Legendary

Although his deafness sometimes made Edison appear aloof, he was no temperamental creative hermit. From early in his career, he learned to promote himself by engaging the press, offering juicy stories of forthcoming inventions, inventions in progress, or simply his ongoing research. One reporter called him the "Aladdin's lamp of the newspaper man," adding, "The fellow who approaches him has only to think out what he wants to get before taking the lamp in his hands and he gets it." Reporters relied on Edison to deliver stories they knew would consistently amaze their readers. Virtually everything Edison created—or claimed to be creating—promised to improve the lives of consumers of all kinds. Moreover, while Edison ...