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

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

by Alan Axelrod
February 2008
Intermediate to advanced content levelIntermediate to advanced
192 pages
4h 1m
English
Jossey-Bass
Content preview from Edison on Innovation: 102 Lessons in Creativity for Business and Beyond

8.4. Lesson 68: "Genius Is 1 Percent Inspiration and 99 Percent Perspiration"

In this, the most famous—and most hackneyed—of his pronouncements, Edison meant to say that so-called genius is mostly an appearance created by hard work.

But there is more to it.

What happens when the inventor–innovator gives free rein to that 1 percent that is inspiration? It is hard to say. The fact is that Thomas Edison rarely did it. Typically, his inspiration began with an analogy to the familiar or an outright adaptation of existing technology and traditional processes. Typically, he innovated rather than invented, improving what already existed rather than creating entirely anew. But when, at the beginning of the twentieth century, he embarked on a radical ...

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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9780787994594Purchase book