Take what you know about innovation and turn it on its head. To many people the word innovation is just buzz. It rings hollow and is popular with office drones who like to play Buzzword Bingo. Our experiences have already opened our eyes.
For instance, we learned yesterday that Henry Ford’s approach to innovation was incremental in nature. For each small advance – like the process of casting engine blocks – Ford would take it a step further and combine that with a broader view. That’s, in effect, how he came up with a full-on assembly line for the Model T.
Bob Casey – one of the Ford Museum’s curators made the point that innovation doesn’t spring to life as people might think. It’s not invention that comes fully formed to the fore. He said that innovation takes hard work, creativity and passion.
For more info, stay tuned. The link to our interview with Bob Casey and Marc Greuther (also a museum curator) will be posted here tonight.
Thanks for following #iroadtrip on Twitter and we’ll be in touch.
My daughter was helping me cut onions over the holidays when she discovered that onions make your eyes water. She ran from the kitchen and said to her mom, “Mommy, I am allergic to onions; they make me cry.”
My wife patiently explained to her that slicing onions creates a vapor that makes your eyes water and that it happens to everyone. My daughter then exclaimed, “Well, I am going to invent special goggles, like swim goggles, but for cutting onions so I don’t cry!”
I forgot all about it until I met Chris Hawker of Trident Design. Chris is a professional inventor out of Columbus, Ohio who has numerous inventions to his credit. We met at CES and he handed me his brochure and I was shocked to see – Onion Goggles! He already created my daughter’s idea!
And that is the point. How many times have all of us thought of something to make life better, more interesting, easier and not followed through? All of us have the ability to think of these ideas – but the real innovators are focused on trying, creating and doing!
We hope to sit down with Chris Hawker on our trip and talk to him further.
/colin
