Thomas Edison is well known for the numerous inventions attributed to him – some 1,093, including the light bulb, electric sub division, alkali battery amongst others. A little known fact – to me anyway – is the number of companies he got off the ground. The guy was a start-up machine, founding 100 businesses; he planted them like bulbs in springtime. He was one of the first proponents of the Lean Startup.
Here are the 3 steps he used:
He drew all his ideas on paper in the form of pictures:
Using a free flow of visual creative ideas he engaged his brain to think inquire and explore
Used analogical thinking
Edison would select 2 things that were seemingly random and at face value unconnected, he’d create an analogy that connected them and then start testing around the analogy
Example: When he created the analogy that “electricity is just like telegraphy” and started building experiments around it he came up with the first electrical circuiWrote and told fantastical stories:
He wrote fantastical (aka sci-fi comic-book-esque) stories about electricity.
These were again laden with drawing and visual tales.
He immersed himself in the tales of other fantastical writers of his time, such as Jules Vern.
Interesting much of what he wrote in his stories (say, electricity) later became science fact.
The common thread through his approach to life was a blend of experimentation, curiosity and fun (now we cal it the Lean-Startup) The genesis of many of his world changing inventions was a free flow of creative ideas through which he allowed his imagination to run riot. In modern terms these would be labeled visualization techniques.
Comments:
This article was inspired by a presentation i saw at the Peachtree TEDx by a great grandniece of Thomas Edison, Sarah Miller Caldicott. She co-authored the first book ever written on the subject of Edison’s world-changing innovation methods, entitled, “Innovate Like Edison: The Five-Step System for Breakthrough Business Success:Innovate Like Edison”.
Related articles:
- Feature Article - How Thomas Edison Invented the Future
- Thomas Edison’s ‘Todo’ List (business-opportunities.biz)
- Inventors Celebrating Thomas Edison’s Birthday At Free Invention Expo (business-opportunities.biz)
