Comments on: Innovation Diffusion Lessons from Edison

By: Grit versus Intelligence in Innovation « Book Reviews « Innovation Leadership Network

Sat, 06 Feb 2010 05:54:38 +0000

[...] getting embedded in the economy – there are several examples here, and a discussion of Edison and the light bulb also illustrates the point. Randy Haykin talks about another great example by showing how many of [...]

By: Institutional Innovation « Complex Systems « Innovation Leadership Network

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 11:17:58 +0000

[...] We’ve already talked about how Edison’s idea for the light bulb didn’t diffuse until he built a generating station and power lines. So it clearly take a fair bit of effort to get ideas to spread. And there are still issues with [...]

By: Cumulative Disruption « Innovation « Innovation Leadership Network

Cumulative Disruption « Innovation « Innovation Leadership Network — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 11:58:40 +0000

[...] better than what they’re replacing. It’s why Edison had to build power plants and dig up the streets to get people to use his Electric Light into widespread [...]

By: The Pace of Economic Evolution « Evolving Economic Entities « Innovation Leadership Network

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 10:01:48 +0000

[...] again illustrates the importance of executing ideas. There are enormous differences between having a great idea, and making it into something that [...]

By: Networks and the Information Glut « Complex Systems « Innovation Leadership Network

Sat, 09 Jan 2010 05:57:51 +0000

[...] Talks « Innovation Diffusion Lessons from Edison [...]

By: Tim

Tim — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 23:13:30 +0000

Tanveer – I agree that good innovation still start with an idea. I just think we overemphasise ideas, and that that is a mistake. That’s why I keep hammering on execution. But it’s not either/or, it’s definitely both/and!

Thanks for the comment Deborah – I use that exact quote from Edison in my classes!

Also, thanks to both of you for retweeting this post – I appreciate it.

By: Deborah Mills-Scofield

Deborah Mills-Scofield — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 21:06:34 +0000

Building the infrastructure is a huge part – which was, in his case, big capital expenditures…but it was distribution infrastructure that limited his other invention (DC) in the end, losing out to AC (westinghouse & tesla). Just goes to show you win some and lose some — and Edison’s quotes on success & failure:

I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.

Many of life’s failures are men who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.

By: Tanveer Naseer

Tanveer Naseer — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 20:59:36 +0000

Tim, what a great way to demonstrate the greater importance of idea implementation over mere generation than the very example that gets bandied about concerning the importance of creating ideas.

Certainly, the process of innovation requires as a first step the creation of an idea, but the only way to properly evaluate the idea is to actually take it out onto the streets for a test run, to see if it has merit and what unforeseen obstacles might be in the way in making it viable.

Thanks for sharing this look at how Edison really became associated with the creation of the light bulb.