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Title: At Work With Thomas Edison: 10 Business Lessons from America's Greatest Innovator by Blaine McCormick, John P. Keegan ISBN: 1-891984-35-7 Publisher: Entrepreneur Media Inc. Pub. Date: September, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.67 (3 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Edison was not a loner
Comment: At Work With Thomas Edison is a great book. I had always pictured Edison as the lone inventor. Nothing could be further from the truth. This book proved many of my ideas about Edison were simply myths. On the other had this book also expanded my view about the truly amazing accomplishments of Thomas Edison (he started over 100 companies include GE and had over 1,000 patents).
As the book quickly points out Edison was one of the first practitioners in the war for talent. Edison's lab was the first innovation factory and in many ways a precursor to Silicon Valley. The lab had no rules (pet bear, pipe organ, and pranks) and was a true meritocracy. Edison's lab had a basic apprenticeship program and Edition worked with many, many people on the innovation teams that worked on projects. The electric light bulb team was over 75 people.
The book also cast a complementary light on Edison as a businessman. The innovations of the labs lead to the founding of over 100 companies. The labs innovations lead to a virtuous cycle of products, systems, and industries. This led to more innovation and more businesses. Edison was not Rockefeller nor did he want to be he wanted his business to continue to provide funding for invention. Edison was adept at capturing and using venture capital.
Edison was also quite adept at marketing. At a time before self-promotion was recognized or well understood Edison was adept at it. Edison's ability to market himself and his ideas lead to better funding, recognition, and a reputation, which allowed him to invent even more.
This is a great book. Edison was one of the greatest Americans to have ever lived.
Rating: 5
Summary: Innovative, inspirational, and motivational reading
Comment: At Work With Thomas Edison: 10 Business Lessons From Ame4rica's Greatest Innovator by Blaine McCormick (management professor at the Hankamer School of Business, Baylor University) is a savvy presentation of ten crucial business lessons from America's greatest inventor. A an astute businessman as well as a famed inventor and creator of the world's first research and development (R&D) operation, Thomas Edison's management techniques helped him incorporate over 100 businesses and contain much wisdom to remember in today's modern world. Innovative, inspirational, and motivational reading.
Rating: 5
Summary: Working to Achieve "The Happiness of Man"
Comment: Here is another terrific book from Blaine McCormick who, as he did so skillfully in Ben Franklin's 12 Rules of Management, focuses on an historic figure from whose life and work certain important "lessons" can be learned. Yes, they include lessons relevant to business but so many other kinds of lessons which anyone needs inorder to think more clearly and more creatively, to nourish and enrich one's personal life, and of equal (if not greater) importance, to persevere in the face of great adversity. Most people would agree that Edison was the greatest inventor who ever lived. Most people may not know that he was also a very shrewd businessman with a deep understanding of key issues such as allocation of resources (e.g. time management), setting proper priorities, delegating work to those better qualified to complete it, and creating and then sustain competitive advantage.
McCormick identifies and then examines ten different "Lessons" which, collectively, delineate Edison's business model:
1. Limit your way to greater creativity.
2. Talent comes and talent goes but mediocrity accumulates.
3. Creativity is all about making connections.
4. If you want to invent, build yourself an invention factory.
5. The greatest innovators have made a lot of F's.
An interesting point because most people fear failure. Edison passionately believed that the more failed experiments (whatever the situation) he completed, the more likely eventual success would be. Only through rigorous and extensive experimentation is it possible to determine what we don't know, and, what doesn't work. Moreover, what is true today and what works today may be inadequate or even wrong tomorrow. For Edison, failure (not success) was the best teacher. He was an avid student whose appetite for learning was insatiable.
6. In a capitalist society, whoever attracts the most capital wins.
7. The best-promoted technology will often beat the best technology.
8. The price of freedom is a premium most customers are willing to pay.
Another interesting point. An abundance of research data on "customer satisfaction" indicate that "convenience" (or "ease of doing business") is almost always ranked #1 or #2 among attributes. FYI, "Price" is ranked anywhere from #9 to #14.
9. Play is to innovation what rules are to bureaucracy.
10. Glow, but don't consume yourself.
McCormick organizes his material within ten chapters, including with several an "Interview with an Innovator" section which poses questions or explores issues such as "Why Do So Many Men Never Amount to Anything?" and "How to Succeed as an Innovator." Throughout the crisp narrative, the reader is provided with dozens of brief quotations from Edison's writings which correlated with relevant "Lessons" and anchored in specific situations throughout his life. All of us are by now weary of (indeed hostile to) books which provide flimsy lessons from questionable sources, such as "People Skills Lessons from the World's Greatest Hermits." Both in his book on Franklin and in this book on Edison, McCormick focuses on "Lessons" (albeit familiar) which are wholly authentic within the context he creates for them. Wisely, McCormick allows Edison the last word: "My philosophy of life is work -- bringing out the secrets of nature and applying them for the happiness of man. I know of no better service to render during the short time we are in this world." There is no way I (or anyone else) can improve on that so I shall not try. Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out Edison in the Boardroom, co-authored by Julie L. Davis and Suzanne S. Harrison.
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Title: Ben Franklin's 12 Rules of Management by Blaine McCormick, Neil Shigley ISBN: 1891984144 Publisher: Entrepreneur Media Inc. Pub. Date: 15 April, 2000 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Edison: A Life of Invention by Paul Israel ISBN: 0471362700 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Pub. Date: 11 February, 2000 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: When Genius Failed : The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management by Roger Lowenstein ISBN: 0375758259 Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks Pub. Date: 09 October, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Uncommon Friends: Life with Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, Alexis Carrel, and Charles Lindbergh by James D. Newton ISBN: 0156926202 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: June, 1989 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
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Title: The Way to Wealth by Benjamin Franklin ISBN: 0918222885 Publisher: Applewood Books Pub. Date: November, 1986 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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