Innovate Like Edison: The Success System of America’s Greatest Inventor

Innovate Like Edison: The Success System of America’s Greatest Inventor
By Michael Gelb, Sarah Miller Caldicott

Michael Gelb, bestselling author of How to Think Like Leonardo Da Vinci, and Sarah Miller Caldicott, translate the genius of Edison into a revolutionary new success system for innovation.

Thomas Edison is the greatest innovator in American history. Edison’s focus on practical accomplishment set the stage for America’s global leadership in innovation. Now, for the first time ever, Innovate Like Edison translates the best practices of this supreme American inventor into contemporary terms to help today’s leaders harness their own innovative potential.

With their unique insight and expertise, Michael Gelb and Sarah Miller Caldicott introduce a carefully researched, easy-to-apply system of five success secrets inspired by the creative methods of Edison himself. Presented in a step-by-step fashion, Innovate Like Edison provides the tools and strategies you need to compete and win in the business world and in everyday life. Whether you’re an amateur or an executive, Innovate Like Edison is an indispensable tool that will enable you to revamp and revitalize your own creative genius and thrive in today’s culture of innovation.

---

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20515 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-25
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

---

Reviews

“Gelb and Caldicott demonstrate the timelessness of Edison’s systematic approach to innovation as they guide you in applying a profoundly important concept –  ‘Innovation Literacy.’  This book is a must-have for anyone who wants to turn creative ideas into profitable reality!”
—Dr. Vijay Govindarajan, Earl C. Daum Professor of International Business, Amos Tuck School of Business Administration, Dartmouth College, and author of Ten Rules for Strategic Innovators

“This electrifying book transmits the amazing energy and creative power behind Edison’s world-changing innovations. More than just a compelling account of Edison’s remarkable genius “Innovate Like Edison” shows us HOW to access our own astounding potential, NOW.”
—Tony Buzan,  author of The Mind Map Book

“As you read this astounding book, you will feel as if that light-bulb has appeared above your head, enabling you to see yourself, your world, and your opportunities in a whole new light. You’ll enjoy, you’ll grow, and you’ll profit handsomely from the success secrets you’ll learn from the Wizard of Menlo Park.”
—Ronald Gross Co-chair, University Seminar on Innovation, Columbia University

“By drawing on the wealth of documents available in the Edison archive, Michael J.  Gelb and Sarah Miller Caldicott have succeeded admirably in showing us how Thomas Edison operated as an ingenious inventor and a sophisticated director of Research and Development.  Even more importantly, in this very readable book  they  take  the lessons they have learned  from studying Edison’s career and make them accessible to anyone  looking for practical  advice on the always difficult task of making Innovation work now.”
—Paul Israel, Editor of The Edison Papers Project at Rutgers University and Author of Edison: A Life of Invention

“Innovation is the art, science and discipline of integrating diverse observations and ideas into insights and converting those insights into high value products or services. Great innovators are great integrators. Michael J. Gelb and Sarah Miller Caldicott have done an exceptional job of integrating and distilling the practices, competencies and behaviors of a master innovator – Edison – into a blue print for all aspiring innovators to follow. In the current global competitive environment, innovation is the key to individual and business success. This book is a must read for business and innovation leaders for their personal and business success.”
—Surinder Kumar, Ph.D; MBA, Chief Innovation Officer, Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company and Author of Riding the Blue Train

“Gelb & Caldicott powerfully translate Edison’s extraordinary genius and his ability to innovate.  Innovate Like Edison fully captures the inspiration – perspiration – and best practices required for innovation success today.  This book offers you a step-by-step blueprint on how to incorporate this critical thinking into you life and business.” 
—Dr. Peter H. Diamandis, Chairman and Founder, X PRIZE Foundation

  “Michael Gelb made Leonardo daVinci’s genius available to us all.   Now, he and Sarah Miller Caldicott introduce us to the business genius of Thomas Edison.  Leaders, managers, and workers in any industry will find here a story and process for not only learning about business innovation, but practical guidance for implementing it.  In a rapidly changing world, we all need to innovate at work.  Gelb and Caldicott use the extraordinary story of Thomas Edison to teach us just how to do that.  If you’re involved in business or government in any way, you should read this book.”
—James G. Clawson, E. Thayer Bigelow Professor of Business Administration, Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Virginia

“Michael J. Gelb continues his brilliant work aimed at helping us all achieve our potential. With Sarah Miller Caldicott, he has authored another masterpiece – highly readable and full of practical wisdom that you can put to use immediately. Much as you may think you know about Edison and the process of innovation, this book will surprise and delight you.”
—Dr. Raj Sisodia, Professor of Marketing, Bentley College, Author of Firms of Endearment and The Rule of Three

“While Edison invented the light bulb, Gelb and Caldicott have turned the light on the process of innovation he used.  Reading Innovate Like Edison from start to finish on a flight from coast to coast, I landed with three pages of actions to take that will bring innovation to every corner of our business.”
—Cal Wick, CEO and Founder of Fort Hill Company, Author of the Six Disciplines of Breakthrough Learning

About the Author
Michael J. Gelb is an internationally renowned pioneer in the field of organizational innovation and has written ten previous books, including the international bestseller How to Think Like Leonardo Da Vinci. His clients have included DuPont, General Electric, Merck, Microsoft, and Nike, among others.
Founder of the consulting firm StarWave Associates, Sarah Miller Caldicott holds an M.B.A. from Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business. She is a twenty-year marketing veteran and a great-grandniece of Thomas Edison.

---

Customer Reviews

Practical History: A Terrific Mix!!
Thomas Alva Edison was one of the largest personalities in our history. Gelb and Miller-Caldicott took on a daunting challenge in writing a book that both did justice to this amazing man and made it relevant to the world three-quarters of a century later. Their product is relevant, practical, and engaging.

The authors do a terrific job painting a historical portrait of Edison. It starts with Nancy Edison pulling her son out of school at an early age because she recognized his need to learn by immersing himself in a topic and freely experimenting with what he learned. They also chronicle his early entrepreneurial days as a newspaper boy on the railroads, and then tracking Edison through his adult life. The historical elements of the book are well done and make for a compelling story in and of itself.

What makes this book stand out is the authors’ ability to merge that history into a practical framework that describes Edison’s genius. The framework allows readers to understand and internalize the many complex facets and abilities of the inventor’s personality. The book divides these into five distinctive, but never mutually exclusive, competencies that provide a clarity and cohesiveness to Edison’s complex approach to innovation. The melding of history and application is at the core of this book’s success.

The authors cap their efforts with an engaging evaluation and development tool that allows readers to measure their innovation profile against the ideal. Completing the exercise is a terrific review of the book and the lessons taught. It provides insight for future personal development and suggestions for improving your innovation quotient.

This is a terrific book for anyone who wants or needs to improve their ability to innovate.

Good Read on Edison
For an informative picture of the life of Edison as seen through the lense of innovation, this is a good book. It is a blend of a biography and an innovation how-to book. If the history of science appeals to you, so will this book.

You will definitely learn more about the character of Edison. Coupled with it will be the authors’ interpretation of Edison’s approaches distilled into five sets of five techniques (25 total) for practicing innovation. I think the 5 x 5 configuration is a bit contrived, but nonetheless, the points are reasonably genuine. In the end, I’d probably settle on a handful that were most meaningful because you certainly won’t push 25 lines of thinking at once. You’ll find the table of 25 near the end of the last main chapter; read the table before you start the book.

If anything, the book will convince you that a high energy level and intense dedication helped Edison as a person achieve his greatness. We do not all possess characteristics like being able to sleep only 4 – 6 hours a night, having a family that puts up with 18-hour work days, etc., so Edison as a personal model is a bit beyond the reach of most of us. It is a bit dangerous to take the exception to extract the rules. The authors don’t seem to grasp that point.

Nor do the authors grasp the huge change in the level of technology and the costs of experimentation that have occured since Edison ran his Menlo Park lab and today’s world of R&D. That’s not to say their points about how to approach innovation are invalid, just that the context is radically different than it was in 1880 – 1920 and at least bears noting. To wit, a digital photocopier is a far cry from a mimeograph machine (if you know what the later is).

All that said, this is an easy book to read and will prompt your thinking on how to promote innovation, either personally or in your organization. Buy it, you’ll like it as much for the history as the methodology it describes.

Not another think like somebody else kind of thing
This is one more of think like Davinci, Einstein, Isaac Newton kind of silly books written by someone who never created anything in his life. Please no more.