The Power of Positive Thinking in Innovation

When being creative, is it always better to listen to people who are older and wiser?

Today, a post on Phil Gerbyshak's Make it Great! blog started me thinking.  Phil writes about his experience growing up in small towns and how he had to fight to prevail over the misconceptions that people formed about his potential.

It's a great story, and every creative thinker should read it.

Why?  Because anyone who comes up with a radical new idea will most likely have to fight for it against hordes of unbelievers.

Consider some of the statements previous innovators have faced:

• "This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us." (Western Union internal memo, 1876.)

• "Who the h*** wants to hear actors talk?" (H.M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927)

• "The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a 'C,' the idea must be feasible." (A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith's paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service. (Smith founded FedEx not long afterwards.)

• "A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say America likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like you make." (Response to Debbi Fields' idea of starting Mrs. Fields' Cookies.)

• "We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out." (Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.)

• "Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You're crazy." (Drillers whom Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist in his project to drill for oil in 1859.)

• "Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value." (Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre. [Higher School of War])

• "No flying machine will ever fly from New York to Paris." (Orville Wright.)

• "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." (Attributed to Thomas J. Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943.)

Luckily, those wise statements weren't listened to by stubborn inventors. They thought they could... they knew they could... and they did!

Just goes to show how good ideas can completely redefine how people view the world.

Any other examples?

And thanks again to Phil for starting this train of thought! I'm glad he didn't listen to the bad advice he received!

Comments

[Phil Gerbyshak]

I think we've all been told no at least a few times. The question we have to ask ourselves is what do we have to gain by listening to the no, and what do we stand to lose by choosing to say YES? If we choose YES, then we are in control, to try and do as we can.

Choosing no means it's over, I gave up. I quit.

No means no, and that's a choice I'm not willing to make. Maybe "not right now" but not no.

Thanks for expanding upon my article. Well done!

[Luke Langford]

Wonderful quotes. I'd never heard of the FedEx story... Could you share where you got them from? I love collecting these types of stories.

I found them by searching Google for "famous last words" and from the Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famous_last_words_%28sarcasm%29
There are some other good ones there that I didn't show. Enjoy!

[Greg Krauska]

Katie, nice work. I think the lesson from all of these examples is to ask, "What is the conventional wisdom here?" We humans have this nasty tendency to defend our current experience and beliefs, often at the risk of not seeing boundless possibility!

Very true. And that's what makes great innovations so wonderful when they do happen!