Changing The World In Remarkable Ways
Jackie Bassett is founder and CEO of BT Industrials Inc., where she helps companies design innovation into their business strategies and processes, turning problems into profits. Jackie is the author of “Drawing on Brilliance”, of which InnoCentive CEO Dwayne Spradlin said:
“Drawing on Brilliance is a guilty pleasure for aficionados of invention everywhere. Packed with stories and hand drawn diagrams from patent filings for many creations we now take for granted, I found myself immersed. Ever wonder where some of those famous ideas came from? The comments in the margins from the inventors only help to bring a historical excitement to flipping through the pages. How did Edison and Bell visualize their own creations? This book is not only for inventors, but for those needing a constant reminder that creativity and problem solving are inherently human processes. With the right creative spark, we all have the ability to change the world in remarkable ways!”
Can one person, with one crazy idea really change the world? Or how about just two people? Or how about – just you? What does it really take? Let’s take a look……
Two bicycle shop repairmen from Ohio solved a problem that no one else could: not even DaVinci or Galileo. They weren’t even engineers. Yet their idea spawned an entire new industry that created millions of jobs: Wilbur & Orville Wright.
How? Controlled flight was not a weight and balance issue like so many for centuries before then believed. Increasing power only added to the weight, which required more power, which just added more weight and so on – making the problem seemingly unsolvable.
Controlled flight was an issue of pitch & yaw: something bicycle shop repairmen understand better than anyone else. They spent years reviewing every prior attempt at flight before they saw what the real problem was. They then went on to solve the right problem!
Make The World A Much Cooler Place
W.H. Carrier, was raised on a farm and had to mow lawns and do lots of odd jobs to pay his way through college. He started his company, Carrier Corporation, on a shoe string budget. His inventions enabled man-made control over temperature, humidity, ventilation and air quality soon raised the standard of living around the world forever!
Josephine Cochran thought she was married to a successful grocer but only discovered after his death that she was an impoverished widow. Needing to support herself she took her idea for an automatic dishwasher to the world, toiling for several years until she found a market for it. With no formal training she went on to win awards for “best mechanical construction”. Her company was eventually acquired by what is now known as KitchenAid, owned by Whirlpool.
Think Differently!
John Atalla, worked in a lab where three Nobel laureates were already hard at work looking to solve a complex problem. He said to his bosses, ‘Why don’t you let me look in the other direction where nobody’s looking?’ Looking in the opposite direction led him to create (PIN), the personal identification code and encryption system that permits us to access our bank accounts and make purchases without cash. He has always said ‘I attribute almost all my inventions to the fact that I will look in the path that people aren’t traditionally going in.’”
This is an economy where everyone can make a difference. So look at the masters of innovation for answers, drawing on brilliance. Everyone can and must make their contribution – and change the world in remarkable ways!
Jackie Bassett
Co-Author, Drawing On Brilliance
jackieb@btind.com
