Lean entrepreneurship: innovation in the modern enterprise.
“Forget it!” “It’s just not worth it!” Phrases like this have long replaced “Eureka!” in established organizations. We have all heard the legends of two garage-dwelling masterminds who had an amazing idea that started with “Eureka!” and became an “overnight success”. If a small team, with almost...
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Apress
2020
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dspace.uniten.edu.my/jspui/handle/123456789/17664 |
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| Summary: | “Forget it!” “It’s just not worth it!”
Phrases like this have long replaced “Eureka!” in established organizations. We
have all heard the legends of two garage-dwelling masterminds who had an
amazing idea that started with “Eureka!” and became an “overnight success”.
If a small team, with almost no resources, experience, capital—not much of
anything—can deliver such compelling value, why do we hear so often that
innovation in established organizations is impossible? Mature organizations
should have an enormous advantage. They have access to capital, experience,
skills, channels, network, lawyers, marketers… it makes no sense that they
cannot outperform those tiny teams.
The truth is that both positions are inaccurate. Innovation in established organizations
is not impossible, and innovation in small teams is not always easy.
Thomas Edison said, “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is
dressed in overalls and looks like work.” Who would know better than he?
Edison had been working on his battery technology for 16 or more hours
every day, seven days a week, for five straight months when his friend, W.S.
Mallory, visited his laboratory. When Mallory learned Edison had made over
9,000 attempts at the battery without a single result that showed promise, he
asked, “Isn’t it a shame that with the tremendous amount of work you have
done, you haven’t been able to get any results?” With a smile, Edison shot out
a reply that delivers great insight into the mind of a successful inventor and
innovator, “Results! Why, man, I have gotten a lot of results! I know several
thousand things that won’t work.”1 With more than 1,000 patents to his name, Edison taught the world a lot about innovation. He eventually produced his
battery after more than 10,000 attempts. Some say it was tens of thousands
of attempts in total before he perfected it. |
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