6.8. Lesson 55: Sell Innovation

With each new patent he won, Thomas Edison built the confidence that he could create more advanced technology than any of his competitors, but Edison also understood that "advanced technology" was always a moving target, the product of ongoing innovation; therefore, it was innovation itself that Edison regarded as his edge on the competition. Even more remarkable was the inventor's consciousness that he was working in an age that was coming to value innovation in and of itself. That is, people were beginning to think of innovation as not just a means to an end—a means of making or owning a better, cheaper, more efficient, more beneficial product—but as an end in itself: a product in itself. By the final quarter ...

Get Edison on Innovation: 102 Lessons in Creativity for Business and Beyond now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.