Innovations of the 20th Century
© Dr. Terry J. van der Werff, CMC

To celebrate its 85th anniversary, Forbes has published a huge issue dedicated to innovation in products, services, and ideas during its lifetime.

Before flying across the country over the holidays, I threw two magazines in my briefcase, both dealing with innovation. CEOs As Innovators was the subject of last week's Global Future Report™.  This week we look at Forbes's huge 85th anniversary December 23rd issue celebrating innovation as the heart of growth in the economy and rise in standards of living.  A truly outstanding publishing achievement.

85 innovations.  Forbes highlighted 85 innovations, one for each year of their history.  Here is a sampling to whet your appetite:

1917 - Sneakers.  The U.S. Rubber Company launched the first mass marketed, rubber soled Keds sneaker, remaining a top seller for five decades, until Nike and Adidas came along.
1923 - Business management.  Alfred P. Sloan created the modern corporation at General Motors, introducing an independent board of directors, executive and finance committees, decentralized decision making, and centralized resource allocation.
1927 - Television.  Philo Taylor Farnsworth transmitted the first electronic image, based on a design he developed six years earlier while a 15 year old high schooler.
1933 - Wallboard.  The U.S. Gypsum Company introduced Sheetrock, made from recycled paper and gypsum, for erecting walls far quicker and less expensively than by the age-old lath and plaster technique.
1935 - United Auto Workers.  By dropping union militancy, Walter Reuther's UAW led the way in securing employee benefits such as cost-of-living increases, health plans, life insurance, and profit sharing.
1947 - Transistor.  Three Bell Laboratory researchers revolutionized electronics with their transistor, which replaced vacuum tubes and mechanical relays.  Says Forbes: "No innovation in the last 85 years has had a greater impact than the transitor."
1947 - Tupperware.  Earl Silas Tupper both developed the material constituting Tupperware and launched Tupperware parties, one of the earliest multilevel sales organizations.
1951 - The pill.  Gregory Pincus developed a progesterone pill to prevent ovulation, today the most widespread method of birth control.
1954 - Polio vaccine.  Jonas Salk introduced a vaccine for paralytic polio, which reduced polio cases by 96% within seven years.
1961 - Pampers.  Victor Mills of Procter & Gamble created an absorbent disposable diaper than didn't leak, bringing convenience to mothers and environmental headaches to others.
1962 - Point-of-sales data.  Sam Walton opened his first Wal-Mart, whose transformational inventory control and distribution systems were based on detailed analysis of sales data at the checkout counter.
1973 - Discount brokerage.  Charles Schwab changed the face of the financial industry with low-priced, per-trade fees.
1979 - Spreadsheet.  The killer application VisiCalc, created by Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston, gave companies a financial rationale to introduce computers into the workplace.
1984  - Customized mass retail.  A college freshman Michael Dell sold directly to buyers inexpensive computers built to their personal specifications, creating a new manufacturing and distribution model.
1991 - World wide web.  Tim Berners-Lee wrote the program that linked documents in computers throughout the world, shortening communications from days to seconds.
2000 - Automated sequencing machine.  Craig Ventor's small company Celera Genomics deciphered the human genome - the DNA genetic code - in one-sixth the time, one-tenth the cost, and more accurately than the government-sponsored Human Genome Project.

Richard Friend of Cambridge University is developing flexible displays as thin as a sheet of paper and brighter than a laptop screen.
Florence Wambugu of the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute is introducing genetically modified sweet potatoes, the first sub-Saharan biotech crop.
Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto is creating new economic models for developing countries, where the majority of people work outside the formal economy.
Steven Wallman of FolioFN is providing low-cost alternatives to mutual funds to individual investors.

Bottom line for you.  Innovations can occur in every company and transform any industry. Gather some of your own people in a quiet setting to brainstorm areas of need touching your products and services.  Then, give their creative juices scope to develop new offerings to meet those needs.  Easy to say, harder to do, because innovation, R&D, and product development must all be subject to sound business processes - clear guidelines, objectives,  resource allocation, decision making, and leadership.  Your business will be better for it, as Forbes so amply demonstrates.

Let me close by quoting Forbes's publisher, Rich Karlgaard: "Innovation, you see, is never an immaculate conception.  It's always messy, bloody, and hard-fought."  That's true, but it's also challenging, rewarding, and just plain fun!
 

E-mail Terry your thoughts about key innovations of the 20th Century.

Contact us if you are interested in bringing more innovation into your business.

van der Werff Global, Ltd.
Phone: 1-888-44-TERRY (448-3779)      Fax: 1-888-4-FAX-2-ME (432-9263)
E-mail: terry@globalfuture.com

Home | What's New | Global Future Reports™ | Book Reviews | Bibliographies | Contact Us
Futurist | Consultant | Speaker | Trends | Scenarios | Planning

Copyright © 1998 - , Dr. Terry J. van der Werff, CMC - All rights reserved.