Evolve or Die

by Thomas C Triumph

  DuPont named the new material Kevlar. And Kevlar has made DuPont billions of dollars. Stephanie Kwolek was recognized as a pioneering innovator and received several awards and honors.

  Here are some lessons from this innovative wizard.

  Show flexibility.

  Stephanie Kwolek fully intended to work at DuPont for a couple of years, earn some money, and then attend medical school. But she found herself on a path that aligned with her evolving interests and where she could contribute.

  We’re all building on our past experiences. Which is why it’s vital that we continue gathering and learning from a variety of experiences. In his commencement address to Stanford University graduates, Steve Jobs said, “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.”30

  Push forward.

  We might think it shortsighted that the technician didn’t want to test the new, cloudy material because it looked like it’d clog the machine. But the reality is, that’s human nature. We might have been inclined the same way. How often are we unconsciously predisposed to resist doing new work that ostensibly appears to be without opportunity? Or worse yet, would also require us to do a major cleanup.

  Experiment (make mistakes).

  Stephanie Kwolek didn’t intentionally formulate the batch of polymers that became Kevlar. She was simply trying various formulations and producing material outside the typical temperature range. The initial result looked like a failed formulation. It was Kwolek’s willingness to try some things that previously had not been done that led to the discovery. “All sorts of things can happen when you’re open

  to new ideas and playing around with things.”

  —Stephanie Kwolek

  Get help.

  Once the discovery was made, DuPont wasted no time in getting other people involved with Kevlar. It was this dramatic increase in resources that allowed the rapid exploitation and application of Kevlar into a wide-range of industries and products.

  Release it to the world.

  Making the raw material available to any company allowed for the real-world applications to increase geometrically. It’s why Kevlar is used in applications from fiber optic cables to Reebok CrossFit clothing to a key shielding component of the modules for the International Space Station. “I guess that’s just the life of an inventor: what people

  do with your ideas takes you totally by surprise.”

  —Stephanie Kwolek

  How many applications are there for a material that’s five times the strength of steel? More than anyone one person could determine. Release it to the world.

  Inspire and teach.

  Like her parents instilled in her an interest in design and nature as a child, Stephanie Kwolek had a passion for inspiring and educating children as to the wonders of science. She frequently spoke to middle schoolers about her work.

  Joyce Bedi, a senior historian at the Smithsonian Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation, said of Kwolek, “She was a wonderful person and an inspiration to many, especially young women interested in science and invention.”31 “Even in my neighborhood, the kids come to me for interviews for their term papers. I ask them later what grades they got, and they’re always A-pluses.”

  —Stephanie Kwolek

  Make magic.

  Of course, there’s no guarantee you’ll “make magic” in your work. But that’s a good goal. “I tell young people to reach for the stars. And I can’t think of a greater high than you could possibly get than by inventing something.”

  —Stephanie Kwolek

  There’s magic all around us waiting to be discovered. We just need to be courageous in our attempt to uncover it, and then to develop it. Go pull a rabbit out of a hat.

  Ladies and Gentlemen, the Greatest of All Inventors Is …

  It’d be difficult to name the greatest of all inventors. But someone did. And it’s difficult to argue with the choice. Sure, so many possibilities come to mind. Thomas Edison (light bulb, phonograph); Grace Hopper (computer); Shirley Jackson (telecommunications); Steve Jobs. Or maybe it was the person who invented the wheel. Nope, nope, nope, nope, and no. Mark Twain named the “greatest of all inventors.” And his choice was present with everyone on the aforementioned list.

  So, who then is the greatest inventor of all time? Here’s a short story containing a clue.

  Donald Stookey was born in small town called Hay Springs, Nebraska. As a young man, he graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a doctoral degree in physical chemistry. After graduation, he had a couple of decent (though different) job offers. One of his offers was from the Nabisco Baking Company and the other was from Corning Glass.

  He thought about what he wanted to be doing in his future and couldn’t quite imagine a career making bread, so he took the job with Corning. Stookey went to work in the Corning research and development (R&D) department. He had no experience with glass at that point, so he began experimenting and learning about the material. It was during one such experiment that Stookey thought he’d ruined one of the ovens in the Corning laboratory.

  Stookey had placed a piece of glass in the oven, intending to heat it to 600 degrees F. But, when he came back to the laboratory to check on the glass, he realized the oven controls were broken and saw the temperature gauge was holding steady at 900 degrees F. In a rush, he quickly grabbed a pair of tongs and pulled the glass from the oven. Being in a hurry, he had a poor grip on the glass, and watched it slip from the tongs and crash onto the hard, concrete floor.

  But it didn’t shatter. Instead, Stookey said, “The thing bounced and didn’t break. It sounded like steel hitting the floor.”32 Stookey didn’t know it at the time, but he’d accidentally invented glass ceramics. Turns out the material had never-before-seen properties. So he spent several more years working on the material, before Corning announced it to the world as PyroCeram. It was ultrahard, heat resistant, and strong—and perfect for a lot of things. It was used as the nose cone for supersonic missiles, and unlike a metal nose cone, it allowed the radar signals to readily pass through.

  Oh, and it also became the cookware product that Corning named CorningWare, which was used in millions of homes in America. It could go from the hot oven into the freezer without cracking. And it wouldn’t break, if by chance it landed on the floor. It’s estimated that nearly 750 million pieces of CorningWare products have been sold. What’s more, decades later the material further evolved into Gorilla Glass, which we’re familiar with as the black screen covering iPhones, iPads, and other devices sold around the world.

  Donald Stookey had a long and innovative career at Corning. He also invented photochromic glass, which allows for the darkening of sunglasses when exposed to bright lights. Stookey invented photosensitive glass, though this invention was kept confidential for many years. Turns out the military used his invention during World War II to hide messages inside transparent glass, which could only be read when heated by the recipient.

  Donald Stookey went on to work for 47 years at Corning and earned over 60 patents. So, was Donald Stookey the “greatest inventor of all time”?

  Nope. At least not according to Mark Twain (though Twain, of course, lived long before Stookey and some of the other inventors mentioned).

  On that topic to name the greatest of all inventors, Mark Twain said, “Accident.”

  And sure enough, if you study innovation and invention, you’ll find “accident” is commonly present.

  Thirteen Ways to Innovate

  (and Avoid Being

  Eaten by a Giant Bird)

  It’s hard to know when the best era was to be an innovator. Maybe we missed it. There was certainly a lot of opportunity for innovation 2.6 million years ago. That’s the period when anthropologists dated the earliest actual tools ever found, which were simple modified stone tools, such as a hand axe. So, except for the chipped stone, that would h
ave left basically … let me think, everything else to be invented.

  Of course not everything would have been conducive to living the life of an inventor back then. For one thing, there wasn’t even language. Good luck using grunts to describe plans for a steam engine. And before you could even begin to make a drawing, you’d have to invent paper and pencils. Paper, I think, is made somehow with trees and glue, so you’ll have to also invent glue. And I have no idea how to make a pencil. My suggestion is to start with a chipped rock.

  As for the office environment, it would be fairly hostile because you’d be mostly outdoors. Keep an eye out for the Titanis—a large, flightless, carnivorous bird that was over eight feet tall and weighed 330 pounds—and the Megalodon—which happened to be the largest shark that ever lived and could weigh 100 tons and reached 20 meters long. So, while the era was definitely ripe for innovation, it would have been really hard to fight a gigantic shark with a hand axe the size of an iPhone (you see, I’m already introducing technology to the Pliocene epoch).

  Which brings us to today. The good news is that we’re here, with language, paper, and computers; and we have the perspective of 2.6 million years of history to comprehend just how far innovation has moved the world forward. Often, it does so in small ways (a pointy rock is more effective than a blunt rock) and sometimes in big ways (smelting metals is a way to make better tools).

  And here’s what we see. Whether innovation involved fashioning the first stone tools millions of years ago or powering pumps with early steam engines in 1781, the advances never ceased and continually improved our ability to survive.

  It’s also apparent that we’re living in a period where innovation is occurring at a rate not previously experienced. Back in the day, your brand new stone axe looked just like your great-great-grandpa’s old-school stone axe. Today kids aren’t happy tweeting with their great-great-grandpa’s telegraph.

  Indeed, it’s the nature of humankind to create and invent, and that has profoundly shaped our world and lives. Inventing and creating is fundamental to being human. Yet, many people probably don’t see themselves as innovators; or they believe that creativity isn’t a necessary part of their work.

  Maybe your job involves just keeping the wheels on the business by managing the day-to-day problems. And when you’re heads-down with a manufacturing problem or challenges with vendors, you might not be doing much innovation. That’s understandable. But, remember we’ve come a long way since the stone axe, due in part to continuous innovation; so, do your part or risk becoming food for giant birds or sharks.

  Here are some pragmatic ways in which you can innovate.

  Cross-pollinate.

  Combine things that haven’t been used together before. It’s what Steve Jobs did when he incorporated various typeface fonts with the computer. I will always remember my amazement (having purchased a Mac in 1984) at being able to select a block of text and change the font to a variety of choices.

  There are infinite ways to cross-pollinate. Even a simple, yet clever, addition can add competitive differentiation. Just look at the Reef sandals that incorporate a bottle opener into the sole.

  Introduce new technology.

  It’s great to run outside in beautiful weather. But I don’t mind running outside in terrible weather. That wasn’t always the case. I used to come in completely soaked and freezing after running for hours like a lost soul in the freezing rain. Now I come in warm and dry after running like a lost soul in the freezing rain. Thank you, Nike and Gore-Tex.

  Look forward.

  This is how people got rich in the early days of the Web. Some people saw the burgeoning adoption and started Web design companies. When companies wanted websites, those businesses grew. Other people saw the Web as a platform to publish inexpensively and reach an audience of millions for next to free—so they started companies that let people post videos or blogs. What could you or your company do today to take advantage of how the world will be different in the near future?

  Look backward.

  Sometimes it helps to look at the past. This is basically the opposite of looking forward. If nothing else, looking backward gives you an appreciation for the inevitable march of change, and it will remind you to continually be thinking of improvements, before your competitors. What clues do the past tell you about the future?

  Remember what it was like before fax, email or the Web? How did your company adopt those technologies and use them to add value to your customers? What does it portend about how your company will navigate changes in the future?

  And, more recently, what about the ubiquity of mobile devices, the availability of cloud computing and the nearly free platforms to let you communicate? How did your business utilize these technologies to add value (or not)?

  Redesign.

  Sometimes, you don’t need a revolution. You just need a major evolution, a completely new and improved design. Something that reimagines the product or the offering. This can be difficult for an organization, because people are comfortable with the tried and familiar. A redesign means abandoning the current offering and launching something new.

  Subtract and delete.

  This is the discipline of simplifying or pruning, and is often overlooked. It involves eliminating those products or services that aren’t moving the business forward, yet subtly drain resources from the organization that could otherwise be applied elsewhere.

  Spotting them is usually obvious; they’re the offerings that contribute little to revenue. Yet getting rid of them is often difficult, as they typically don’t involve much time, and are often viewed as things that “round out the line, even though we hardly ever sell them.”

  The reality is that most everything takes time or resources; and you have to weigh the benefits of spending energy on anything not associated with the future of your company.

  Ask your customer.

  Get out of the office and visit your top customers (you should be doing that anyway). Ask them what changes to your products or services would help them generate more sales or save time or money.

  Yes, it’s true that customers don’t always know what they want. Henry Ford supposedly said, “If I had asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse.” That might be folklore. There were dozens of automobile companies in existence in 1901 when Henry Ford started the Henry Ford Company, so his customers probably would have been able to express an interest in reliable, less expensive automobiles. Most of the time, your customers know what they want, and most of the time you need to listen. Keep track of how many customers tell you nearly the same thing. You can always decide to ignore their requests.

  Scare yourself.

  It’s human nature to worry that there might be a saber tooth tiger above that boulder ready to pounce. That fear has surely kept countless tribe members alive. It could still help you today. It’s often easier to imagine what innovative moves a competitor might be working on. Ask yourself, “What could a competitor do that could severely affect my product category or the market?” The exercise might result in your generating valuable ideas for yourself and provide the motivation (fear) to do something.

  Take a hybrid approach.

  This might seem similar to the first suggestion to cross-pollinate, but that really concerns combining two disparate ideas (fonts and computers, sandals and bottle openers) whereas taking a hybrid approach implies taking a look at combining two different solutions currently being used in the market. A good example would be hybrid cars, which combine gas engines and electric motors (along with batteries for storage and generating capability).

  Another example would be reposable medical instruments, which combines traditional reusable instruments with disposable medical devices. The end result is that the handle is sterilizable and reusable, while the cutting tip would be disposable. Reposable medical instruments have the advantage of reducing waste, cutting costs, and being perfectly sharp and clean for each new patient.

  Im
prove the product’s essence

  What does your product or service actually provide? Figure out what need or needs your offering satisfies and make improvements there. It’s often not as obvious as it seems.

  Does Starbucks provides a “great cup of coffee”? Or does Starbucks provide a comfortable, clean, familiar environment for people to happily sit and talk or open their laptops and use Wi-Fi to get some work done between appointments?

  Does a Rolex watch provide accurate timekeeping (actually, less accurate than a $10 quartz watch), or does it provide a recognizable brand to which the wearers want to be associated?

  Innovate your marketing and sales.

  Sometimes the innovation doesn’t need to be with your product but rather with your marketing. Do prospects understand your value proposition? How could you improve your messaging? What is the prospect’s experience?

  At a company where I worked, we switched from a distributor organization to a direct sales organization that consisted primarily of nurse practitioners. We transformed the sales process to focus on education (the science of healing), the patient (clinical outcomes), and physician benefit (decreased complications). The product was already sufficiently superior to other products in the market, so the only changes were to the marketing and sales efforts. Worldwide sales skyrocketed, doubling to over 50 percent market share within 18 months.

  Empower your customers.

  What can you do to empower your customers to help grow your business? Are they able to play a part in your growth? Can you enlist thought leaders to discuss the benefits of what you offer to their colleagues?

  Change the usage.