NO MORE
LIGHTBULBS

Are you against innovation?

Against ideas?

Against creativity?

You must be evil…

… or at least dangerous.

Well, I am not…

Lightbulbs are dangerous…

… Because they create a
myth about innovation.

… Myths are dangerous – they
create false expectations and
misguide us.

Everywhere we go
lightbulbs symbolise:

Ideas

Innovation

Creativity

The lightbulb analogy
suggests that good ideas and
innovations occur in an
instant flash of genius.

There are many historical examples used
in order to illustrate the lightbulb…

Newton discovered gravity
when an apple fell on him…

So, the
equation goes:

One more
famous
example:

In a flash of genius,
Archimedes made
his discovery of the
buoyancy force.

Eureka!

He shouted, and ran naked
through the streets of Syracuse
in sheer excitement.

Many of these stories are
probably just myths…

But anyway, were the
discoveries by Newton and
Archimedes instant?

Or were they the consequence of
extensive experimentation and making
many mistakes?

The lightbulb analogy
suggests that ideas
and innovations just
occur instantly.

Well…

They don’t.

It’s
not
Instant

It’s
an
iterative
process

Experimentation

It’s
Trial…

… And
Error.

Not just a Flash
”from nowhere”

“Without experimentation, we
might all still be living in
caves and using rocks as
tools.”
Stefan Thomke

So, with
lightbulb
thinking

Mankind
would
still live
in caves

And still,
wherever
we go…

Innovation
and ideas are
expressed
with…

Lightbulbs.

See why lightbulbs are
dangerous?

But there’s
more to it…

Let’s move on

Another myth
connected to the
lightbulb is that:

Innovation is easy.

That innovation is
just like…

… You
know,
turning on
a lightbulb.

Just a
PLING!

And then enjoying

The fruits of it.

Well…

How many
companies
or products
did these
guys bring to
the market?

……….

See my
point?

Newton and Archimedes
were brilliant scientists,
not brilliant innovators.

Innovation is not the
same as making a
discovery.

“He who innovates will have for
his enemies all those who are
well off under the existing
order of things, and only
lukewarm supporters in those
who might be better off under
the new.”
// Machiavelli

“Every idea in history has the
fat red stamp of rejection on
its face. It’s hard to see today
because once ideas gain
acceptance, we gloss over the
hard paths they took to get
there.”
// Scott Berkun, The myths of
innovation

”This ’telephone’ has too many shortcomings to
be seriously considered as a means of
communications. The device is inherently of no
value to us.”
//Western Union, 1876

In 1996, Losec
was the best
selling drug in the
world.

The project
started in 1966!

It was killed
five times.

But the
researchers
ignored this,
and kept
working.

The R&D manager who
kept the project alive,
Ivan Östholm once
asked one of his
researchers how a
project went, he
answered:

”It’s too early to
say, we’ve only
been working on it
for three years.”

You see my point?

It’s probably
impossible to find a
more inaccurate
description of the
development of
Losec than the…

PLING!

So, now we know why
Lightbulbs are
dangerous.

Let’s move on

And take a
look at how
the lightbulb
myth harms
innovation

When managers
think lightbulb
they think:

”Once we have
ideas, we’ll
invest in them”

”There’s always money
for good ideas!”

You need wood,
matches, good
climate and
patience to light
a campfire

In the
same way…

You need money,
good climate and
patience in order
to DEVELOP
good ideas

The lightbulb is
misleading us
about innovation

But it does not
stop there…

The lightbulb
communicates that
the idea is the most
important thing

This implies
that…

Inventors get all
the social
gratitude, not
those who put
ideas into practice

And Innovation is
like biology

You need both to…

Well, you know…

… Create
something new…

… And bring it
to the world.

The lightbulb myth
also encourages
inventors to chill out

”I just came up with
a brilliant idea, so
I’m done!”

When in fact the idea is just the start
of a long journey.

Homer Simpson
agrees with me

He once said:

”Trying is always the
first step to failure,
so the lesson is
never try.”

The lightbulb myth
also discourages
people who don’t
have a…

PLING!

”I don’t have a good
idea, so I’ll sit here
until I get a PLING!”

But ideas do not
”PLING!” up from
nowhere

They are found by
doing things…

And by connecting
with others.

So, summing it up…

The lightbulb is a
dangerous myth

Ideas and
Innovations do not
occur from an
instant ”PLING!”

Human progress is
not about ”PLING!”

It’s about hard work

And It’s
about
Trial and
Error.

With
lightbulb
thinking

Mankind
would
still live
in caves

That’s why I say

NO MORE
LIGHTBULBS

Image attributions

Christian Sandström
www.christiansandstrom.org