Mundane innovators
It could be today
Motorised scooters have invaded our cities (well, Melbourne certainly) in the past three years, but here’s a fascinating photo of an autoped: precisely the same concept, but from 1916. The same, perhaps, except for the headgear.
The rider is Priscilla Norman and the scooter was a birthday present from her husband, the journalist and UK Liberal politician Sir Henry Norman. Priscilla was also ahead of her time in other ways: like her mother before her, she was Treasurer of the Liberal Women's Suffrage Union, a cause that her husband also promoted as an MP, and she was a pioneer of modern approaches to humane care of people with intellectual disabilities, as a board member of Royal Earlswood Hospital.
Question: What ideas do you hold that are considered ‘radical’ today but you suspect will be entirely within the norm in 50 years?
Rubble women
Germany in May 1945 was a land destroyed. 12 million people began traversing the country, newly released from the horror of the camps, moving westward to escape the Soviet-occupied zone, or evicted from the now de-Germanified areas of Poland, Slovakia and the Baltic states.
But, those who had survived in their homes started working hard to clear the 55 million cubic metres of ruined buildings. And, because the men were dead, or away, it was largely women (trümmerfrauen) who did the work.
Every town and city established an infrastructure to clear and clean the detritus: timetables and rosters, even performance criteria (so many bricks cleaned per shift).
But, one city lagged behind: Frankfurt. Weeks after other cities had gotten organised, Frankfurt’s administration persisted in approaching the matter scientifically. Chemists discovered that by heating the rubble, they could eventually produce pumice, which was not only useable in cement, but could be sold.
The Rubble Recycling Corporation was established, an early example of a public-private partnership between the City and the Philipp Hoffmann construction company. With a large rubble reprocessing plant quickly built, Frankfurt reduced its mountains of ruined stone and bricks faster than most, kept rebuilding costs well below other cities, and turned a substantial profit.
Question: When does it pay to not be ‘first to market’ and, instead, come up with a breakthrough innovation?
Single origin
It’s entirely probable that at some point you’ve eaten a chicken descended from this very bird (unless you’re a lifelong vegetarian or vegan).
The year was 1948, and, in a post-WW2 frenzy of “we can optimise for anything”, the United States ran a global “Chicken of the Future” competition. Breeders provided chicks, which were raised under controlled conditions and, after 12 weeks, were slaughtered and their meat weighed.
Pre-war birds were stringy and lean; these chickens raised by farmer Franks Saglio, were crossed with UK chickens, resulting in thick meaty thighs and breasts. The bird variety was called the Arbor Acre, and it came to dominate chicken breeding, especially once in 1964, the billionaire Nelson Rockefeller, bought the Arbor Acre genetics company and expanded its reach globally.
Question: What single-origin concept or event has disproportionate influence in your business, or amongst your customers?
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I look forward to being with you again next Friday as usual. Until then, pay attention to the forward thinkers and pioneers around us, especially those in your own organisation, and those doing seemingly mundane work.
Andrew