Innovation of the Week: Three Stories of Innovation
Posted by: meikah | 11 May 2007 | 2:14 am
This week, I’m sharing again—as I have featured Dave Pollard here before—stories on How to Save the World blog. Not so recent stories, but the idea and inspiration derived from these stories still apply today.
The stories are about the Weed Eater, the Swiffer Wet-Jet, and about the Greenies. Dave Pollard includes a drawing that shows how innovation works.
The story of the Weed Eater is a lesson in observation and application of science from one discipline to a completely different one, what de Bono famously calls lateral thinking.
In 1971, Texan George Ballas was looking for a better way to trim around the trees in his yard. One day, while going through an automatic car wash he observed how the bristles stood out straight as they spun around. Returning home, he punched some holes in a discarded popcorn tin, inserted knotted fishing line through the holes, and attached the contraption to his rotary electric edger. It worked so well he founded his own company, Weed Eater Inc. refined the product until it virtually sold itself in hardware stores nationwide, and finally sold out to Frigidaire Poulan, who still produce them by the million.
