토머스 에디슨
Inventor and founder of the first industrial research laboratory
701 records in all
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Photo: Louis Bachrach, Bachrach Studios, restored by Michel Vuijlsteke Public domain Original cropped
57 basic records of 377
Episodes are real events from public sources, summarised by us.
전쟁 소식에 대한 수요를 예측한 에디슨은 역장에게 잡지를 뇌물로 주고 다음 역들에 뉴스 속보를 게시해달라고 부탁했어요. 수요가 폭발할 것을 확신한 그는 평소보다 10배 많은 신문을 확보하기 위해 편집장을 설득해 외상 거래를 성사시켰어요.
LessonAnticipating demand and securing inventory through creative negotiation can lead to massive windfalls.
After losing his train lab, Edison changed his newspaper into a gossip journal called Paul Pry. He was eventually thrown into a river by an angry victim of his reporting, which led him to give up the paper.
LessonFocusing on personal attacks or gossip can create enemies that derail your business.
군대를 골탕 먹이는 장난을 치다 쫓기게 된 에디슨은 지하실로 도망쳐 빈 감자 통을 머리에 쓰고 숨었어요. 군인들이 아버지를 깨워 지하실을 샅샅이 뒤졌지만 에디슨을 찾지 못했고, 그는 썩은 감자 냄새를 견디며 위기를 넘겼어요.
Lesson절박한 위기 상황에서는 체면을 버리고 가장 예상치 못한 방법으로 몸을 낮춰야 살아남을 수 있어요.
While working in Memphis, Edison improved a repeater that connected New York and New Orleans for the first time since the war. Instead of being rewarded, he was fired without explanation by a supervisor who likely felt outshone.
LessonInternal politics and insecure leadership can sometimes punish innovation, requiring resilience to move on to better environments.
An intoxicated colleague destroyed the office equipment and batteries, causing acid to leak and ruin account books. Edison instructed others to leave the mess for the manager but immediately rigged up temporary instruments to finish the night's work.
LessonA leader ensures that critical deliverables are met even when the primary infrastructure fails.
Edison attempted to create nitroglycerin after reading about its properties in a scientific paper. The resulting compound was so volatile and dangerous that he became alarmed and secretly disposed of it in a city sewer at dawn.
LessonEarly experimentation can lead to dangerous results if the scale and risks are not properly understood.
Edison arrived in New York deeply in debt and nearly starving after a failed telegraph test in Rochester. He had to beg for tea for breakfast and borrow a single dollar from a friend to buy his first meal of apple dumplings.
LessonEven the most successful founders may face periods of extreme financial hardship before their breakthrough.
While sleeping in the battery room of the Gold Indicator Company, Edison studied their machinery. When the main transmitter broke down and caused a panic among brokers, Edison identified a broken spring and fixed the machine in two hours.
LessonDeep technical knowledge of your environment allows you to seize opportunities that others miss during a crisis.
에디슨은 사업 초기 별도의 장부를 쓰지 않고 두 개의 갈고리에 청구서와 받을 돈 메모를 꽂아 관리했어요. 자금이 부족할 때는 어음을 발행해 해결하며 2년 넘게 사업을 운영했지만 신용은 좋았어요.
LessonFormal systems are less important than maintaining credit and keeping a clear view of what is owed.
에디슨은 단거리에서만 작동하던 기존 자동 전신 시스템을 장거리에서도 쓸 수 있게 개선하는 과제를 맡았어요. 수천 번의 실험 끝에 뉴욕과 필라델피아 사이에서 분당 3,500단어를 전송하는 데 성공했어요.
LessonRelentless experimentation is necessary to turn a flawed prototype into a commercially viable product.
자금이 매우 부족했던 에디슨은 웨스턴 유니온의 수석 전기 기술자에게 공동 발명자 타이틀을 주는 조건으로 협력하여 시스템을 판매하려 했어요. 그는 명예보다 당장 사업을 유지할 돈이 더 절실했기 때문에 이러한 거래를 제안했어요.
Lesson자금난에 처했을 때는 자존심이나 명예보다 실질적인 생존을 위한 협상을 우선해야 해요.
에디슨은 빚 독촉을 받는 상황에서 웨스턴 유니온 이사진 앞에서 쿼드러플렉스 시연을 했어요. 폭풍우로 인해 기기가 오작동할 뻔한 위기가 있었지만, 숙련된 오퍼레이터들의 도움으로 무사히 시연을 마쳐 5,000달러를 받아낼 수 있었어요.
Lesson결정적인 순간의 성공이 파산을 막고 사업을 지속할 수 있는 기회를 만들어줘요.
웨스턴 유니온과의 대금 지급이 지연되자, 에디슨은 경쟁 관계에 있던 제이 굴드를 만나 자신의 지분을 3만 달러에 매각했어요. 이는 당시 에디슨이 예상했던 것보다 큰 금액이었으며, 덕분에 심각한 재정 위기에서 벗어날 수 있었어요.
Lesson기존 파트너와의 거래가 막혔을 때는 경쟁자를 포함한 새로운 구매처를 찾아 돌파구를 마련해야 해요.
Edison accepted a cable offer of thirty thousand for his interest in the English telephone business, assuming the unit was dollars. He was pleasantly surprised to find the draft was actually for thirty thousand pounds, a much larger sum.
LessonIn international negotiations, always clarify the currency units to avoid leaving money on the table or being caught off guard.
Edison reasoned that for electric lighting to succeed, the cost of conductors had to be reasonable. He decided he must invent a high-resistance lamp that used very little current to make the system affordable.
LessonA product's technical specifications should be driven by the price point required for market adoption.
During a high-speed test of the electric railway, the train jumped the track, throwing the driver into the dirt. Edison reacted with laughter and excitement, calling it a 'beautiful accident' because it tested the limits of the system.
LessonA failure that reveals the limits of your product is a success in the learning process.
Edison proposed an electric system for the Northern Pacific Railroad, but the company's division engineers unanimously declared it utterly impracticable. Despite their rejection, the same system was later successfully implemented on the New York Central railroad.
LessonExperts are often blinded by prejudice and lack of foresight when facing disruptive innovations.
Edison invented a device that used electromagnets to pull iron particles out of crushed ore or sand as it fell from a hopper. This invention aimed to solve the problem of cheaply concentrating iron from low-grade sources.
LessonInnovation often involves finding a mechanical solution to separate valuable materials from waste at scale.
Edison set up a magnetic separating plant on Long Island to process massive deposits of black magnetic sand. However, a violent storm washed all the sand back into the sea before he could profit, and it never returned.
LessonExternal environmental risks can destroy a resource-dependent business overnight, regardless of the technology's quality.
After successfully separating the iron, Edison discovered that furnaces could not use the fine powder form. He spent years experimenting to create solid briquettes and invented a new line of machinery to produce them at a rate of sixty per minute.
LessonA product is only successful if it is delivered in a form the customer can actually use in their existing workflow.
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