How did I start loving Innovation?
A beginning is the time for taking the most delicate care that the balances are correct
I have been involved in innovation and innovation initiatives for most of my career. I was rarely the initiator of these initiatives and rarely sought out them. Yet time and time again, I found myself involved with a group of people looking to create new ideas or new process or, more generally, to make things better. I don’t know how these initiatives seek me out, yet they always do. But well before my career started, I was interested in innovation and there are only two people to blame: my father and James Burke.
My father was an intelligent man who didn’t have the time or desire to chase academic pursuits. He worked with his hands in construction and, when that part of his career ended, moved onto managing an office that supervised construction. He was well thought of by coworkers, despite having a quick temper and sarcastic temperament. And he had an knowledge and intelligence that he insisted upon for his sons.
My father was my entry point into science fiction and baseball. He bought me my first comic book and introduced me into many things including the works of James Burke. My father was always interested in British shows on PBS. That’s how I started watching the original Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe and how I started watching James Burke’s Connections.
James Burke was an Oxford educated English teacher who spent years teaching English in Italy and leading a school, before deciding, almost on a whim to go into television. By the mid 1960s, he was one of the leading science and technology reporters on the BBC show Tomorrow’s World. This led him to be the BBC presenter on coverage of the Apollo moon mission.
Then, in 1978, came Connections. This show took a scientific and historical view on innovation. The show would focus on a chain of innovations to show how various historical circumstances created the need for an innovation and then trace the use of that innovation as it served as the base for future innovations in future circumstances.
One such chain talked about the need for armies to have food and supplies for their long campaigns which led to bottled food. One bottle went bad, which led to discoveries of refrigeration. This led to the invention of the thermos to keep liquids hot or cold. And this technology was reused to create the booster rocket for the Saturn V, which took man to the moon.
Connections was an eye opening show for me and led me to be interested in how innovations happened and eventually into how to innovate and create innovation around me. Connections was soon followed a decade later by Burke’s next show, The Day the Universe Changed. This show was slightly different. Rather than look at how one innovation led to another, it showed how an innovation changed society. The printing press not only led to knowledge being spread more, but also standardizing spelling as well as other side effects. Eventually there was a Connections 2 and Connections 3. In addition to the TV show, Burke also has written several books, including those covering his TV shows.
The most disappointing thing is that not one of Burkes shows is available via streaming. You can find a handful of episodes on Youtube.
But, besides the poor quality of the video, it’s only a handful of the episodes. But go and watch them and enjoy the beginnings of my ideation journey.