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*This piece was originally published on March 15th, 2019.
Obsessed with work, insensitive, socially detached, and neglectful of family and friends. Those may not be the most endearing qualities, but they are just a few of the common characteristics that longtime innovation researcher, Melissa Schilling found when studying some of the world’s most famous and prolific inventors in the fields of science and technology.
Schilling, a professor of management and organizations at New York University’s Stern School of Business, explores the ingenuity of eight outstanding innovators, including Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk and more. She’s the author of, “Quirky: The Remarkable Story of the Traits, Foibles, and Genius of Breakthrough Innovators Who Changed the World.”
Three Takeaways:
- We can’t all be famous creative geniuses, but much can be achieved by parents, teachers, and managers to “nurture the innovation potential that lies within us all” and to build self-efficacy, says Schilling. She believes there is a lot to learn from the “quirky” traits of Benjamin Franklin, Dean Kamen, Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla, and the other famous innovators she has researched.
- What does it take to be one of the world’s great innovators? Rule number one: there are no rules. According to Schilling, to be a breakthrough innovator often means going against social norms and not worrying about what other people think of you. Steve Jobs was no fan of deodorant or license plates, she explains.
- It takes a “weird tolerant world” to appreciate breakthrough innovators, Schilling says. She thinks schools, businesses and other organizations should try to embrace outliers and “crazy ideas” to encourage innovation.
More Reading:
- Marie Curie, one of the geniuses featured in Schilling’s work was the first female to win a Nobel Prize. She was awarded two Nobel Prizes in fact, one for Physics and one for Chemistry - and was the first person to win nobel prizes in two different fields.
- Learn what motivates prolific inventors such as Dean Kamen through his TED talks.
- Want to embrace your inner Einstein and help mark Einstein’s 140th birthday this week? Check out this Einstein look-a-like contest at Princeton’s Pi Day celebrations.
