Daedalus articles from March 1996

Daedalus archives from March 1996

Introduction: entrepreneurial achievements.(Managing Innovation)
March 22, 1996... THIS VOLUME OF DAEDALUS IS COMPRISED of a disparate set of essays written by ten business leaders of different backgrounds and different ages. Their birth dates range from 1897 to 1962. The essays vary in their approach, content, and tone. Some...

The education of an inventor.(Managing Innovation)
March 22, 1996... I AM ALWAYS AMUSED WHEN I SEE an advertisement that announces a new, "all-natural" product. The fact is that everything comes from nature, and the only thing that is new is uncovering nature's secrets. An inventor may modify something and...

Entrepreneurs, managers, and the importance of finance.(Managing Innovation)
March 22, 1996... THE WORLDS OF TOP MANAGEMENT and of technologists are often at loggerheads--neither seems to understand the other's perspective. Even when the CEO is an experienced technologist, which is frequently the case in young, entrepreneurial,...

Polaroid: dreams to reality. (Polaroid Corp.)(Managing Innovation)
March 22, 1996... Polaroid corporation was organized in 1937 with Edwin H. Land as President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chairman of the Board. Edwin ("Din") Land remained the founding and guiding spirit of Polaroid for four decades, and saw its sales increase...

Intel - memories and the microprocessor. (Intel Corp.)(Managing Innovation)
March 22, 1996... SINCE 1992, INTEL CORPORATION HAS BEEN the largest semiconductor manufacturer in the world when ranked on the basis of sales, achieving this position in less than twenty-five years. The company was formed in 1968 to make complex integrated...

A perpetual idea machine. (Thermo Electron Corp.)(Managing Innovation)
March 22, 1996... A STOCK ANALYST RECENTLY described Thermo Electron as a perpetual idea machine. I started the company in 1956 with only $50,000. Today, Thermo Electron is a Fortune 500 company, a world leader in environmental monitoring and analysis instruments,...

The power of invention.(Managing Innovation)
March 22, 1996... THE PAST TWENTY YEARS have seen profound changes in the structure and relationships of the international community. The Soviet Union has collapsed, China's economic structure has been transformed, and a move toward democracy is sweeping the...

A short history of Cabot Corporation.(Managing Innovation)
March 22, 1996... THE CABOT FAMILY GOT THEIR START in the carbon black business in 1882 when Sam and Godfrey Cabot (my father) purchased a small works in Worthington, Pennsylvania. Their father, Dr. Samuel Cabot, was a prominent surgeon who had graduated from...

Communication: the lever of effectiveness and productivity.(Managing Innovation)
March 22, 1996... ONE'S EFFECTIVENESS IN EMPLOYING the attributes of leadership and the strengths of a company is enhanced by one's aptitude for communication. When leaders and managers are better understood and appreciated, they are followed and supported. But...

Reflections on success. (Bechtel Corp.)(Managing Innovation)
March 22, 1996... INTRODUCTION A SKED TO COMMENT ON WHAT LED to my personal success and the success of Bechtel Group, Inc., and what the future might bring for business, I respond by first noting how success is often described: Corporate success is viewed by...

Adventures of a contrarian.(Managing Innovation)
March 22, 1996... If my father, who founded Fidelity Investments in 1946, could see the company today, he might say that we are too big and try to do too many things. But I am sure he would marvel at what we have become. When he retired in 1974, the company was...

On the art of scientific imagination.(Gerald Holton address)(Transcript)
March 22, 1996... WHEN THE ACADEMY'S PRESIDENT asked if I would speak on Saint Valentine's Day, I gladly accepted the honor. But even if mutual affection is to be the order of the day, I face a dilemma. In this audience there are scientists who know the art of...