This Is How (And How Not) To Innovate, By Steve Jobs and Dr. Seuss
Theodore (Dr. )Seuss Geisel published “The Cat in the Hat” in 1957, at a time when American children’s bookshelves were overrun with tales of Dick and Jane, occasionally accompanied by their dog Spot. While Dick and Jane’s escapades did a reasonable job of teaching young readers to sound out monosyllabic words, those “adventures” to the backyard garden or mailbox did little to capture the imagination and attention span of their audience.
Dick and Jane were, well, pretty boring.
Enter publisher William Spaulding, who had asked his creative colleague Geisel to write a more engaging children’s story. A story that children might actually want to read.
There were stipulations, however. Accounts regarding the exact numbers vary, but Spaulding supplied a list of somewhere between 300 and 400 possible words for Geisel to use, also insisting that Geisel only use between 200 and 250 of them.
Frustrated by these constraints, Geisel decided to write a story centered on the first two words on the list. Sixty years later, “The Cat in the Hat” has been printed in 12 languages, sold over 10 million copies, and is credited for inventing a new way for children to learn to read.
Steve Jobs changed the world, revolutionizing at least three industries along the way — personal computing, music, and communications. He turned the way we interact with technology, buy and listen to music (remember albums?), and stay in touch with one another on their head.
He even thought he was invested in an innovation that would revolutionize a fourth industry — transportation.
Jobs was smitten with the concept of Dean Kamen’s Segway, even if he thought the design itself could use improvement. Jobs declared the idea as big as the PC, and invested $10 million in Kamen’s company.
Steve Jobs was wrong about the Segway. It didn’t revolutionize an industry, relegated instead to a novelty attraction for city tours and mall cops.
The Segway never took off. Launched in 2001 with initial sales targets of 40,000 units per year, only 30,000 total Segways had been sold through 2007. In 2009, Kamen sold the company to British millionaire Jim Heselden, who subsequently rode a Segway off a cliff to his death. You can’t make this stuff up.
So how was Jobs so wrong about the Segway? How did a man whose innovations have shaped the daily activities of hundreds of millions of people around the globe bet wrong on an innovation? He changed the world with his desire and ability to blend art and science. How could he have believed the Segway would revolutionize transportation, particularly in large cities, when it would prove to be a complete flop?
Steve Jobs was so successful with the personal computer, the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad, in part because of two factors — a) he was innovating within his area of expertise, and b) the problems that these innovations addressed were well-defined.
Personal computers for the masses. All of the world’s music in the palm of your hand, then all of the world’s information in the palm of your hand with the ability to access it any place at any time. Those are well-defined problems.
Meanwhile, the Segway is a solution without a problem. Sure, it’s amazing technology. I’ve ridden one. The thing is almost reading your mind — you practically just have to think about moving forward and zoom, you’re off. Think about turning left, and suddenly you’re heading in that direction. But we’re already equipped with appendages that do that same thing quite well, and we get to burn calories and strengthen our heart when we use them.
Theodore Geisel stuck with what he knew — children’s books. Except for a brief stint writing propaganda films and illustrating posters as part of the US effort during World War II, he spent his adult life making books for kids. Never wrote a romance novel. Never even a collection of short stories for teenagers. He developed his expertise, and then stayed there, along the way producing goofy characters and silly word combinations that have stood the test of time.
He also discovered something counter-intuitive about creativity and innovation — constraints help. We tend to think we’re most free to create when we’re unencumbered by rules, told there are no limits, given free reign. But as Geisel exemplified with “The Cat in the Hat,” constraints help us to clearly define the problem and understand that problem more deeply. When we understand the problem deeply, we can truly innovate.
Constrained to a list of a few hundred words, and told he could use even less of them, Dr. Seuss created one of the most enduring children’s stories of all time.
Creativity loves constraints. It’s why pictures have frames and sonnets have fourteen lines… A lack of resources forces ingenuity. — Eric Schmidt & Jonathan Rosenberg, “How Google Works”
Steve Jobs is one of the most innovative humans to ever walk the earth. This is why his backing of the Segway is so interesting — it’s the exception that proves the rule. And here’s the rule — innovation starts with a clearly defined problem that lies within our area of expertise. Creativity can flourish when we’re constrained.
