“Think Like An Inventor”

“Think Like An Inventor”

The inventor of the disposable Gillette razor blade, King Camp Gillette, was a traveling salesman who sold bottle stoppers. He got the razor idea one morning in 1895

while shaving with a dull razor. It took 8 years of pure struggle and frustration to market the first double edge disposable shaving blade to the public. He had to find the right combination of metal alloy and tempering.

He also had to find the financial backing needed. In the process, he experienced tremendous ridicule and failure. It was almost too much to bear.

In 1903 the first Gillette blade and razor were sold to the public, and since then more than 100 billion Gillette blades have been sold.

“I didn’t know enough to quit,” the inventor once said. “I was a dreamer who believed in the gold at the foot of the rainbow. I dared to go where wise ones feared to tread.”

Gillette had absolutely no experience in inventing, in engineering, or in working different forms of metals and alloys.

He had not the slightest idea of what he would encounter. But he had an idea, a dream, an inspiration and a belief that it could be done and, despite all the obstacles, he achieved his goal.

Don’t you think there were more experienced and knowledgeable experts, engineers, and inventors than Mr. Gillette who could have invented this fantastic razor? No

doubt there were thousands of people who had the potential to invent a new and better razor. What held them back?

Apparently no one else had the foresight, imagination, or the burning desire to replace the antiquated shaving instrument that everyone accepted as sufficient. Others

couldn’t visualize a piece of metal as thin as paper, yet strong enough to slice through tough whiskers.

At times, your common sense will interfere with your creative imagination. Your common sense will tell you all the reasons you cannot do something and all those reasons are likely true. But then you have to stop to realize your brain has something greater than common sense.

We are each born with creative imagination. Successful people are the ones who have learned how to apply their creative imagination in order to achieve greater goals.

Being successful can mean being more imaginative, not necessarily being smarter than someone else.

If your common sense says no, that’s the time to test your options. It’s your creative imagination that has the ability to overcome every it-can’t-be-done attitude and

common sense worry.

Consider how much any inventor has had to endure ridicule during the development stage of the invention. The criticism and the negativity from others could easily have

defeated all the major inventors. Imagine the world without all the major inventions if the inventors had given up. Too many people give up on their ideas, telling themselves, “I

can’t do it.” That amounts to accepting defeat before they have even tried.

C-2005 John P. Carinci from the book The Power Of Being Different