It's time to set the record straight: Thomas Edison's greatest achievement was not the lightbulb. In fact, he wasn't even the first to invent it. The unrecognized master stroke of Edison was he brought together some of the brightest minds to collaborate, exchange ideas, and work in creative ways to change the world as we knew it. In the first episode of Teamistry, host Gabriela Cowperthwaite journeys to late-19th century Menlo Park, where a team of unsung heroes is hard at work setting up an electricity grid that could light up a New York city block. There's a lot at stake: financial ruin, countless hours of labor, and Edison's very reputation. We hear from David Burkus, author of The Myths of Creativity and Jill Jonnes, author of Empires of Light. We also get the insights of Robert Friedel, University of Maryland history professor and coauthor of Edison's Electric Light, Kathleen Carlucci, Director of the Thomas Edison Center, and Paul Israel, Director of the Thomas Edison Papers at Rutgers University. Teamistry is an original podcast from Atlassian. For more on the series, go to www.atlassian.com/podcast.
The newspapers called it the miracle of the 19th century.
Shortly after the world had seen the wizardry of the invention of the phonograph, Tom Edison, the Wizard of Menlo park, started a fresh notebook.
It was the first of many on a new subject.
The object of this invention is to devise an electric lamp.
Thomas Edison's greatest invention was not the light bulb to begin.
He didn't actually invent the light bulb.
He was either the 22nd or 23rd person to invent it, depending on how you count.
That's David Burkus.
He's the author of the Myths of Creativity, and he wants to set the record straight when it comes to Thomas Edison.
I believe his greatest invention was this laboratory of Menlo park.
This idea, let's get some of the best and brightest together.
Let's get them from diverse sources to work on various different projects, to tinker, to cross pollinate ideas.
Long before that was a trendy thing like it is nowadays in organizations.
He figured out that he could benefit the most, and the people around him could benefit the most from working as a collaborative and diverse team.
That was a way bigger invention because it churned out consistently, patent after patent after patent.
Okay, David just debunked a couple of myths I totally believed in.
Not only did Edison not invent the light bulb, he wasn't this lone inventor who was dreaming up endless patents.
He had a team.
And as David said, the way that team came together to solve problems might be Edison's greatest achievement, especially considering that what they did laid the groundwork not only for how we light our homes and offices, but for almost every aspect of our wired world.
I'm Gabriella cowperweight.