Nikola Tesla was
born 156 years ago on July 10. Tesla’s contributions to the world of technology
are vast, including the Tesla coil, modern radio, the induction motor, and most
famously the alternating current (AC) electrical supply system that powers the
world. His life and experience hold lessons for all aspiring technologists who,
just like Tesla, are eager to bring the benefits of technology to a large
community of people.
It’s not a stretch to say that Tesla was (and maybe still is) the greatest
electrical engineer the world has ever known. Tesla’s contributions to the
world of technology are vast, including the Tesla coil, modern radio, the
induction motor, and most famously the alternating current (AC)
electrical supply system that powers the world.
Tesla spent much
of his life suffering for his brilliance and fighting for recognition.
It therefore seems
especially fitting to mark Tesla's birthday by taking a few minutes to reflect
on his life and accomplishments. His life and experience hold lessons for all
aspiring technologists who, just like Tesla, are eager to bring the benefits of
technology to a large community of people.
Lesson No. 1: Believe
Throughout his career, Tesla challenged established
scientific wisdom and, because of his creative and independent thinking, was
able to create technologies that others thought impossible. Only Tesla had the
grit to challenge the most famous inventor of his time (and his employer),
Thomas Edison, arguing for the use of his AC electricity delivery system in
place of the DC system championed by Edison. Only Tesla had the vision and
inventiveness to harness Niagara Falls into powering a city. Even when Tesla’s
financiers doubted him, he stuck to his guns and ended up proving everyone
wrong.Remember Tesla when you’re being told that it can’t be done when you know
it can.
Lesson No. 2: Quit
When Tesla first
went to work for Edison as a new immigrant to the United States, Edison
promised him $50,000 if he could improve the running of his direct current
electrical plants. When Tesla succeeded, Edison laughed and said that Tesla
didn’t understand American humor, offering him a meager salary bump instead.
Tesla promptly quit. His inventions for his own company and for other industry
giants such as Westinghouse cost Edison a fortune in time and money. In fact,
shortly before his death, Edison admitted that his greatest mistake in life was
not adopting Tesla’s AC system earlier.
Remember Tesla
when you are truly not being valued for your contributions, or when promises by
stakeholders or clients are not being kept. Quitting a job can be very scary,
but there are times when you’ve got to do it.
Lesson No. 3: Find the Critical Path
Edison famously
declared that genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration; Tesla disagreed.
Upon Edison’s death, Tesla was quoted in the New York Times as saying, “His
method was inefficient in the extreme...just a little theory and calculation
would have saved him 90 percent of the labor.” Tesla believed that a method of
invention that involved careful planning and application of knowledge to
problems before implementation was superior to Edison’s trial-and-error
approach.Remember Tesla when you are being urged to undertake development before the
critical path is clear to you. Remember Tesla when trial and error is being
held up as the great savior of slow technology implementation. Remember Tesla
and have the courage to figure things out before pushing ahead prematurely.
Lesson No. 4: Don’t Be Nikola Tesla
As much as I
admire Tesla’s brilliance, courage, and accomplishments, it seems to me that
his greatest lesson for the 21st century IT professional is the quiet warning
his life offers when viewed as a whole and not just in the confines of his
work.
To be sure, Nikola Tesla is one of the most important inventors in history,
his funeral was attended by heads of state -- he even has an automotive company
and a planet named after him. But he also died in poverty, alone and
living in a hotel, the victim of his poor career decisions.
Tesla famously
tore up his contract with Westinghouse for the generous royalties he was owed
on the Niagara Falls Power Project mentioned above, all because he was
gratified that Westinghouse believed in his idea when no one else did
and he wanted the budget-stricken project to succeed.
Disputes with J.P.
Morgan brought an end to his near open-ended financing from the banker who,
like all stakeholders, needed proper management and attention.
He never married
or had children, believing a personal life would distract him from his calling
as an inventor.
He had a history
of losing patents for his inventions, including (at least for a time) losing
the patent for the invention of radio to Marconi. And Edison and Marconi often get more credit
for Tesla’s discoveries than he does.
The takeaway?
We’d all like to
be as technically brilliant as Tesla, but that brilliance is no substitute for
the business and social acumen you need to achieve the peace of mind,
influence, and financial security that many of us would consider the most
important result of all this hard work. What’s more, without the requisite
resources and influence, Tesla was unable to bring many of his greatest
inventions to the world. What a shame to be stymied not by scientific
impossibility but by business and social blundering.
So, as we take
note of the incredible genius and life of Nikola Tesla, take a moment to think
about how you can be more like him—but not too much.
Key sources for
the article by Remembering Nikola Tesla: Lessons for Today's IT Leaders:
Tesla Memorial
Society of New York website.
No comments:
Post a Comment