Precedents Thinking

When we teach innovation at the world’s largest companies and in Stanford University’s most popular courses on entrepreneurship, we often start by asking what these four innovations have in common: (1) the moving disassembly lines of Chicago slaughterhouses in the late 1800s; (2) quick-drying nitrocellulose black lacquer used in what is known as “japanning”; (3) staff profit-sharing, introduced by Procter & Gamble’s cofounder William Procter in 1887; and (4) Isaac Singer’s 19th-century network of local dealers selling sewing machines. Even the brightest corporate and startup minds rarely guess the correct answer. When revealed, however, it seems obvious: Henry Ford.