About Eran Geffen and “Half an Hour of Inspiration”
Eran Geffen is the founder of G ^ Team, a strategic consulting company that helps managements and CEOs to develop new growth engines. Has experience working with leading companies in Israel and around the world, including Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Kimberly-Clark Strauss, Walt and Soda-Stream. By Wix. Geffen runs the podcast “Half an Hour of Inspiration” and author of the book “Creating Growth – How to Make Business Creativity a Work Plan.” This list is based on a chapter in his book.
This list is based on a chapter in the book by Eran Geffen, founder of G ^ Team
Something unprecedented is happening in the global economy, concepts we have not heard for years like inflation or even stagnation have become part of the forecast. Ray Dalio, the founder of the world’s largest hedge fund in Bridgewater and who is considered Steve Jobs of the investment world, says that if it seems to us that the world is going through an unprecedented shock – we just have to look further back.
If there is one period that is interesting to compare with the current one, it is the period of the “Great Depression” from the previous century. The seeds for the Great Depression were sown as early as World War I, during which many businesses and people ran into difficulties. The U.S. government tried to help by printing money it did not have – which led to a boom in the stock market, but plunged the country into huge debts that only grew. The debt repayment required more and more money printing, which eventually led to inflation. Banking – until the inevitable collapse in 1929, when the stock market fell from a peak of 380 points to 200 – which marked the beginning of the Great Depression.
Innovation on speeds
But I did not come to suppress or bass, on the contrary. Economic historian Alexander Field has found that the Great Depression was the most innovative decade of the entire last century! – Even more than the years of Internet hacking. Indeed, economic crises are accelerators of innovation and entrepreneurship. The innovations that are created during them produce mountains of creative dispersion. The result is that new technologies are launched everywhere, existing industries are renewed and new ones are born, thus triggering new rounds of economic growth.
Economist Alfred Kleinknecht traced the history of patent registration, from 1750 to 1970, and discovered that the 1930s were the “golden years of patents.” A tremendous surge of extraordinary innovations, inventions that propelled the world forward were practiced and created precisely then.
During these years the first magnetic tape was invented and introduced to the world (meaning reel tapes, later tape tapes), jet engine, first helicopter, world first television station, FM radio, cello tape, inflatable beach ball, sunglasses, baby playpen, copier, atomic fission, The nylon, the ballpoint pen (!), The polyester, the electric shaver, the car radio, the tampon, the monopoly game, the chocolate chip cookies and even the American ice cream.
The electric shaver
Colonel Jacob Chic dreamed of an electric razor after spending time in Alaska, where he got tired of shaving in icy water. He sent plans to manufacturers who rejected the idea. Chic shelved the idea when he was drafted into the First World War, but it was precisely there that he was inspired by weapons and ammunition loading, which led to the design of a model with replaceable blades.
This razor style has caught on so much that it has become standard. Chic filed his patent in 1930. The electric model became increasingly popular, and Chic became a wealthy man who no longer needed to shave in cold water.
The car radio
Paul and Joseph Galvin, a pair of younger brothers, went on a double date. As the vehicle stood on the cliff at the lookout and they began to flirt with their spouses, they realized that something was missing – music like the radio on the house. There was no choice: they invented the car radio. Three years after launching the invention, the Galvin brothers signed a deal with Ford, which introduced the device to all cars made by the company.
The tampon
Surprisingly, however, the modern tampon was invented by a man, Dr. Earl Haas. Haas wanted his wife to come and swim with him even when she was menstruating. , And sold it to Gertrude Tendrich, who founded the Tempax company based on it.
The monopoly game
Board games have been an incredibly popular way to pass the time during the Great Depression, and what better way than a game where people without money can buy real estate and feel like millionaires. Charles Darrow patented the game after it too, like much of America, became unemployed when the stock market Collapsed, but the game bought him a “exit from the crisis” ticket.
Eran Geffen / Photo: Menachem Rice
And this is just the beginning
But not only entrepreneurs, but also large companies broke through in the downturn: although it experienced a 15% drop in sales, DuPont actually increased its research and development expenses in those years. This allowed an engineer who worked for the company to discover synthetic rubber, one of the greatest innovations of the twentieth century. Until 1939, every vehicle and aircraft manufactured in the United States had components of the same synthetic rubber, and by the end of that decade, the company had invented nylon.
Today we can do it even better, because thanks to the Internet and technology we can accelerate innovation even more. The whole world is networked with data, artificial intelligence and AI robots, people can start a new business from the iPhone in the bedroom. All the infrastructure is ready, all the land is already “dung” and ready for a wave of growth. If in the 1930s could have been so innovative, one can only imagine what we can do today.
Eran Geffen is the founder G ^ Team, a strategic consulting firm that helps companies develop new growth engines. He has experience working with CEOs and managements of the leading companies in Israel and around the world, including Coca-Cola, Walt, Microsoft, Strauss and Kimberly-Clark. A previous company he founded was acquired by WIX. Geffen runs the podcast “Half an hour of inspiration” And the author of the book “Creating Growth “This is how business creativity becomes a work plan.”