Mind of the Innovator

INTRODUCTION

Innovators can have various personality traits that can seem odd to other people. This essay was completed to better understand the mind of an innovator. This entails determining how innovators think and feel, what they do, and how they succeed or fail.

The innovators studied include Nikola Tesla, Buckminster Fuller, and Jeff Bezos. These innovators were chosen because if one were to draw a line and title it “The Innovators Who Have Been Most Misunderstood by Society” each would fall at different locations on the line. We have to understand each of their minds to truly understand and appreciate all that they have given us.

Nikola Tesla, probably the most misunderstood scientist of his time, had ideas and inventions that were ahead of his time. One such invention was the death ray. People were very frightened of this invention, so much so that Tesla was depicted as the Mad Scientist in Superman cartoons (SowhatNC, 2009). What people did not understand is that he invented this ray to end warring between countries, which he hated. Granted that if this death ray was actually built, someone may have used it for nefarious purposes, but this was not Tesla’s intent.

Buckminster Fuller was in the middle between being misunderstood and understood. This was partially due to his own language that he developed. Some people liked and understood his language, while others thought it too mechanistic (BuckyFullerArchive, Buckminster Fuller - The 50 Year Experiment - 4/6, 2010). Regardless, Bucky’s messages of sharing resources and trying to make the world work are still resonating in our society today.

Finally, Jeff Bezos would probably be closer to the understood end of the line. He is very well spoken, charismatic, likable, and fun. However, he is still somewhat misunderstood. People, mainly analysts on Wall Street, still assume that he is driven by money,