Innovate!: How Great Companies Get Started in Terrible Times

When we think of innovation, our minds go to great ideas taking off, buoyed by boom times and economic growth, to inventions such as the light bulb and the automobile. But true innovation isn’t born solely in the best of times. How, then, is innovation achieved in the worst of times? What is real innovation?

Innovate! argues that these questions have a new urgency today, in the midst of our country’s recovery from the 2008 2010 Recession. This optimistic and innovative! book declares that terrible times, even the Great Depression, have been harnessed to create great things for the world and that the power of innovation will see our country through our current economic downturn.

Did you know the following companies were born during economically dry, financially trying times in our nation’s history and are all still going strong?

• Procter & Gamble

• Barnes & Noble

• Hershey’s

• General Foods

• Texas Instruments

• Mobil

• Tyson Foods

• Krispy Kreme

• Sara Lee Corporation

• Baskin-Robbins

• Cantor Fitzgerald

• Mattel

• Applebee’s

• Olive Garden

There will always be naysayers who claim “this is an impossible time to start a business or create a new product.” The takeaway message in Innovate! is: Terrible times are no match for innovation.

With an optimism rooted in the irrepressible, “never say die” force of innovation within the human spirit, this inspiring book reveals innovation as the catalytic generator that determines an organization’s ability to compete in a volatile environment and to possibly change the course of business history.

Historically, author Thomas Meyer shows us, economic recessions and depressions have been incredibly rich soil for innovation. A tribute to the irrepressible, ever-present force of originality within individuals, Innovate! reveals that terrible times, even the Great Depression, have been the best times for innovation to pull people and economies out of tough times. Even now, innovation will see our country through our current economic recession.

Consider these great companies that got their start during spectacularly difficult economic slumps, and are all still in business, including:

• John Wiley & Sons―founded as a small print shop during the Depression of 1807

• Procter & Gamble―in business since the Economic Panic of 1837

• Barnes & Noble―doors opened in the midst of the Long Depression of 1873–1879

• Hershey’s―satisfying the nation’s sweet tooth since the Economic Panic of 1893

• General Foods, Texas Instruments, Mobil, Tyson Foods, Krispy Kreme, and Sara Lee Corporation―all took off during the Great Depression, despite a devastating 17% unemployment crisis

• Baskin-Robbins, Cantor Fitzgerald, and Mattel―all got their start during the Post–World War II Recession

• Applebee’s and Olive Garden restaurant chains―served up success in spite of the economic turmoil of the 1980 Recession and a 10% unemployment rate

Open this book and see for yourself: Tough times are no match for innovation. This inspiring book reveals innovation as the momentum that sets the course for an organization to keep swimming in rough waters―and emerge a champion.