You’ve definitely heard this story countless times – the tale of Steve Sasson and his invention, the digital camera. Every, and I mean every, person talking about disruption loves to mention Sasson’s invention and the irony that he worked at the very company being disrupted by his creation, Kodak. But have you ever heard the full story? It offers a fascinating insight into what fuels innovation and, of course, why Kodak ultimately missed the mark.
Eastman Kodak’s managers, immersed in the business of selling film, the chemicals to develop it, and the cameras that shot it, suddenly saw a revolution that was being televised. Sasson was bombarded with questions. How long before this became a consumer camera? Could it shoot colour? How good could the quality be? These were not questions the electrical engineer had given any thought to. “I thought they’d asked me, ‘How did you get such a small A to D [analogue to digital] converter to work?’ Because that’s what I wrestled with for over a year.
”They didn’t ask me any of the ‘how’ questions. They asked me ‘why’? ‘Why would anybody want to take their pictures this way?’ ‘What’s wrong with photography?’ ‘What’s wrong with having prints?’ ‘What’s an electronic photo album going to look like?’ After every meeting, Gareth would come over to check that I was still alive.”
Lesson learned: It’s all about the questions you ask.
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