From the Foreword, by Walter Cronkite
Here is a most fascinating volume
written by one of perhaps a handful of people qualified
to do so. Leonard Greene is not only a skillful
writer, but he is a prime example of the innovator/inventor — a
calling that Leonard has compressed innovatively
into a new term: Inventorship.
From this lively and personal account,
we learn that we can all practice inventorship
to great advantage — measured either in gold or pleasure,
or perhaps both! Leonard's patented inventions
now run well over a hundred and still counting
— with several new ones in 2000 alone. There is scarcely
a flying machine built today that does not include
his devices to enhance safety. And surely thousands
of lives have been saved through their use. Gold
and pleasure, indeed!
Leonard suggests that we are all capable of inventorship.
It begins simply enough, he says, if we use our
imaginations. Inventions, he makes us realize,
need not all be the product of great scientific
or technological breakthroughs. He doesn’t
say it in so many words, but his innovative idea
is that just the act of, say, contemplating an
envelope with the goal of eliminating the necessity
to lick same, is the first step toward successful
inventorship.
His book is full of fascinating examples that
illustrate this premise. So well does it accomplish
its purpose of awakening in all of us our capacity
for inventorship, that it sent me back through
a cascade of memories of innovative thinking that
served my colleagues and me well in the profession
of journalism.
An example: As the Russian troops
and those of the western Allies met in central
Europe at the close of World War II, we war correspondents
were anxious to get into the areas occupied by
the Russian troops. The Russian guards, however,
were demanding to see credentials authorizing our
entry, and the Russian high command wasn't issuing
any such passes.
Then one day, one of our number, Jimmy Cannon,
came back to our Third Army press camp after two
days away, and announced triumphantly that he had
been in the Russian sector. He had shown the guards
his Texaco credit card with the oil company’s
big red star on its back. The guards couldn’t
read English, but that Soviet symbol was enough,
and pass him through they did.
That, as Leonard Greene has named it, is inventorship.
Walter Cronkite
Other views on Inventorship:
"Inventorship is truly the stuff from which
the future will be molded. Giving us an insight
into the everyday thought processes of great inventive
minds, Greene’s wonderful collection of stories
and ideas is a model for each of us in the art
of inventiveness."
–Pat Hallberg, Executive Director, National
Inventors Hall of Fame
"This entertaining and well-written work
educates without pain and motivates the reader
to learn more. It should be widely read not only
by business people and entrepreneurs, but by young
people, their parents, and their teachers. The
lesson: Inventorship is for everyone and can change
lives for the better."
–Joseph N. Hankin, President, Westchester
Community College
"After all the scholarly books and articles
about innovation and the entrepreneurial process
by theorists, how refreshing it is to hear from
a real live inventor holding hundreds of patents
in fields as diverse as aeronautics, sailing, chess,
and skiing! He has even invented a word, ‘inventorship’,
to describe the process and guide us through dozens
of examples. A very useful book."
–John Diebold, Chairman, The JD Consulting
Group, Inc.
About the Author
A member of the National Inventors
Hall of Fame, Leonard Greene has patented more
than 150 inventions, including the stall-prevention
device now essential safety equipment on all aircraft,
which is credited with savings thousands of lives.
His company, which for half a century has done
substantial business with Boeing, recently recognized
that relationship by assigning to them the patent
rights to a new type of supersonic plane that is
50 percent faster than the Concorde – and
flies without creating a sonic boom.
More on Leonard Greene:
Inventors Hall of Fame
Lemelson-MIT
Program Inventor of the Week
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