Saturday, June 14, 2014

Story of Idea #3: From Correcting Mistakes to Liquid Paper


Anything that increases the stress on a system leads to a jump to a higher level of being.
Instead of breaking down physically, you jump through a creative Eurika!
Experience into a higher state of mind.” (Ilya Prigogine)

In the 1950s when the electric typewriter was first introduced to the market, a kind-hearted boss bought one for his secretary. The new electric typewriter fascinated Bette Nesmith Graham, who had to struggle with a mechanical model all along, as it would save her from having sore fingers from pounding the keys.

Bette’s joy was short-lived. Being unfamiliar with the soft-touched keys, she made mistake after mistake until her waste-paper basket was full of incorrectly typed letters. She was unable to finish a single letter at the end of the day.

Bette thought hard on ways to overcome the problem but no solutions came. Finally she gave up and switched her thoughts to the reaction of the boss. He had invested a lot on the new typewriter and would be very disappointed if she was unable to work more efficiently. She could even lose her job.

In the midst of her sad thoughts, an idea suddenly flashed into her mind. She remembered that in her art training she had learned to paint over mistakes with a special paint called Gesso. Eureka! That’s it!

Bette rushed home to find a tin of white paint and used her small paintbrush to paint over her mistakes. Thus the corrector fluid, Liquid Paper was born. In 1972, she sold the company to the Gillette Corporation for US$50 million!

Lord, Give Us Today Our Daily Idea(s)
Quote from Dr. Yew Kam Keong’s You Are Creative: Let Your Creativity Bloom! 3rd Edition (Petaling Jaya: Advance Quest Sdn. Bhd., 2007) pg. 18

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