In 1752, Benjamin Franklin proved that lightning was electrical when he flew a kite during a thunderstorm.

More than one hundred years later, Thomas Edison produced a reliable, long-lasting electric light bulb in his laboratory (in 1879). Less than a decade later, Edison’s small direct current (DC) electrical stations were in several US cities.

As ingenious as Edison’s direct current (DC) power delivery system was, it suffered from a major drawback: it was suitable only for the high density, large cities and could not deliver electricity to customers more than one mile from the plant. This left a patchwork of unsupplied customers between plants. To help fill this gap, competition from companies installing alternative current (AC) systems entered the market. Alternative current systems could transmit electricity long distances over thinner and cheaper wires, and “step down” the voltage at the destination for distribution to users.

Edison did not like the competition from AC systems and voiced strong opposition to its technology. Merely a few years after AC launched into the market, Edison’s company was generating much smaller profits than its AC rivals. The battle between AC and DC, known as the “War of Currents,” was quick and decisive, ending in 1892 with Edison forced out of controlling his own company. That year, J.P. Morgan engineered a merger of Edison General Electric with Thomson-Houston that put the board of Thomson-Houston in charge of the new company called General Electric (GE).

Interestingly, even with the AC and DC rural and metro capabilities managed under the newly combined GE entity (which controlled three-quarters of the electrical business market), by 1930 still only 10 percent of Americans living on farms and in rural areas had electric power. But the 1930s ended strong, bringing electricity to 25 percent of rural homes. Electricity in America ultimately became ubiquitous in the 1960s.

Fast forward to the 21st Century: In 2000, 1.7 billion people in the world did not have access to electricity — that number dropped to 860 million in 2018, roughly 11% of the world’s population.

Creating an innovative product or service that transforms the future is one thing – capitalizing on continuous iteration is quite another, a challenge even for the most innovative and talented people. In Thomas Edison’s case, even though he was the impetus behind electrification, he had difficulty adopting other technologies, like AC. Electrification is a great example that illustrates the fine line between using the past as currency for future innovations versus believing you are innovative while still rooted firmly in the past.

“The electric light did not come from the continuous improvement of candles.” -Oren Harari