Flash of Genius

It was May 18, 1994 and Valerie and I were on our honeymoon in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. We almost had our own private pool but we shared it with one other couple. Neither of us came out much, but eventually we all ended up in the pool at the same time. We exchanged pleasantries and eventually got around to line of work. Our new friends were the boat captain and cook for a 120' yacht. "Wow" I said "Who owns it?". The answer I got stayed dormant in my brain for 14 years and has ended being a small regret that I did not ask the simple question "Really, tell me more?" The answer I received, that I deemed too rude to pursue further was "Well, he's the guy that invented the intermittent windshield wiper."

I have to admit that went a little nuts when 14 years later I was sitting in a movie theater with Valerie and up popped the preview for "Flash of Genius" the story of Bob Kearns, the Wayne State engineering professor who invented the intermittent wiper, got screwed by the auto manufacturers and spent almost thirty years suing them.

I said (practically shouted) "That's the guy! He owned the yacht the couple was with on our honeymoon!"

I waited for the DVD and finally watched the movie this past weekend. It was a tragedy through and through, and a classic David and Goliath story. More importantly, it was a story of a businessman getting royally thrown in the ditch by his ideas and his business. It was a story of a guy who believed in his invention and the business he was to create so much that he could not let it go, even though EVERYONE told him he was crazy. His wife was very content with loving an engineering professor and she eventually divorced him. He lost the faith of his kids for a while, quit his job and even got thrown into the loony bin. At one point he was completely humiliated...but...he never gave up. And he won. Records show that he was eventually awarded close to $50,000,000 by the courts.

Touching Colin, So what? The answer to "So what?" is the question - "Do you have what it takes?" Do you have the gumption to go the distance and climb out of the ditch? What are you willing to sacrifice to change the world? How hard can you push and do you have the support structure in place to make it?

Changing the world for Bob Kearns became an iron determination to stop the little guy, the entrepreneur from getting stomped. He did not have the support structure in place and it was painful. His wife got blindsided by a genuine crisis of expectations and she had to let go. His children walked away until they were old enough to respect his incredible integrity. All his friends thought he was crazy and he was called a moron by his attorneys (who ended up representing his enemies). He lived penniless for two decades until suddenly, one day, he could afford a 120' yacht. Suing the people that stole his ideas became the absolute definition of his existence. Bob's last case was wrapping up about the time I met his Captain. He lived another 11 years and died in 2005.

Was Bob Kearns' story one of a sad, crazy, obsessed person or was he a tower of a man? That answer can only be found within yourself (and to a large extent the answer lies in the end result). This moral tale would sound a heck of a lot different if Bob Kearns died penniless. You sure you want to start that business? You sure you want to swing for the fence? How will you handle failure? One of my best and dearest friends once looked at me and said "Look, no one makes the cover of Fortune and Parents magazine in the same lifetime." He was right. How far are you willing to go? Make damn sure you have the stuff for the journey, because it may define you.