Journal 4

In Jon Gertner’s article “True Innovation (2012),” he states that Bell Labs, which changed the world a lot in science and technology, is the symbolism of true innovation in America. Mervin Kelly, the man who captured the culture of creativity at Bell Labs, had two elements to make the place perfect, one was architecture and the other was aspirational. He made the Bell Lab well organized and let scientists there have access to true freedom which helps ensuring them enough time to work on the projects they are interested in.

However, I hold the belief that the way Bell Lab works is not good for a business. As is known to all, running a business is much more than individual work. Instead of working alone, everyone in the organization have to work together as a team. I have to admit that the scientists there are true genius in the world, and it is true that Bell Lab has already made a large number of inventions and discoveries, but I am not sure if the organization has made full use of its resources. As was mentioned in the article, Bell Lab not only provide researchers with freedom, but also time. This kind of method seems persuasive which can guarantee researchers’ passion to work, but this also might made people absent minded and lack of targets. If all the people at Bell Lab focus on the same thing, maybe they can make more changes to the world. As far as I am concerned, the way Bell Lab works might be a good approach for rocket scientists who devote all themselves to the field they are interested in. But this philosophy can never be a good solution for normal people who work in a common organization.