What distinguishes the world’s most effective leaders of innovation? It’s not just being creative or the quality of their ideas. Nikola Tesla was arguably a more brilliant inventor than Thomas Edison, but Edison realized tremendous commercial success while Tesla died penniless. Edison not only developed world-changing ideas, but he also acquired resources in a competitive market to execute and commercialize them.
So what did Edison have that Tesla didn’t? Innovation capital. Innovation capital is an intangible capital, like political capital, that helps you win resources to commercialize novel ideas. It comes from who you are (innovation-specific human capital), who you know (innovation-specific social capital), what you are known for (your innovation-specific reputation capital), and specific actions you can take to amplify the impressions others get of you and your ideas, or impression amplifiers.
