Leadership
"I had to wait nineteen years before Niagara was harnessed by my system, fifteen years before the basic inventions for wireless which I gave to the world in 1893 were applied universally. I announced the cosmic ray and my theory of radio activity in 1896. One of my most important discoveries — terrestrial resonance — which is the foundation of wireless power transmission and which I announced in 1899, is not understood even today. Nearly two years after I had flashed an electric current around the globe, Edison, Steinmetz, Marconi, and others declared that it would not be possible to transmit even signals by wireless across the Atlantic. Having anticipated so many important developments, it is not without assurance that I attempt to predict what life is likely to be in the twenty-first century."-Nikola Tesla, Liberty Magazine (1935)
Nikola Tesla was clearly a great leader and innovator. A pattern can be seen through his life of others using, stealing, or building off his ideas. Tesla refused to back down in the face of opposition and inspired others to usher in a new technological age. Tesla lead many other scientists to greatness and was a legend in his own time.
"They laughed in 1896... when I told them about the cosmic ray. They jeered 35 years ago when I discovered the rotating field principle of alternating currents. They called me crazy when I predicted the radio. And when I sent the first impulse around the world, they said it couldn't be done."-Nikola Tesla |
"When Mr. Tesla talks about the electrical problems upon which he is really working he become[s] a most fascinating person. Not a single word that he says can be understood. He divides time up into billionths of seconds, and supplies power enough from nothing to do all the work in the United States. He believes that electricity will solve the labor problem.… It is certain, according to Mr. Tesla’s theories that the hard work of the future will be the pressing of electric buttons."-Arthur Brisbane, New York World (1894)