Ivory Soap
In 1878 Harley Proctor while working for his father’s soap and candle factory wanted to create a white, creamy, lightly scented higher end soap product. He asked his cousin James Gamble who was a chemist to help. They called it “White Soap”. It sold well.
Later a factory worker went to lunch forgetting to turn off the vat mixer. When he returned, he found the soap full of air bubbles and the new soap now floated in the water. And it really sold!
Looking for a name of their new white soap, they were inspired by the forty-fifth psalm ‘All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloe, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad.
When the soap was tested by a lab it was found to contain 56/100% impurities. Harley Procter flipped the findings to create “99 and 44/100% Pure!”
“You will never stub your toes standing still, but the faster you go, the more chance you have of getting somewhere.”
-Charles F. Kettering
Lon Safko
Serial Innovator, Keynote Speaker, Trainer, Innovative Thinking
Tags: innovative thinking, creative, creative thinking, Innovation, critical thinking definition, innovation definition, critical thinking skills, creative process
