The Eastman Kodak Company announced today that it will enter Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Too bad… I can’t think of a company that has tried as hard to adapt and change with the market and developing technologies.

Just as Thomas Edison didn’t invent the light bulb, George Eastman didn’t invent the camera. What he brought us was an interface to a wonderful new technology. He made it easy for us to capture those “Kodak Moments” without all the messy details.

“You push the button, we do the rest.”
George Eastman

The Kodak technologies touch all of our lives from simple film to digital cameras and motion picture film. This is my Kodak Brownie 2, Model D. It was produced around 1912. The first model was produced in 1901. The original patents go back to 1897. It’s worth about $12 today… the original price was $2. It took 120 size film, still available, at least for a while anyway.

I remember: Kodachrome, Ektachrome, Eastmancolor, Panatomic-X, Tri-X Pan, 120, 126, 127, 135, 220, 4 x 5, Dektol Developer, Photo-flo, Indicator Stop Bath, Kodafix, Variable Contrast Papers, C-41, E-6, D-76, Microdol-X, Film Changing Bags, Kodak Projection Print Scales, Dry Mounting Tissue, Rapid Mounting Cement, Carousel Projectors, Boring Slide Shows, Exciting Slide Shows, “Expose for the shadows and develop for the highlights,” Ekankar Lenses, The Boy Scout Brownie Camera, Flash Bulbs, Flash Cubes, The Instamatic… the list could go on forever.

What do we have now? Photoshop, Aperture, Digital Cameras, Kodak iPhone Gallery App.

It’s not our government’s job to keep companies like Kodak in business… but it is their job to help create an environment that will allow innovation to flourish. They’re not doing that… doing that doesn’t even seem to be on their radar. How will we find, encourage and mentor the George Eastmans, the Steve Jobs and the Thomas Edisons of the future?

About George Eastman

Kodak’s website

Kodak’s Reorganization Website 

Thomas Edison created the first practical, long-lasting incandescent light bulb 131 years ago. On January 1st we start the process of phasing them out of use (in California we started a year ago). 100-watt bulbs are the first to go this year, and lower-wattage bulbs go each year until 2014 when finally 60-watt and smaller bulbs go.

Incandescent lamps are notoriously inefficient. They waste over 90% of the energy they consume as heat. New bulbs need to be at least 25% more efficient to be sold. CFLs (compact fluorescent lamps) are typically 50 to 75% more efficient. They are more efficient and they last longer, which is usually the case for their higher cost. CFLs are now thought of as a “transitional product” as even more efficient LED lighting is being developed and produced.

Lighting Science Group, a company that makes LED (light-emmiting diode) lighting, says its LED sales revenue doubled in the last year and expects “exponential growth in 2012″, says Jim Haworth, the company’s CEO.

Ed Crawford, CEO of Philips Lighting North America says, “LEDs are dimmable, mercury-free, the most efficient and the longest-lasting.” The LEDs currently being produced have a life expectancy of 20 to 25 years. They are available in stores now and will continue to develop as a technology. LEDs are about 90% more efficient than a traditional incandescent bulb.

Lumens Instead of Watts

We associate “watts” with the “brightness” of a light bulb, but that’s really a measure of the amount of energy they consume. We’ll have to get used to using “lumens” as a true measure of brightness. A 100-watt incandescent light bulb is about 1,600 lumens, a 40-watt bulb about 450.

If you were to ask me, “From all the data you have studied so far, where will the next economic breakthrough come from?” my answer would be: From the combination of the forces within big cities, great universities, and powerful local leaders. Those three compose the most reliable, controllable solution. Their combined effect is the most predictable solution to America’s biggest current problem, which is winning the global war for good jobs.

-Jim Clifton

… and to address the general frustration of why our government has been unable to re-create jobs for a huge part of the population…

In defense of Washington, it wasn’t originally set up to be the nation’s economic engine. The U.S. government has seeded whole industries through land grant universities, defense contractors, and scientific and medical researchers to name just a few. But the government has never, will never, nor should it be expected to ignite badly needed sustainable economic booms. These economic booms originate in the souls of individuals and great cities.

Subscribe to the Gallup Management Journal and take some time to read Jim’s short article… it’s well worth your time.

Here’s a link to the book:

“No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

– Steve Jobs

Burbank still thinks they’re the center of the movie industry… in any case, it makes the photo setup very unique.

The New Hot 5, American-based jazz band plays for a herd of cows in Autrans, France… more on their website.

Newark Mayor Cory Booker is my new hero.

Rev. Brenda Salter McNeil was awesome this afternoon, again calling us to ACT. Seth Godin was as direct as everyone to get us to act, ship, make art… without asking for permission first.

At The Crossing Church in Newport Beach.

Participating in this event can change the course of your life, your work, your ministry, and your family.

“I think the role of leaders at this time in history is to be curators of human talent. They need to learn how to cultivate, how to identify, how to nurture, how to develop and unleash the God-given potential in every person.”

Erwin McManus
Activist; Filmmaker; Innovator and Cultural Architect
Mosaic, Los Angeles, California

The Leadership Summit