The Great Man Theory Promotes Misunderstanding of History

The Great Man theory is the notion that behind every great innovation is a single individual -- usually a man. It attempts to write a simple story about every innovation. But Ford didn't invent the automobile, Edison didn't invent the light bulb, and the Wright brothers didn't invent the airplane. The simple story strips away all the other people with whom that person worked, both before and afterwards, and their critical contributions to the innovation process. It also perpetuates the notion of invention -- that things didn't exist before that particular person started working on them. Historians of technology have been railing against that theory for almost a century but it doesn't seem to have much effect in the popular understanding. Edison was probably one of the people most responsible for perpetuating the theory.

Andrew Hargadon, The Trouble With Out-of-the-Box Thinking, Interview with Andrew Hargadon (2003)

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