Create Competitive Advantage with Innovation (Collection)

Chapter 1. Doing Both

“Even in the remotest times, long preceding the Christian era, the ancients understood the value of dignifying their harbors with impressive works. The Colossus of Rhodes and the Pharaohs of Alexandria were counted among the seven wonders of the world...But the bridge across the Golden Gate would dwarf and overshadow them all.”¹

When James Wilkins wrote these words in an August 1916 editorial for the San Francisco Call Bulletin, he was an inspired journalist, an aspiring engineer and a frustrated commuter. The Marin County resident boarded a ferry each day, crossing the increasingly crowded waters of the San Francisco Bay to his office in the city. In an era of automobiles, slow-moving ferries were akin to the horse and ...