Robert Fulton was born in Pennsylvania in 1765 and migrated to Europe as a young man to seek fame and fortune.  He had some success as a portrait painter. He painted Benjamin Franklin and had two paintings accepted by the Royal Academy. He later returned to America and obtained an exclusive agreement to use steam ships on the Hudson River. In 1807 he launched the ship Clermont that steamed from New York City to Albany.  Newspapers called this service “Fulton’s Folly.”  Yet, it was a success.
     There was another folly at Kitty Hawk on December 17, 1903.  The Wright brothers were taking turns flying an engine-powered, heavier than air vehicle.  If you had been present when the two bike shop owners were in flight for only couple of minutes at a time would you have invested your life savings in their venture?  Most people thought it was a folly and had no idea that it would later spawn an industry.
     It is hard to predict what an invention or new idea can become.  The Hula-Hoop remained just a Hula-Hoop, but Velcro became a staple of our society.  The future almost always arrives as a folly. 
     Today it is so much easier to invent something, and it is so much easier to get that invention out to the world.  The Internet accelerates the introduction of these follies.  With so many cultures and subcultures exposed to one another via the Internet it is easy to dismiss something important as something trivial.  Do you know what the next “big thing” is?  Might your company be in a position to change your industry by being first to adopt, invest in, or partner with some idea that may seem like a folly?
     Take this product, xZubi, pronounced “Zoo-Bee” (www.xZubi.com).  It is a small disc that you place on your cell phone and it “neutralizes” electromagnetic radiation emitted by your cell phone.  That’s right, it protects you from the harmful radiation that the cell phones emit.  Just about as many studies have been done to prove that the radiation from cell phones don’t cause cancer as have been conducted that prove they can create cancer.  So, is this product a current folly that might change an industry?  Will the big dollars of the cell phone industry bury this product or accept it and protect their customers?  Only the future will tell.