Guru Phil Baker in The Atlantic: "Under Dr. Land any innovation that didn't come from him was discouraged."

Finally, something current worth reading.

Dated 25 January 2011 from The Atlantic magazine

The article is entitled "What's Next for Apple?" but it relates to Polaroid's Land as well as Apple's Steve Jobs, and it's by someone knowledgeable who worked for both Polaroid and Apple.

   

Phil Baker, writing in James Fallows' slot in the Atlantic had this perceptive comment on what it was like to work at Polaroid under the leadership of Edwin Land:

". . .  when Land left the company, it began to disintegrate because there was a sudden lack of strong leadership. Under Dr. Land any innovation that didn't come from him was discouraged. In fact, when he learned that one of his engineers was designing an improvement for the SX-70 camera, he threatened to fire him. (That engineer was me; in the end we shared the patent on that invention)."

The entire article can be found at: 

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/01/whats-next-for-apple/70095/

Baker is the author of From Concept to Consumer, 2008, FT Press.