The Ivory Tower

Seven years. $100 million. Complete secrecy.

Dean Kamen built the tallest ivory tower in tech history.

His team solved transportation.

Just like that.

No user testing. No messy reality. Just brilliant minds in a locked room, building the perfect solution.

The Segway was born.

Steve Jobs called it revolutionary.

The media went crazy.

Launch day arrived.

Then real people tried it.

"Why ride this when I have legs?"

That was the first customer reaction.

Not excited.

Confusion.

Here's what happened: The Segway solved transportation.

Except... 99.8% of humans were happy with walking.

(Turns out legs work pretty well.)

Ivory towers do this.

They protect you from stupid questions, annoying feedback, and people who "don't get it."

Here's the thing...

Those stupid questions reveal stupid assumptions.

That annoying feedback shows real problems.

Those who "don't get it"?

They're your customers.

Every company builds ivory towers.

Marketing teams never talk to customers.

Product teams never watch users.

Leaders only hear good news.

Higher tower, cleaner thinking.

Higher tower, harder fall.

(You know which one you're building.)

Dean Kamen still takes the stairs to his office.