One Right Fit

In 1935, Chester Carlson was a young New York lawyer. He grew impatient with the time it took to copy legal documents. Three years later, he completed a prototype machine to do the job faster and cleaner.

An impressive list of companies—IBM, Kodak, RCA—said no to Chester’s machine. Only Harold Wilson, owner of a small photographic paper company, saw something that others did not. That machine that Chester created? Today, we call it a copier. And Harold Wilson’s company? We call that Xerox.

This is Howard Butt, Jr., of Laity Lodge. Sure, many great ideas die under the weight of the word "no." But remember: it takes only one "yes"…in the high calling of our daily work. 

When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name. “Zacchaeus!” he said. “Quick, come down! I must be a guest in your home today.”  Luke 19:5

Image by Emmanuele Contini. Used with permission. Sourced via Flickr.

Reader Comments