Ernest K. Breton: A Story of Creativity and Innovation in Business

I learned a lot from this son of a 
gold prospector.

I met Ernie Breton the year that he was on the Board of Directors for the Chromaline Corporation circa 1990. Chromaline was primarily a manufacturer of high-tech photostencil emulsions and films. I believe he came to Duluth to do work of some kind at the Natural Resources Research Institute. His reputation as an innovative thinker contriibuted to his being tapped for the company's board. 

At the time I was managing our company's advertising and PR, serving in the sales and marketing department. I don't recall how Mr. Breton and I first met, but I believe we both sensed some mutual vibes about thinking differently and outside the box, if I may use an overused expression.

For years I have been intending to share his story as a setup to share a few additional things I learned from him. Though I have no notes, and memory can be faulty, this is pretty much what he shared with me.

* * * 

Ernie Breton's father was a gold prospector. He spent his life going back and forth across the mountains of North and South America seeking evidence of potential gold veins. He understood geology and recognized the clues of potential lodes.

I don't know if he had a home somewhere or not. I got the impression that he was always on the hunt, and his son Ernest travelled with him. Ernie obtained an education in a rather unconventional manner. He was home schooled in the Rockies and the Andes. 

If I recall correctly, it was just he and his father. And when the time came for Ernie to attend college he did so via examination. Once accepted he continued his education in that more traditional manner.

Photo by Chromatograph on Unsplash

After receiving his bachelor's, he obtained a master's degree and followed up with a Ph.D. in chemistry. Dupont picked him up for their Research & Development arm, one of the largest and most advanced in the world at that time. (1950s)

Because of his unconventional upbringing, he was also an unconventional scientist or chemist in the lab. For example (and I wish I could recall other examples) he was mixing this goo in a large heated mixing bowl and decided to take a handful and run it through his hair to see what would happen. The next day his hair was all crinkly and nearly everyone wanted to know how he did it. 

He became something of a sensation, creating more new products than nearly anyone. Within a couple years Breton was head of Dupont's entire research and development team. 

When the 60s came along, he was invited to teach a master's level class at Columbia University on creativity . The students were all from various corporations that sent top employees to this private Ivy League school to learn practical applications of creativity in R&D. 

The class met once a week, and a funny thing happened. By week three, half the students didn't show up. Week four was the last he saw of any of the students.

When he investigated, he discovered it was not due to his poor teaching. Rather, it was quite the opposite. The companies sending these young thinkers pulled them out because they had such good original product ideas generated that they feared the students might share a multi-million dollar idea with another classmate or the instructor before it had been patented. 

Columbia knew it had a good thing, and instead of Breton being dismissed, he taught this class for several years, always with the same result. The school got paid whether the students finished or not. 

* * * 

Graphic element by Tara Austin

Ernie Breton stayed for one year on our board I believe. There were several things he shared that I've never forgotten. One was the concept of the corporate brain. He observed, over the course of a lifetime, that all too often when knowledge workers leave, all the things they learned and know also walks out the door. This is very bad for companies because in certain kinds of enterprises, knowledge and relationships are all you have. This is your gold. 

He believed that with the advent of computers there had to be better ways to hold on to the knowledge gained through the experiences of employees. There is no reason for companies to have to re-learn over and over again by repeating the same mistakes. 

Here is an example of something I have seen. If you take a house and want to re-arrange how you use the rooms, it can be done. There are some things, however, that if changed or eliminated will weaken the structure. Some walls are just for separating spaces, whereas others are essential for keeping the roof from collapsing. 

Brain drain is a chronic problem in high turnover companies. I know of a guy who was hired to be a regional sales manager for several states. When he asked for a spreadsheet of the customers he was to call on, the products they purchased and who the contacts were, the management did not even know this basic information. I doubt they even exist today.

There were other problems Mr. Breton was wrestling with on a global level that had applications for business. He was an original thinker, striving to simplify complexity to its essential essence. Whether ideas, language or management systems, he'd seen much and offered fresh and unexpected perspectives.  

* * *

When he was leaving the area I asked where they were going next. He said he wasn't sure. He had many invitations. One came from a 26 million dollar company in Kentucky that had been started by one of his students from Columbia who wanted him to become CEO. I wouldn't doubt that there were a lot of those kinds of success stories under his tutelage.

Thank you, Ernie, for the brief times we shared.