Meet Nikola Tesla: The Future's Employee

The walk in the park

In 1882, mid-stroll in Budapest, the design for the AC induction motor arrived whole in Tesla's mind — he scratched it in the dirt with a stick. He claimed he could build and run machines entirely in imagination, checking for wear after weeks of mental operation. The grid still runs on what he saw.

Wardenclyffe

The gift had a shadow: visions unmoored from budgets. Wardenclyffe's tower — wireless power for the world — died half-built when Morgan's money stopped, and Tesla's last decades were hotel rooms and pigeons. Vision needs a business model, or a partner who has one.

Why they belong at your table

Seat him when your idea is decades early. He supplies the courage — and the hard-earned warning about resources.