I recently saw the movie “El Prestigio”. The story is about two fiercely rival wizards and is set in the 1890s. A subplot in the film concerns the largely forgotten rivalry between scientists and inventors Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison. Entrepreneurs today can learn a lot from the Edison/Tesla saga.

Thomas Edison is one of the most famous and revered Americans of all time, and with good reason. Schoolchildren are taught that he harnessed electricity, invented the light bulb and the phonograph. He was granted 1,093 patents during his long and rewarding creative life. His summer lab in Fort Myer, Florida, remains a major tourist destination. In addition, Edison made millions of dollars commercializing his patents and product innovations. To this day we have all benefited from his genius.

Nikola Tesla, on the other hand, is virtually unknown today. He was born in Serbia, moved to the United States, and became one of the most renowned scientists of his time. He was, in many ways, the epitome of the “mad scientist” so often depicted in books and movies. His eccentricity and his poor business decisions were the stuff of legends. And yet, Tesla’s inventions and scientific breakthroughs are just as important in our contemporary lives as Edison’s.

As a young immigrant scientist, Tesla worked for Edison. Edison held the direct current (DC) patent and, as always, aggressively pursued the commercialization of his patents. Famed banker JP Morgan was one of Edison’s early DC financial backers. Edison built a generator in New York City that could provide the miracle of light in homes, including Morgan’s Murray Hill mansion. It was considered a wonder of the day.

However, Tesla recognized that DC had serious limitations, specifically in delivering electricity over a vast network. He championed alternating current (AC). Edison was furious. AC was a direct attack on his patents. He had no business right to AC power generation. Tesla left Edison and the two great scientists became lifelong enemies.

Tesla presented his AC theories to George Westinghouse, another enemy of Edison’s. The two became partners and a career began between devotees of AC and DC current. Westinghouse and Tesla believed that AC was superior to DC because of the arc and the larger energy footprint the system could deliver.

Edison, an unusual combination of a scientist and an excellent businessman, carried out an aggressive; some say the public relations campaign was wild to support his convictions that DC was the best technology. He performed public electrocutions of animals in an effort to prove that DC was a safer and cleaner power source. He even allowed CC to be used in the first electrocution of a criminal sentenced to death. This public display was botched and the criminal was re-electrocuted in a horrible manner. The audience was shocked.

Meanwhile, Westinghouse commissioned Tesla to harness the power of Niagara Falls to generate safe and widely distributed electricity using AC technology. Testing and subsequent network performance confirmed that AC was the superior technology. Morgan and Edison were forced to buy shares in AC.

Thomas Edison prospered for the rest of his days. His connections with JP Morgan led to the establishment of General Electric, one of the world’s great corporations to this day. He died rich, revered and famous.

Tesla was a great contributor to the evolution of our modern energy system. The many scientific tasks involved in electrifying the United States and the world would have occurred much more slowly without his inventions and creativity. Tesla was crucial to the perfection and acceptance of AC, the standard used to this day. And yet Tesla died broke, alone, nervous.

Edison invented the light bulb. However, without widely distributed, safe, and affordable electricity, the light bulb was worth little. A car without an internal combustion engine is a wagon. Similarly, Tesla’s AC perfection was the tool that made the light bulb so valuable. Tesla’s success inadvertently affirmed Edison’s legacy.

Edison could sell. He was a genius at self promotion. He could seek and obtain capital based on his reputation. He had charm and charisma. Edison created a legend for himself.

Tesla had none of these qualities. He made bad business decisions. His reputation for being difficult closed many promising business doors. Tesla was dark and hard. English was his second language and he never felt comfortable in a public format. The science of him has been obfuscated by his many futuristic predictions. Much of modern pseudoscience and today’s UFO acolytes are based on morsels of Tesla’s preaching.

The ability to commercialize inventions is the key difference between creative types and successful entrepreneurs. We all know people with vibrant imagination and inventiveness. We all also know that few of these people manage to successfully turn imagination into reality.

A successful entrepreneur needs a variety of skills and talents to overcome the din of our highly competitive marketplace. Successful designers and engineers often make great employees, unless they can communicate, sell, market, and strategize. The inventor who lacks these skills has many other potential routes to success. Licensing, partnerships, and alliances are viable options.

Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Bill Gates, and Ray Kroc are stellar examples of what it takes to be successful. They are versatile, adaptable and visionary. Nikola Tesla was a genius, but only in one area. His science is invaluable. Today, Tesla’s personal, commercial, and historical legacy is largely forgotten. Each student learns about Thomas Edison. It took me an afternoon at the movies to be briefly reminded of Nikola Tesla’s important contributions.