During the first half of the 20th century, few figures spoke more authoritatively on national technological and economic matters than Charles Kettering. The "Boss" cofounded the Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company (Delco), where he invented the automotive self-starter and the Delco Light generator that powered hundreds of thousands of farms. Then, lured to Detroit by General Motors head Alfred P. Sloan Jr., he took the reins of GM's research, which pioneered four-wheel brakes and ethyl fuel. Kettering believed passionately in the power of research and development, and he had this to say in a 1929 speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce:

"I am not pleading with you to make changes. I am telling you you have got to make them-not because I say so, but because old Father Time will take care of you if you don't change. Advancing waves of other people's progress sweep over the unchanging man and wash him out. Consequently, you need to organize a department of systematic change-making."