Perfect start to a client meeting. A dozen gorgeous doughnuts, right? Look again. In the lower right corner. The downright homely one. “Ordinary,” one might sneer. Bereft of all the sparkly, blingy adornments of its neighbors. The Charlie Brown Christmas Tree of doughnuts. The stripped-down cheapo...

I hail from a line of frustrated inventors. Back in the late ‘40’s, my grandfather received a patent for what was basically a hollowed-out aluminum spike that one filled with spicy seasonings and hammered into a raw chicken. Judging from the 20 cases of unopened “Season-Awls” I discovered as a...