Its a usual morning on a week day. One of the first habitual activity when I am up includes reading the newspaper for 15 minutes or so (sometimes even before I brush my pearlies). So like every day I am scouring the news papers for something interesting, positive, unique, meaningful, heroic stories or news which displays entrepreneurial spirit of some common people. But like almost every day I find within and on the opening folds of the paper, the same disturbing, frustrating, repulsive, frightening, pitiful, negative and sad news.
One could blame it on my age old newspaper reading habit, coupled with the eternal optimist within me who wants to read the newspaper in spite of the daily toxic exposure. And that too, much before the dark smokey fumes of Mumbai traffic hit my senses. I must also add in the same breath that its not always that bad a scenario. There are times when my heart does flutter with joy and get excited over a new and positive story. But all the news which I find interesting is invariably obscured and positioned on a left hand page somewhere clamped down in a bottom column. Its as if the editor was trying to hide it beyond my eyesight in a teasing manner.
And today is no different!
I have stumbled on 2 interesting articles on one of the very inside pages and which have set my mind thinking. I have just cursorily read the 2 pieces and I want to read more. But the clock is ticking hard and moving fast towards 8 'o' clock, indicating its time for my last dash towards the finishing line....in this case the threshold of our home sweet home. So I leave the newspaper in its idle state again, promising myself to pick it up on my way out of the house.
So after a flurry of morning activities, breakfast and some final instructions to the maid, I finally make my way out of the door slamming it behind me just as the clock strikes 9 'o'clock.
My hand bag with the lap top in one hand, my lunch dabba in the other and the big heap of the day's newspapers precariously pressed between my hips and my right arm. It does make for an interesting sight and its a delicate balancing act by yours truly. After what seems like a never ending journey down the lift, I finally make it to the ground floor.
I hurriedly rush to open the car door and then with sigh of great relief spill all the belongings into the car, all of which are almost about to slip from your truly's sweaty fingers. After I plonk myself on my car's seat, I pick up the MINT (Mint is Hindustan Times Business paper for the uninitiated) and lasciviously turn to the page for the article which I have been craving to read.
What has really struck me about both the articles is that though both are written with diverse angles and to serve different objectives, both carry interesting examples which have a common thread running through it.
The first article is about 'Who really invented the Internet?' and the other one 'Innovator's dilemma'. The first one talks about how Xerox PARC Labs in the 1970s were responsible for the developing Ethernet, the first personal computer and the graphical user interface that still drives computer usage today. So having created the Internet, why didn't Xerox become the biggest company in the world?
Because they were focused on selling copiers.
Then in 1979, Steve Jobs negotiated an agreement whereby Xerox's venture capital division invested $1 million in Apple, with the requirement that Jobs get a full briefing on all the Xerox PARC innovations. 'They just had no idea what they had", Jobs later said after launching hugely profitable Apple computers using concepts developed by Xerox.
The second article talks about how Frank Nuovo, formerly chief designer at Nokia had both the touch screen phone with a single menu button - sort of like an iPhone and also a tablet which could have been a iPad equivalent much before the Apple's 'i'conic products. But both would have catered to a niche market (or so thought Nokia at that time) taking resources away from other same generation products the company needed to keep ahead of competition.
Xerox and Nokia both had strong innovations at hand but failed to see the bigger picture and transform/ change at the right time.But Apple (in both cases) revolutionized the technology industry and took it by storm. (And the storm is still raging!)
So just as it is important to innovate, its even more important to have skills to bring innovations to market.
Which brings me back to our daily life and what I actually learned from these 2 articles.
We all have within us this amazing ability to create new ideas/concepts and also bring it to life and create a new business venture, project at office or create something different.
But what happens is that we just leave it in its incubator stage (in our tiny cranium)for want of lack of confidence or risk taking appetite or lack of vision or simply not wanting to change for fear of failure. And when we see something similar get launched, created or built by some one out there, we are left kicking ourselves and feeling like idiots for not having seen the golden opportunity and allowing it to slip between our butter fingers.
Just like what Steve Jobs said, "We just don't have any idea as to what we have! (or are capable of)"
One could blame it on my age old newspaper reading habit, coupled with the eternal optimist within me who wants to read the newspaper in spite of the daily toxic exposure. And that too, much before the dark smokey fumes of Mumbai traffic hit my senses. I must also add in the same breath that its not always that bad a scenario. There are times when my heart does flutter with joy and get excited over a new and positive story. But all the news which I find interesting is invariably obscured and positioned on a left hand page somewhere clamped down in a bottom column. Its as if the editor was trying to hide it beyond my eyesight in a teasing manner.
And today is no different!
I have stumbled on 2 interesting articles on one of the very inside pages and which have set my mind thinking. I have just cursorily read the 2 pieces and I want to read more. But the clock is ticking hard and moving fast towards 8 'o' clock, indicating its time for my last dash towards the finishing line....in this case the threshold of our home sweet home. So I leave the newspaper in its idle state again, promising myself to pick it up on my way out of the house.
So after a flurry of morning activities, breakfast and some final instructions to the maid, I finally make my way out of the door slamming it behind me just as the clock strikes 9 'o'clock.
My hand bag with the lap top in one hand, my lunch dabba in the other and the big heap of the day's newspapers precariously pressed between my hips and my right arm. It does make for an interesting sight and its a delicate balancing act by yours truly. After what seems like a never ending journey down the lift, I finally make it to the ground floor.
I hurriedly rush to open the car door and then with sigh of great relief spill all the belongings into the car, all of which are almost about to slip from your truly's sweaty fingers. After I plonk myself on my car's seat, I pick up the MINT (Mint is Hindustan Times Business paper for the uninitiated) and lasciviously turn to the page for the article which I have been craving to read.
What has really struck me about both the articles is that though both are written with diverse angles and to serve different objectives, both carry interesting examples which have a common thread running through it.
The first article is about 'Who really invented the Internet?' and the other one 'Innovator's dilemma'. The first one talks about how Xerox PARC Labs in the 1970s were responsible for the developing Ethernet, the first personal computer and the graphical user interface that still drives computer usage today. So having created the Internet, why didn't Xerox become the biggest company in the world?
Because they were focused on selling copiers.
Then in 1979, Steve Jobs negotiated an agreement whereby Xerox's venture capital division invested $1 million in Apple, with the requirement that Jobs get a full briefing on all the Xerox PARC innovations. 'They just had no idea what they had", Jobs later said after launching hugely profitable Apple computers using concepts developed by Xerox.
The second article talks about how Frank Nuovo, formerly chief designer at Nokia had both the touch screen phone with a single menu button - sort of like an iPhone and also a tablet which could have been a iPad equivalent much before the Apple's 'i'conic products. But both would have catered to a niche market (or so thought Nokia at that time) taking resources away from other same generation products the company needed to keep ahead of competition.
Xerox and Nokia both had strong innovations at hand but failed to see the bigger picture and transform/ change at the right time.But Apple (in both cases) revolutionized the technology industry and took it by storm. (And the storm is still raging!)
So just as it is important to innovate, its even more important to have skills to bring innovations to market.
Which brings me back to our daily life and what I actually learned from these 2 articles.
We all have within us this amazing ability to create new ideas/concepts and also bring it to life and create a new business venture, project at office or create something different.
But what happens is that we just leave it in its incubator stage (in our tiny cranium)for want of lack of confidence or risk taking appetite or lack of vision or simply not wanting to change for fear of failure. And when we see something similar get launched, created or built by some one out there, we are left kicking ourselves and feeling like idiots for not having seen the golden opportunity and allowing it to slip between our butter fingers.
Just like what Steve Jobs said, "We just don't have any idea as to what we have! (or are capable of)"
