Web 0.01

This circa 1964 video is a pretty funny yet amazing depiction of the Web, from more than 40 years ago!

“Communal Service Agency”… LOL! That must have been one of the earliest name for ISP?

How to Stuff a Wild Duck

In my last post, I talked about IBM’s Wild Duck culture. Thanks to Craig McCormick Ed.D., an ex-IBMer, who allowed me to repost this vintage IBM poster from his web site.

The text says:

“We are convinced that any business needs its wild ducks. And in IBM we try not to tame them.” T.J. Watson, Jr.

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends upon the unreasonable man.” G.B. Shaw

IBM Poster - How to Stuff a Wild Duck

Click the thumbnail to see the poster.

Check out Craig’s web site too. He even has the lyrics from an IBM song book.

IBM: “Don’t Tame the Wild Ducks”

It turns out I’m in good company when it comes to applying the Duck metaphor against management concepts. When I was going over the notes I took while attending Dr. Robert Burgelman’s class during the AeA/Stanford Exec Institute, I found I wrote down his words: “IBM loves Wild Ducks.”

With some quick Googling, I discovered this apparently famous quote from IBM’s Ex-Chairman, Thomas Watson Jr., dating back to 1963 (I’m obviously too young to have known about this. ;) ):

“…You can make wild ducks tame, but you can never make tame ducks wild again. One might also add that the duck who is tamed will never go anywhere any more. We are convinced that any business needs its wild ducks. And in IBM we try not to tame them.”

In fact, as far as I can tell from Googling, the Wild Duck philosophy is well engrained into the IBM culture (at least in the early days).

So, to my wife who gave me that weird look this morning about my choice of metaphor, there you go. :)

BTW, I found this inspiring archive of Thomas Watson Jr. writings and quotes. Check it out: IBM’s “Tom Watson Jr. Quoted” web site.

The Drunken Ducks Theory of Innovation

Let me first say that this blog is not about the art of getting drunk, or deriving pleasure from alcoholic beverages. In fact, I don’t drink - at all! My college buddies used to call me “Two Beer” and I was known to start playing Moonlight Sonata on the piano after drinking that same amount. The amazing thing is, I can’t actually play that tune even if my life depends on it.

Anyway, my Drunken Ducks adventure started a few years ago when I attended a Porsche racing course. During the two day event, they broke up the students into teams of five. We went through the various driving drills together and at the end of the course, they have a team competition. We needed to find a name for the team and Drunken Ducks came up - mostly due to the way we drove! LOL!

The other teams were getting seriously competitive, giving themselves and everybody around them lots of pressure. True to our namesake, our team was more intent on having a good time and care less about the competition. And predictably (or ironically), who won the competition? The Drunken Ducks!

So the moral of that story, is that success can often not be forced. The journey is often more important than the destination. If the journey goes right, you will end up at the right place. Anyway, that’s the theory or the cliché.

In recent years, I spent a lot of time studying the art of technology entrepreneurship and managing innovation. I moved to the Silicon Valley and even did the IPO thing in 2001. Currently I manage Advanced Technology Research teams for a very large telecom company and they pay me based on my ability to “maintain a healthy stream of innovation”.

I am starting to realize that the phrase “managing innovation” may be somewhat of an oxymoron. Modern studies are indicating that while managed or directed research may yield incremental results. Most breakthrough innovations are a result of “flukes”. (i.e. Stumbled upon like a Drunken Duck!) So, rather than paying a too much attention to manage innovations and driving research teams by well defined objectives, it may be equally (if not more) important to listen, observe, recognize and nourish.

Thus, a Drunken Duck Theory of Innovation is to ensure a “happy” environment for innovators to innovate, to be able to observe and recognize the strategic implications of a breakthrough idea when you stumble on one, and to provide an incubation environment for those strategic ideas to flourish.

Drunken Ducks are the fastest and happiest ducks. And here is a picture to prove it! :)