A few years ago, I had a chance to
hear Ray Kurzweil give a talk. Ray is a really amazing
guy with a resume a mile long, going back half a century and always at the
center of technology. His thesis that day, with profound significance for
NCR, is that
technology is accelerating at a rapid rate. He said that no matter how
far you think we’ve come, there are always more advances just around the
corner! The funny thing is that he said this before the smartphone,
tablet computer or WiFi… before Groupon or OpenTable… before Facebook
and well before Angry
Birds. He was, is and will continue to be right!
But another amazing guy knew all
that long before Kurzweil. His friends called him Alec, and he just might
be the original ‘Smart Alec’. He did not know much about technology, but
he knew about problems. You see, his father and grandfather both
worked on problems with sound. Alec wanted to do something amazing
in this field. He studied physiology and mechanics, electricity and
magnetism. He had ideas but he did not know how to put them to use.
So he went to see Joseph Henry, a famous physicist of his time, for
inspiration. Like the Wizard in the Wizard of Oz, the wise Henry
recognized a motivated intellect in young Alec and told him that all he needed
was knowledge. The solution offered by Henry? ”Go get it!”
And that, as they say, was all it
took. Alec’s full name was Alexander. And you might recognize him
if I told you his last name, which was Bell. From his humble start
exploring sound, Alexander Graham Bell went on to figure out,
patent, and commercialize the telephone. March 10 is the 137th
anniversary of the first time those famous words were uttered… “Can you hear me
now?” (Just kidding) of course the first words were “Mr. Watson, come here,”
immortalized in memoirs that date back to before NCR was even founded.
Thomas Watson, a brilliant engineer in his own right, was a close
associate and partner to Bell. Their work changed the world, serving as
the foundation for thousands of patents, millions of applications and billions
of smartphones today.
So many amazing lessons in this
story of invention. Bell started by understanding problems, not
technology. He worked persistently with many partners to solve those problems,
adapting and advancing technology along the way. He persevered through
doubters and set-backs. He transformed himself at each step in order to
become the person that his vision most needed at that time. I don’t know
if it was easy, but I doubt it; nothing great ever is!
What problems do you think about?
Are they the problems given to you, or problems that you discover, learn
about and build a passion to explore? What technologies do you use?
Are they the ones someone told you about or things you chose to learn on
your own? How have you transformed yourself when your needs changed?
We all have the curiosity of small children inside us – are we smart
enough to keep that curiosity alive every day like Kurzweil and Bell? I
know that’s hard – life and deadlines have a way of interfering with passion.
For me, customers keep the passion
alive. They are a font of unique and amazing problems to solve.
Sometimes, I can pull an NCR product off the shelf and deliver what they
need. But other times, if I am lucky, the problem is new and the solution
does not yet exist. That’s when I know that NCR’s creative design team,
crushing engineering capability and global service team all go in to action,
above and beyond the customer’s wildest dreams. That’s when I connect
with Bell, Kurzweil, Jobs and Lovelace and the rest of the stars of
technological history. That’s when NCR makes its mark.
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