Interesting
topics were covered this week. We started with defining the
difference between innovation and invention. My conclusion at the end
of the discussion was innovation was essentially creation, generation
of ideas and invention was the physical manifestation of the idea.
Hence, as agreed in class: Invention was the subset of innovation.
Then we moved on to history of the world. How different societies
once dominated the world at different point in time and their
subsequent downfall.
One
area in particular that caught my interest was Prof's Organizational
Behavioral Model which can be applied to areas like the rise and
fall of nations and corporations. Prominent examples such as the
fall of China and India and the subsequent rise of European nations
have been brought up, as it had been the previous lesson. But this
time, the model was also applied to corporations, where once industry
leaders like IBM and Microsoft have dominated their market have
fallen from grace and are gradually replaced by newcomers like Apple
and China's Huawei.
I
am convinced that this model is extremely useful in explaining in
retrospect but extremely difficult to apply in the present. Take
Microsoft for example. Microsoft was once the Apple and Google of
today. A place where programmers and managers worked towards
excellence instead of bottom-line. They saw IBM as the hulking tech
giant that was bore down by politics and bureaucracies. Innovation
was replaced by internal office politics where potentially
revolutionary technologies like the e-book and smartphone
technologies was suppressed and even sabotaged by colleagues who
were under the impression that they would not only be rewarded for
excellence but the failure of their peers as well. It was once cool
to work in Microsoft. But over the years, they themselves became IBM,
the very thing they despised.
My
point here is: Microsoft saw and knew what led to the downfall of IBM
and yet they knowingly, and perhaps even willingly followed, their
steps. I see the same pattern with Apple nowadays, a once innovative
company which came up with revolutionary products such as the iPod,
iPhone, iOS have seen far fallen from grace after one of the most
spectacular revivals in corporate histories. Many are speculating the
end of Apple's innovative streak. Which is kind of true if you look
at their recent performance, iPhone 5's sales are staggering behind
Samsung's S series smartphones. Its once revolutionary iOS has been
losing market share to the Android OS. The Macintosh is still a niche
among many users. And investors seems to agree, Apple shares have
fallen almost 30% since its peak in 2012. What happened? It was once
cool to work in Apple (still is). But over the years, they are slowly
becoming Microsoft, the very thing they despised.
The
question now becomes: Is the downfall of innovative companies, once
they become too big, inevitable? I guess we'll have to look to Google
to know that answer.
We
then went on to discuss the reading “The Colonial Holocaust and its
Legacy”. How wonderful things such as religion, education, civility
became excuses for conquest, slavery, genocide. When I read the
article, I wept. I simply could not fathom how humanity is capable of
such cruelty to members of their own race. How people can glorify a
purge and genocide of an entire race with holiday and roast turkey.
How we can bear to see a once proud, culturally advanced and innately
gentle race be reduced to savages and casinos at the mention of
Cherokee. Then I remembered: We are the only race on Earth that would
kill each other not for food or territory or self-defense but because
we can.
HDI
was very interesting.
I
would rate this session an 8/10. A broad range of topics were covered
that were relevant to our future use. The analysis of the past,
present and future gave us an idea on how thing were, how they are
now and where they are going.
