Wishing you the very best for 2018
May we be gifted—even blessed— with an immense pressure to make a contribution.
In 2015 I read a book called Team Genius: The New Science of High-Performing Organizations. The authors claimed that:
Hewlett-Packard Co. in the 1950s and 1960s is sometimes described as the greatest corporation of all time. It offered more progressive employee programs than any company before or since, and—not surprisingly—it set records for employee happiness and morale that have never again been matched by a large corporation.
I was intrigued. My initial intuition was to dismiss some of the statement, especially—it set records … that have never again been matched by a large corporation—as hyperbole. I checked out both the authors Rich Karlgaard and Michael S. Malone and discovered impeccable credentials. I was intrigued. I doubted that both authors would have agreed to include such a declarative statement without being sure. This was worth looking into.
I found a documentary on YouTube called “HP Origins”. Within this movie I discovered a gem of an insight, absolute treasure, perhaps the very source code for enduring success. Here is a clip of this insight
The purpose of a company is not to make money. It makes money in order to do be able to do what it’s really all about and in our case that is to make a contribution.
We are here to create things that if we didn’t create them, the world would be worse off, and if you don’t understand that you don’t understand the HP way.
The thing that I fell in love with was that there was an immense pressure to make a contribution. That was the key phrase. You have to make a contribution.
You didn’t just bring out a product because you thought you could make money on it. You brought out a product because you thought it was … some dimension in which it was significantly better. What this really means, in this sense, is not to be a “me too” … not to enter an area unless you feel you have something really to contribute because if we just try and follow someone … you’re always going to be at the tail end.
I posted a blog article on October 24, 2015 evangelizing this approach in public speaking.
Wishing you the very best for 2018—May you be gifted—even blessed— with an immense pressure to make a contribution.
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Every engineer can be a better engineer
by being a better pubic speaker and storyteller
Every professional can be a better professional
by being a better pubic speaker and storyteller
Every citizen can be a better citizen
by being a better pubic speaker and storyteller
I help citizens, professionals, and engineers become better public speakers and storytellers. www.NecessaryBridges.com
Book Description
Necessary Bridges: Public Speaking & Storytelling for Project Managers & Engineers
Every engineer & STEM professional can articulate an engineering & STEM challenge as eloquently and inspirationally as the speaker does in the audio of this clip. At the very least, every engineer and STEM professional can aspire to do so.
STEM = Science Technology Engineering Mathematics
Audio = JFK/moon speech segment/Rice University Sept 12, 1962