Promise of New Products - Implications of Current Companies

One of the best things about being in the technology sector happens to be the really great innovations being made and the promises of the products that can be delivered to consumers. Lots of great things such as Augmented Reality, the iPhone's touch interface and Nintendo's Wii gesture-based gaming console are just some of the technologies that have big impacts on many. Yet even as consumers start to grapple with these, even more products are starting to emerge; Microsoft's Surface and Natal, Oblong's G-Speak Spatial gesture environment (Minority Report computing), Apple's iPad, Samsung's Transparent OLED display, and Toshiba's 1TB Solid State Drive.

Yet as these products roll out to consumers and businesses, I am utterly amazed at how current companies are viewing the situation. Many legacy companies are still wrestling with change from 20 years ago and are facing daunting internal challenges just to keep fractions of their infrastructure and businesses somewhat modernized. For example, even after 3 years of market introduction iPhones, while very prevalent for many in their workforce, are still shunned in many corporate environments. Even with the possibilities of locking down the devices and creating applications specifically for their own needs, even the largest companies with billions in revenue do not take advantage of such new technologies to improve themselves.

Being unable to see the value in products that their consumers want creates a lot of stress on existing business models. Take as a classic example of industries that have not adapted well - music and movies. These companies have had decades of experience and insight into their customers yet missed the biggest marketplace via digital technology. Making CD like quality digital products is absolutely fantastic for consumers; they are light, portable, easily transferable between different products that consumers have (i.e. smartphones, portable players, entertainment centers, and computers), and can be saved from the ravages of time far more elegantly than tape or disc. However rather than adapt, these industries became protective and antagonistic towards their customers. In my opinion, these industries have acted liked internal IT departments within companies - always saying "No!" to their users requests rather than attempting to come up with solutions. Is it no wonder that Apple's iTunes has done so well? Apple's product is pretty reliable, easily accessible, and while not the best for every circumstance, it meets several needs of consumers in many categories. Even as incomplete as Apple's offering is, it has enough consumer interest to be a big revenue stream.

Not all industries fare so poorly. One of the best examples I love to point out is the automotive industry. It has been around for quite a while, innovating at business, operations, technology and business models consistently well. Most consumers today have an array of choices such as new automatic steering, rear-view cameras, GPS, entertainment, computerized lighting, and even heads-up displays. None of this innovation comes for free nor did it come overnight. However they did arrive into vehicles at price ranges that consumers would accept.

In my experience, the difference between the two is a mindset within the company culture expressed through every individual. One fundamentally accepts that consumers and times change and that to hold onto customers they have to adapt. The other mindset sees the fact that their customers have little choice to go anywhere else for their service/product, and that their service/product cannot be replaced. The sheer arrogance of the secondary viewpoint is what makes them blind not only to changes in their markets but also to any possibility of change at all.

The difference in how they operate and tackle problems is also very clear. The ones that know they have to change actually create a culture of looking out for their customers, creating products and services that make the customers happy by delivering excellent value with great reliability/quality at an affordable price. The other side has lost sight of delivering customer value because they have lost sight of what customers actually consider valuable.

One of the most visible and perhaps demonstrative examples of how new products can have huge implications for current companies is the Apple iPhone. The incumbent handset manufacturers, mobile operating system companies, mobile application companies, and telecoms had been in place for decades with little reason to change. After all according to their own viewpoints, customers loved what they produced. They literally did not see the frustration and resentment of their customers in terms of less-than-stellar usage experience with their products. Then relatively overnight, Apple introduces their iPhone. Most of the industry even if they did not always voice it, behind the scenes considered Apple's offering as a non-threat. I heard such comments as "iPhone will be a fad", or "iPhone is a joke", or "iPhone delivers nothing that current products deliver" not just in one company but from many companies at industry gatherings. Everyone now knows that the iPhone became the biggest game changer to those companies by becoming the "gold" standard for smartphones everywhere. The end result is that the existing companies scrambled to come up with new products, services, and capacity to meet their customer demands. It still remains to be seen how well they will do.

It is clear that the innovative companies are not idly standing by to let the incumbents catch up. Apple for example in the iPad purchased a company that produced the chips for their new product. Why? While no official word from Apple has come out, and more than likely never will, there is much speculation that the current chips being produced for the mobile market are simply not up to Apple standards of what they want to deliver to customers.

Another example is that of Google's plans to build a high-speed network. This is obviously something that the company feels that they need to do not only for themselves but their customers. There are undoubtedly other reasons for them doing so but their actions is what even the Federal government would like to see more of from others in the US.

Clearly change is on the wind. In my opinion the dire economic times are the most obvious reason for the push to innovate. Creating new products and services that consumers will spend their income on is what companies need. And all innovative companies know that when something is not working, you try something else that may, and you do it quickly. That imperative has never been more true and more needed than now. It is an imperative that is not only changing companies, but also the prospects for the employees within companies. If professionals want to stay valuable, they had better prove that they are valuable to the business of the future, not the present.

Sharing Advice on the Evolution of a Career

I will be the first to admit I am not a career counselor and while many people love that line of work I do not. However I find myself always being asked by others how do I handle my career and in particular what should they do about theirs.

It is actually a pretty straightforward approach in a career; you start in a junior phase, grow into a mature phase, and hopefully at some point enter the expert phase. The junior phase is most usually when an individual is just entering the workplace and just starting their career in their designated profession. At this point you are new, inexperienced and learning. Many things do not necessarily make sense and as you deliver things, they eventually make more sense. The mature phase is that time when you have moved past the junior phase and are now more knowledgeable and experienced in your profession. While there are some areas that may be giving you some issues, you are learning to advance your skills and tackle some pretty big problems on a normal basis. Also at this point, most individuals are in their budding phase of leadership which is a requisite for the next phase. The expert phase is the last phase of a career cycle. You are confident, having worked through and overcome many challenges, and learned quite a few things from challenges in your career. You have definite traits of leadership, experience and your own style of how to handle things. Also at this point you are sought after for your expertise, experience and leadership.

This all sounds very straightforward but there are a few elements about expectations that I tend to sprinkle throughout this conversation. Namely:

• Age plays a role. We'd like to say everyone is equal but that is not necessarily true. If you appear to young for a leadership role there are challenges there to overcome. Also a more mature professional who has significant experience, may suddenly find themselves being passed over by younger individuals for a variety of reasons. Ultimately people look at how old you are as an indication of skill and experience. Someone with decades in the workplace is looked at in an entirely different light than say someone just out of college. It is up to the individual to make themselves stand out and to convince others why they should be chosen for opportunities regardless of their age. At some point, you will be able to determine your own style on how to handle this issue.
• Career progression. There is no set exact timetable for anything. How fast you go, how far you go, how much you get out of it, is up to the individual. For example take the founders of any company and they all have a different story to tell about success. The same holds true for those lower than a founder in any career. What makes career progression happen is a clear goal, a flexible plan, and a commitment to making things happen.
• Hands-on, hands-off. Personally you need both sort of a balance. If you are too hands-off, you will likely find yourself out of jobs and lacking tangible skills needed in your career. If you are too hands-on, you will be so wrapped up in the details of a particular assignment or project that you will be unable to handle broader scoped items effectively. Usually I look at things as problems very similar to home projects. Is it something that needs to be done? Do I need help? Can I do it myself? etc. Then I either do it, partly do it, or never do it. 
• Make mistakes. Lots of them. The best time to learn what you are capable of is when you fail. Nothing ever goes according to plan and nothing comes easy. Failure is part of the process that can benefit you the most even if it is traumatic because it focuses your skills. If you simply give up after a failure, then maybe what you are doing is not enjoyable. Everyone fails. And everyone works through it. Never do anything easy if you can help it.
• Teach and mentor. The best way that I have found to help test my own knowledge is to teach and mentor others. I do this a lot and it is very rewarding. Nothing is as satisfying as seeing a student come into their own. Also students really push your understanding of anything. However not everyone is good at this as it takes a lot of diverse skills to become accomplished.
• Lead. At some point somewhere in what you are doing you will be expected to take charge. This may be terrifying at first, but ultimately it helps grow the skills necessary to make competent decisions with regards to large projects and how to work with others. Leading is not the same as managing. So do not confuse the two. 
• Manage. At some point in your career you will be asked to manage something. This in my opinion is a good thing to learn in that it is the middle ground between actually leading and following. You tend to be a moderator, balancing several things that you do not have a lot of control over while still making a delivery. Matrix-management is the common form of practice of this skill and while you may not do this very often, it does come up frequently enough to be aware of it.
• Learn. Everything changes. I can safely say that in my years of experience that this never stops and it can be very fun. Most people handle this differently because they learn in different ways. In the end look at how you learn things and find the most effective way to do this on your own that is fun.
• Your plans change. What you want to do now is going to be different as time goes by. What you enjoy doing as a graduating college student is different than someone with 5 years of experience under their belt, or a new parent, or a new homeowner, etc. Change is good. Adjust your career plan as needed based on your needs. Just make sure it is always moving towards your goal whatever that ends up to be.
• Everyone is equal. This is what I have found to be the greatest strength in managing a career. No one is your superior or inferior. There may be hierarchy, there may be communication challenges, heck their may even be skill challenges but in the end we are all equal. Just because someone is your supervisor does not mean they do things better than you do. By the same token, just because someone reports to you does not mean you are better than they are. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. The only reason why anyone does well in a career is because they use their strengths to their advantage while working on their weaknesses. 
• Diversify. Never stay on one thing too long. Everything changes. So by diversifying your skills and knowledge you can have a broader understanding of various subjects that can help you move around. Being a specialist is great and they are needed, however in many cases especially in the technology industry specializing can lead to being locked into certain solutions and technologies that can go into decline. That is not to say that they are not needed. Take COBOL programming for instance. There are still many companies that need this skillset. However, this skillset is not the most desired. Yet the principles of programming, the size of environments, the application knowledge, and even the company knowledge of who uses that technology can be leveraged into other avenures that can grow your career.

Almost everyone I talk to says "Wow! This is a lot of work!" It is and it isn't. It may sound like a lot to juggle but frankly everyone does this naturally in different ways for things that they are passionate about. People who love gardening for example find a lot of energy to do that which they love. Sure they make mistakes and maybe cannot do it all the time they want to. However people with this passion manage to incorporate into their lives. The same holds true for your career. If you find yourself not putting a lot of energy into it, do not be surprised by what comes out of it.

Ultimately how someone handles their career is their own choice. They will naturally seek out advice, struggle through it and find their own way. I am just happy to be able to contribute my own two cents and hopefully make professionals see what they are capable of doing when they put their minds do it.