Challenging Einstein

It is time to challenge the Einsteins and Newtons of this world.
Do you have the courage to stop making a product, even when it is the largest selling one in its category?
Can you think of wanting ‘demanding customers?’
Do you start developing the next model even before introducing the earlier one in the market?
Can you intentionally include few dissidents in your team?
What about making your own product obsolete?
Can you publicly declare to your workers, “We can afford to make mistakes?”

What about challenging Newton’s laws and Einstein’s theories?

Can you listen to people whom you dislike, love your enemies and watch for one hour the TV channel you hate most? Well, it’s time we are prepared for all these. Traditionally creativity is considered as conceiving of new ideas and converting them in to reality. With the unprecedented growth (read: explosion) in every field, even outlooks are changing.

Gillette’s market leader Excel was superceded by the Sensor and Sensor 2, and then by Mach 3 and Mach 3 Turbo.

3M has a policy that 30% of their revenues should come from products introduced in the market during the last 6 months. And how do they achieve it? – by making their own successful products obsolete.

Intel’s philosophy is to cannibalize its own business by constantly bringing out better processors to replace the ones that are already market leaders.

Any new product in consumer electronics always comes from Sony (of course, except for iPod,) and in a couple of months Samsung and LG bring out the same product at 40% less cost (again, that’s a different story.)

When the companies launch a new product, they are already working on the product that will replace it. Microsoft launched Windows Vista in January 2007, but they had already started working, from October 2006 onwards, on the next operating system that is going to replace Windows Vista.

Despite being the number one in the market as the largest selling vehicle in SUV category, Toyota stopped production of the model “Qualis.” In the Indian business scenario, this is simply unheard of and never an option to be considered.

Gravity for instance, is taken for granted, as a fact of life. But it was recently reported that Boeing, the world’s largest aircraft manufacturer, is working on experimental anti-gravity projects that could overturn a century of conventional aerospace propulsion technology if the science underpinning them can be engineered to hardware. Boeing’s Phantom Works advanced research and development facility in Seattle is trying to solicit the services of a Russian scientist who claims he has developed anti-gravity devices.

3M’s corporate philosophy describes, “We have continued to accept mistakes as a normal part of running business. It’s important to add, however, that we expect to have originality in our mistakes. We can afford almost any mistake once.”

It used to be ‘black boards’ for several centuries, and people accepted. Yes, black boards ought to be black, how can they be white? If asked why is a black board black, someone would respond, “The chalk we use to write is white.” A reasonable man is content with this answer and stops there as things are in order. An unreasonable man challenges the logical answer, “Why should you write with only a white chalk? Why not with blue or black or red or green?” He then comes up with the brilliant idea of the white board which is suited for writing with any colour.

An optimist invented an aeroplane, while a pessimist (read: dissident) helped put a parachute there. Had there been no dissidents, there would not have been any safety devices, no security departments, no defence services, no emergency lights and no standby arrangements. The earth would still be at the center and the sun revolving around us. We would still have to travel thousands of kilometers to watch the cricket match being played in Australia or New Zealand, black boards would still be black and Neil Armstrong landing on the moon, a hoax.

To spur imagination and ignite discovery research, DuPont as a company, have defined a set of large, “unreachable” goals. Some of those goals do indeed seem unreachable: immortal polymers, zero-waste processes, elastic coatings as hard as diamonds, elastomers as strong as steel, materials that repair themselves, chemical plants that are run by a single chip, and coatings that change colour on demand. Nevertheless, they are entirely serious about these “stretch” programmes. They publicise them widely. The specifics are not important as the expression of such goals. Goals like these convey an attitude – DuPont is a company that believes its people are extraordinary achievers whose achievements know no limits.

People accept things as they are known at that time and our lives revolve around those accepted principles. About 400 years ago it was believed that Earth was at the centre and the sun and others planets revolved around us. It was true at that time and life was based on that belief, and everything went very well. Suddenly this belief was challenged, and the sun was put at the centre. Now everything is going smoothly with this new belief.

During the 1940s, Juran and others proposed that there will be some unknown factors in our manufacturing processes and they will affect the quality of products. By analysing the past data we can estimate them because of their random occurrence and we have to accept things within those limits. In other words, we have to accept and live with things, with varying qualities. It was true at that time and with this knowledge some of the major developments took place – transistors were made, televisions and computers became popular, Neil Armstrong landed on the moon and satellites were put in orbit and used for communication purposes. However during 1980s, Deming and others challenged these beliefs and asserted that everything is happening with our knowledge and by properly designing systems we can get the same quality without any variations.

When young children start colouring, they often go beyond the boundaries. It is believed that this is due to the poor muscle control or undeveloped hand movements. However, some psychological research shows that it is also due to their open outlook – not getting bogged down by boundaries. They ask, “Why should one be limited within the boundaries?” That child, who challenges even the real boundary, when he/she becomes an adult, creates an imaginary boundary of his/her own, even when there is none. Most of us take for granted that what the rules say, or what is written in the hand book is final. That is the imaginary boundary we have built and we continue to remain within that boundary.

What we are not aware of is that what the rules say or what is written in the hand book is true, but not final.

Final is yet to come and will, likely, never come. Challenging the status quo has been going on ever since man first walked the earth. However, the actual changes have been happening occasionally ‘just like that.’ Now it is time that we integrate it as a basic necessity of our existence and even, accelerate the process. So go ahead and colour outside the lines, but be certain that you are staying on the same page.

(Dr N Annamalai, Creativity & Innovation Consultant – Trainer, Chennai.
Email: annamalai_n@vsnl.com, Website: WWW.Creativitysphere.com)