Moving Mountains, Confusing Readers

Kevin Kelly Ch 6 - Let Go at the Top

Kelly discusses how companies that become the best must eventually devolve in order to stay successful. This is not an easy process and you bring your company close to extinction when you do. Experienced managers are needed to guide the company in this time of strife.

Overall I found the article very difficult to read... Kelly uses a lot of large words and it feels like he is just trying to sound smart without any merit. He makes a good analogy that a company at the peak of their field to an actual mountain. As competitors redefine the market they "move the mountain" and for your company to become the leader in this new market they have to come down from the mountain they are on and climb this new one...

Unfortunately I feel that most companies now are just trying to put a ladder on the mountain they are on now instead of innovating. When they see their competition succeeding by doing a new innovative process they will try something completely different hoping that it works when in the short run they will do better by imitating and improving on what their competition did. Admitting defeat is not easy but "when you answer to shareholders" they want to hear nothing but your successes.

The analogy is a good, but it can be said in far fewer words than Kelley used.

It's a small world, after all

What does a "flat-world" mean to an idea based company? Companies such as Microsoft, Apple, Sony, GE, and infinite others benefit from the fact that they can acquire and use resources around the globe simultaneously. Companies such as Microsoft or Apple can hire people around the world to develop software and only employ the best of the best. Ideas are universal and the ever-increasing protection of intellectual property means that when someone has an idea, as a company, you want to take it, patent it, and protect it from being imitated by others.

The world will continue to shift from one of mass production to mass thought. Ideas will become the driving force in our economy and will be valued much higher over physical labor. The need for a good education to be ahead of the global curve is vital. I personally believe the second age of scientist and engineers spurred by Sputnik is upon us, but instead this time it is spurred by companies like Google. To use some old adages, "The world needs ditch diggers too" but in the long run you will find "they don't pay me to think, they pay me to work". To bring home a comfortable salary you will need to think first and labor second, "work smarter, not harder".