CDOQ

Why are people attached to keeping the tradition? Doesn't it hamper innovation and change?

I am writing on my blog from a king county bus which is moving at 60 mph. The bus has WiFi and I am getting speeds of 317 kbps down and 154 up. Not bad! Last year, Google executive, Marissa Mayer, talked about Google’s Management/Innovation principles. The video is available at http://stanford-online.stanford.edu/courses/msande472/060517-msande472-300.asx . Following are the nine principles she explained: Ideas come from everywhere: Create environment/culture that encourages new idea generation and does not limit it to a few people. Share everything you can: Everyone knows what everyone else is working on-success/failure stories. This creates synergies i.e. 1+1=3. You’re Brilliant. We’re hiring: Smart people like to work with smart people. Always find a place for them. They manage themselves. This will enable you to have a “flat” organization. A license to pursue dreams : Let people work on what excites them. Google allows everyone to spend 20% of their time on a...

Why is music pleasing to our ears? How did the the trend of listening to music start? Why do people have different tastes in music? Why music is part of all propaganda? Why are the tunes from hundreds of years ago still popular today? Growing up, I always studied with music, went to bed with music, celebrated with music, shared my sorrow with music. Why is music so important in our lives?

If you have read any economics literature, you know that for all decision making it assumes that the decision maker is a "rational man". Well, I don't think many decisions are made based on rationality. Emotion is a much powerful force than rationality and plays bigger role in decision making than rationality. Now, think about leadership and inspiring people. A good leader must connect with people at an emotional level to inspire them. Think Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and others.

What environment does Apple has that enables it to innovate faster than any other company? Apple came out with the iPod instead of Sony. Apple came out with iTunes instead of the record labels or distributors. Apple came out with iPhone instead of Nokia. Today, Apple came out with iPod touch. Something else getting not much media attention is that Apple is slowly increasing its Mac market share vs PC.

Yesterday, I finished reading Complexity , a book about the emergence of a new science. Following are a few random highlights: A new idea would not be a revolution if everyone believed in it at the start. The crucial skill required to achieve a holistic understanding of any system is the ability to see connections among various parts. Economics is hopelessly intertwined with politics and culture. Neoclassical theory assumes that the economy is entirely dominated by negative feedback: the tendency of small effects to die away. However, Complexity theory suggests that given the right environment, the positive feedback dominates: the tendency of small effects to become magnified. The QWERTY keyboard was designed by Christopher Scholes in 1873 specifically to slow the typists down; the typewriting machines of the day tended to jam if the typist went too fast. The road to the Nobel Prize has generally been through the reductionist approach-dissecting the world into smallest and simplest pie...

I have not written on my blog for three months. Unbelievable! I don't know why my behavior varies with the environment. At work, I am very self disciplined and at home I am very spontaneous and random. Let's see how I can summarize the last three months. Undisciplined for sure:-) I went to following new places: Santa Fe, NM Newport Beach, CA Düsseldorf Cologne Budapest Zagreb, Croatia Crikvenica, Croatia (took a dip in the Adriatic sea) Explored new career opportunities in Europe; gave a speech on why and how carriers should adopt 3G at a 3G Americas conference .; Met with George Cowan at the Santa Fe Institute. Visiting Santa Fe Institute and meeting George Cowan is one the major highlights of my adult life so far. This man is remarkable! He led the research at Los Alamos ( Manhattan project ) and founded SFI and established Complexity as a science. I am beginning to get bored with the daily routine. However, I still get excited when I read about complexity. ...