President > Deka Research and Development Corp. > Manchester, New Hampshire
Remember the elevator pitch? People used to tell me that if you can't explain your idea in the span of an elevator ride, then it's not a good idea. My answer? If I have an idea that I could explain completely in an elevator, it ain't much of an idea.
Two years ago, I expected too much, too fast. I thought that the Internet would be applied quickly and dramatically to the dissemination of knowledge and truth worldwide. On second thought ...
In reality, many serious and intelligent people knew that the Internet was an incredibly powerful tool -- they just didn't know how to use it. They treated the Net the way a 5-year-old boy would treat a bulldozer. They were digging holes because they could.
The Internet has been a toy -- until now. This year marks the year that people finally get back to the business of differentiating between get-rich-quick gimmicks and real achievements. A year after the dotcom fallout, many people have started to figure out what should be done with the Internet -- not simply what can be done with the Internet.
One idea that I'm tinkering with is distributed electricity in the developing world. I'm working on a box that could burn any local fuel -- anywhere in the world -- so that electricity and clean water would be readily available to everyone, without placing a larger burden on the environment. And for the record, it's an idea that can't be fully explained in one elevator ride.
Dean Kamen (contact@dekaresearch.com) holds more than 150 patents. He is the creator of "Ginger," the still-secret invention that has attracted worldwide speculation. Kamen also oversees FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) , an Olympics of smarts for kids. Last year, he received the National Medal of Technology.
Professor and Director > Graduate Program in American Studies, New York University > New York, New York
It's rare in history for workers to romanticize the workplace. But that's what many people did during the dotcom glory days. There was a new mentality largely defined by what I call the "industrialization of bohemia." The office was reimagined as a giant, multipurpose playroom for an ever-shifting team of workers. There was an ethos that preached the leveling of workplace hierarchies and liberation for workers from bureaucratic constraints. The office came to represent the place where our identity was to be most deeply felt.
Now there's a certain normalization of the workplace -- a chance for people to slow down. As an advocate of the labor movement, I hope that we will see a more humane workplace in the future. By that I mean a company culture that not only embraces some of the ideals pioneered in the past few years, but encourages balance as well. People shouldn't regard their jobs with dread or dullness. But they also shouldn't fall in love with their jobs; that level of personal investment isn't healthy.
There's also an opportunity for a new kind of modesty. People have to realize that attributes that we consider virtuous in our business culture often come across as arrogant elsewhere. In the future, I hope our behavior is more sensitive to how cultural ideas translate around the world. Ultimately, any crisis or setback should be regarded as an opportunity to build in completely innovative ways, rather than simply to shore up and bolster the old -- even if the old was meant to represent entirely new ways of working.
Andrew Ross (andrew.ross@nyu.edu) is on sabbatical from New York University. He is conducting an ethnography of Silicon Alley workplace culture. Ross is the author of several books, including The Celebration Chronicles: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Property Value in Disney's New Town (Ballantine, 1999).
Chairman and CEO > Akamai Technologies Inc. > Cambridge, Massachusetts
It turns out that Internet mania served a purpose: It scared the hell out of a lot of traditional companies and forced them to pay attention to the impacts of digital technology. The dotcom craze was a bunch of hype that encouraged real change.
Today, big traditional companies don't worry about startups who claim that they're going to change the world. But they do worry about other big traditional competitors with great e-commerce capabilities. I'm excited that good old-fashioned enterprises are adopting the Internet to run their operations cheaper, faster, and better -- to make dramatic change.
The impact of that change has nothing to do with technology, though. It's about relationships. Big companies are turning in part to the Internet because of its emerging standards for data and its ubiquitous connectivity. They are working to create platforms for truly rich information exchange -- anytime, anywhere. When you have that, you can drive deeper relationships with customers, business partners, and suppliers. In a ferociously competitive environment, success comes down to relationships.
George Conrades (conrades@akamai.com) became chairman and CEO of Akamai Technologies Inc. in April 1999. He also serves as a venture partner at Polaris Venture Partners. Prior to joining Polaris, he was a GTE executive vice president and president of GTE Internetworking, following the company's acquisition of BBN Corp., where he served as CEO.
Email
Digg
StumbleUpon
Facebook
Buzz Up!
LinkedIn
