Hey folks! So, I am back after a long recess! Thanks to cable cuts in southern Bangalore, followed by a natural amount of procrastination on my part. My ISP claims to have upgraded its technology from 'cut-prone' copper cables to hi-tech optic fibres. I hope that'll give me one less excuse the next time I manage to hibernate away from blogging :) Talking about technology, my mind wanders back across the globe to sunny California, and to Stanford in particular.
Apart from the unbeatable weather and a loveable campus (which I still place first!) Stanford reminds me of a rich technology culture that has played an important role in making the GDP of California alone larger than about 300 other countries in the world. This piece of statistics had more impulse in it than was required to make me curious of how 'they' did it!
The gateway to my exploration of 'their' secret was pretty much defined by two pieces of sensory perception. One was the image of a computer server made from Lego blocks placed down in a basement and the other; a phrase that sounded 'Stay hungry, stay foolish!'. These link to two of the most influential and successful technological ventures of our time. The colors of those Lego blocks picked up by Larry Page and Sergey Brin make way to billions of people around the world today through www.google.com! And the loud and vibrant phrase came from the man behind the iMac, the iPod, and now, the iPhone: Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple Inc.
Apart from the fact that both Google and Apple started off in some small garage in northern California and now are worth several billions of dollars, one would find it intriguing to find too many similarities in their character. The characters of these giants are can be largely attributed to the the way the founders themselves think of the trade. As it always is, one would find the human mind dynamics involved more interesting than anything!
The 'Google Boys'(or the 'Boys') and 'Jobs' come from two different parts of the game. The Boys came up with a rare piece of human intelligence (the PageRank algorithm) and implemented it as one of the most sophisticated code for searching the web. Jobs, on the other hand, never wrote a single line of code! The Boys got their piece of fun by making the number of shares in their IPO represent the first 10 digits of the irrational number 'Pi' while Jobs got his kicks from being 'the boss' of the organisation. The Boys want their employees to use 20% of the week on their 'own interests' while Jobs considered anybody working less than 90hrs a week as a slacker! Jobs had the business mettle to get John Sculley stop selling Pepsi and work for Apple while the Boys had to be compelled by their venture capitalists to get Eric Schmidt as the CEO. The Boys always believe in 'Don't do Evil' while Jobs managed to stage a couple of coups against Sculley later when he thought Sculley didn't 'get it'!
The bipolar anecdotes could go on and on but the point which remains at the bottomline is that both the Boys and Jobs are highly successful, rich men; with a vision in life. They are people who have proved their worth to the world and to themselves. Finally, it's all about knowing where you want to go!
Apart from the unbeatable weather and a loveable campus (which I still place first!) Stanford reminds me of a rich technology culture that has played an important role in making the GDP of California alone larger than about 300 other countries in the world. This piece of statistics had more impulse in it than was required to make me curious of how 'they' did it!
The gateway to my exploration of 'their' secret was pretty much defined by two pieces of sensory perception. One was the image of a computer server made from Lego blocks placed down in a basement and the other; a phrase that sounded 'Stay hungry, stay foolish!'. These link to two of the most influential and successful technological ventures of our time. The colors of those Lego blocks picked up by Larry Page and Sergey Brin make way to billions of people around the world today through www.google.com! And the loud and vibrant phrase came from the man behind the iMac, the iPod, and now, the iPhone: Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple Inc.
Apart from the fact that both Google and Apple started off in some small garage in northern California and now are worth several billions of dollars, one would find it intriguing to find too many similarities in their character. The characters of these giants are can be largely attributed to the the way the founders themselves think of the trade. As it always is, one would find the human mind dynamics involved more interesting than anything!
The 'Google Boys'(or the 'Boys') and 'Jobs' come from two different parts of the game. The Boys came up with a rare piece of human intelligence (the PageRank algorithm) and implemented it as one of the most sophisticated code for searching the web. Jobs, on the other hand, never wrote a single line of code! The Boys got their piece of fun by making the number of shares in their IPO represent the first 10 digits of the irrational number 'Pi' while Jobs got his kicks from being 'the boss' of the organisation. The Boys want their employees to use 20% of the week on their 'own interests' while Jobs considered anybody working less than 90hrs a week as a slacker! Jobs had the business mettle to get John Sculley stop selling Pepsi and work for Apple while the Boys had to be compelled by their venture capitalists to get Eric Schmidt as the CEO. The Boys always believe in 'Don't do Evil' while Jobs managed to stage a couple of coups against Sculley later when he thought Sculley didn't 'get it'!
The bipolar anecdotes could go on and on but the point which remains at the bottomline is that both the Boys and Jobs are highly successful, rich men; with a vision in life. They are people who have proved their worth to the world and to themselves. Finally, it's all about knowing where you want to go!
2 comments:
hmmmm.... that last line strikes especially true... an inner drive can take you ANYWHERE... But its always the success stories that get elaborated on and told and retold. What makes "rich vibrant" campuses like the one you are talking about is probably also the fact that the rank and file of its inhabitants are all excelling in their own ways in their own fields... sounds like another place YOU went to??? ....
...
btw... dissappointed in your language after the first two stellar efforts... some things apparently dont age as gratefully as wine ;)
Hmm... Good !! really good... I liked the way you write...
I was expecting something different (on the other side) when I read two sides though...
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