Since my book came out, I have been blessed with an unbelievable range of feedback – from readers I have known for a while, others i have never met, and those I have been meeting on the book tour. To most it is about how technology is changing business but to many it is about a rethink of personal priorities and to many others it is about revisiting various ethical issues around technology.
I invited a few to express their big “aha” from the book. The first 2 batches of contributors with links to their websites/LinkedIn pages are here and here. Here’s the third batch:
“The book reads like a rally cry to those who want to see and do more and who believe that there's always another better way. The profiles in the book reveal an intrinsic belief that people and the things they make are connected and create value across all sectors. There is a common understanding in business that good businesses make good profit. The book adds another dimension - it is clearly excited about the prospect of adding "doing good" to this adage, that the time is right to offer more than just product and service in both B2B and B2C. It is an earnest search to find polymath principles in the oldest curmudgeony sector of life, the corporate world.
The GE profile in the book highlights the Agile movement used in parts of the company. The profile on Kleiner Perkins Cleantech (with the topic a hotbed of discussion unto itself) speaks more broadly to the impact of the polymath concept where profitably opportunity meets political and social agendas. In the chapter "Human-Machine Convergence," the blurred boundaries of tech, business and ever day life speak to a future that is already here.
In particular, the sub-chapter on Google's Flu Trends webpage which tracks the relationship between "flu" search results and actual cases of the flu. The study revealed a remarkable correlation and helped hospitals to predict outbreaks and hot spots - this polymath use-case seems like something out of science fiction, only it's here today, and it's up to us to harness it and do better.’
Tom Chimera, USA
“Even though I had become severely detached from today’s tech world, having retired from my own accounting business two and one-half years ago - cloud computing, Customer Resource Management, healthtech, greentech, outsourcing, offshoring, and most of the rest were recognized terms. All but one of the case study companies were familiar names. What was new was to read about the colossal waste and inefficiency in the implementation of and operation of technology attributed too much of the business world. Not that waste in business per se was new to me, as I used to recover wasted assets for companies, but the established, institutionalized waste Vinnie cited is unconscionable. If you have ever run a small business with your own money, you understand it is different than spending OPM.
What I found to be the next amazing revelation, once Vinnie put it into context, is the disparity between R&D spending averaging less than 7% of sales and SG & A spending ranging between 30-50% of sales. Ponder that for a moment and you get the feeling that a company’s number one priority is like the federal government, in the business of simply perpetuating themselves, instead of maximizing evolution. Mind boggling! Vinnie shines bright sunlight on some of the problems and dark creatures standing in the way of improving. He’s not saying it is easy, but he is saying it is doable through greater understanding and effort. The New Polymath is not a check-off list for completion, but clues for the journey to find the right path. Lead on Vinnie!”
“The book's overall optimistic attitude (the AND not OR attitude that everything is possible) and what you can achieve when you break down silos and barriers to innovation and collaboration is inspiring! The opportunities are truly out there for all to grasp. However, I think the book underestimates the hurdles the polymaths have overcome to succeed in breaking down the silos.
I enjoyed the multidisciplinary focus of the book which appears to have been lost in society today. I also enjoyed the dinner scene which brought with all the famous Renaissance Men together – it highlights the fact that innovation has been going on for a long long time. Sometimes you might think that we are living in the most dynamic age of all times and while I think we definitely are living in one of history's most exciting times, just look at what happened in the last century with the widespread use of electricity, radio, tv, airplanes etc. If we could invent all of this without today's collaboration tools, think of the what may be possible with the polymaths the year of 2110.
Being in the software industry, professionally the chapter on clouds is particularly relevant. I found myself, though, how to avoid the lock in effect for customers using proprietary platforms such as Force.com, which in practice makes it difficult to change to another vendor, even though it's cloud based. I wonder about the future of Open Source in the cloud.”
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