Technology As Innovator

Putting invention(s) to practice

Re-organization: costs and risks

Origins of Innovation

Supply-pushed Manufacturer Innovation

Formal R&D

Management Innovation

Demand-led End-user Innovation

Technology As Innovator

Technology creates value

When the old economy has been saturated, technology comes in place

A Commitment

Bridging technology and business

Now this is a well-known time management matrix many people use to manage their daily tasks.

	Urgent	Not Urgent
Important	Crises Pressing problems Deadlines	Prevention Capability Enhancement Relationship Building Recognizing Opportunities Planning
Not Important	Interruptions, some calls Some emails, some reports Some meetings	Trivia Some emails Some phone calls Some chats Time wasters

***

Using this table, the first step many people take would likely be neglecting Not-Important trivia and spending efforts on Important-Urgent matters. And so these matters grow. The problems get bigger and bigger and all energy will be used to manage problems and deadlines.

	Urgent	Not Urgent
Important	Crises management Problems management Deadlines management
Not Important

***

How about Important but Not-Urgent endeavors?

They may never get done since Important-Urgent are consuming all the time and energy.

But it’s Important + Non-Urgent matters that make the difference. They are usually long-term vision, planning, expectation management, capabilities enhancement, maintenance and opportunity realization.

	Urgent	Not Urgent
Important		Vision Planning Expectation management Capabilities enhancement Maintenance Opportunity realization
Not Important

Focusing on Important + Non-Urgent issues is opportunity-minded, more than sheer problem-solving-minded.

***

How to focus on Important and Non-Urgent matters

Neglecting Non-Important requires some techniques:

• Say ‘No’ to trivia
• Tell the phone caller you’re busy and will call back
• Check emails at fixed times and solve all unread emails all at once. Of course, in some conditions you’re required to open email application but if not, consider not letting it disturb your concentration

But then to avoid falling into pressing matters and to focus on Important but Non-Urgent matters requires more than techniques.

It requires vision, imagination, desire, discipline, commitment, and balance.

Vision

You need to have clear visions of your life. Where do you see yourself in 3 years, 5 years, 10 years, 20 years, at 60, till the rest of your life?

Many industries change dramatically, but organization doesn’t change that much. Societies evolve rapidly, but many social values don’t change as fast.

Have your vision.

Because without visions it’s easy to get lost in circles of life and even trapped in your own decisions.

Imagination

To be able to build visions, imagination is crucial. You can imagine how and what you will be doing towards your goals of life. Then how and what you will be doing after accomplishing certain milestones of your life.

Desire

Have had a vision? Desire it with all you’ve got. Desire is different from greed.

Desiring a vision keeps you on-track and over temptations on the way.

Discipline

Following a vision requires high discipline. Almost no one but you yourself keep track of your progress, so fit yourself in your schedule.

A plan without deadlines is no plan.

Commitment

Even higher than discipline, it requires commitment. Commitment to your vision, your values, your goals, your targets. Commitment to what’re truly important to you in the long run.

Balance

Persistently following a vision is painful and it’s easy to be off-tracked or lured by temptations.

Mental and physical balance should be met for you to always focus.

***

On Organization level

I’ve discussed leadership and capability development on individual (or personal) level.

The same principles apply for organizational leadership.

Leadership is different from management is that leadership points out the direction and builds up long-term capabilities to reach the goals.

Spending efforts on strategic planning, developing capabilities reduces risks and put crises under control.

Take one example in Human Resource. It’s wise to develop some practices:

• Develop the skills of resources, both for immediate tasks and long-term development business needs
• Encourage self-learning
• Backup and rotate resources
• Utilize the right person with the right skill for the right job

***

Conclusion

This articles encourages shifting the focus from Urgency to Importance which, if done, can create positive energy in your life and/or your organization.

The Word form English lesson

English is not my native language, so I learn it my whole life.

From the lesson of word form, I learned that

• Verb is the most effective form
• Noun and noun phrase come next
• Adjective is less direct

For example:

• “The Beatles influenced many subsequent rock bands.” is more effective than
• “The Beatles was an influence on many subsequent rock bands.” which in turn is more effective than
• “The Beatles was influential on many subsequent rock bands.”

In a grammar test, the using of word form should be considered for effectiveness of the options given. Noun form, though commonly used, must give way to its verb counterpart in these test of standard.

How Verb is stronger

Maybe more than once you have heard a complaint about life. “My life has not been good lately…” and such. The fact is, these people may forget that they Live their Lives: they do their jobs, perform their roles, fulfill their missions. Their Lives are shaped by these actions. Reactive people accept the conditions placed upon them. Proactive ones, on the other hand, seize opportunities from challenges, and set things right.

The root is Live (verb). Life (the noun) is the product of the Action.

So if one takes the responsibility to Do and focuses more on Verb side, s/he is getting stronger toward achieving effectiveness.

Mapping to individuals

From the core inside, it’s what we Do (Verb) that shape our character. We commit, we response, we empathize, we love.

Character is reflected on the surface as personality by Nouns. We have commitment, responsibility, empathy, love.

Outermost is the interpersonal level, where we are usually described by others as committed, responsible, empathetic, lovable.

In conclusion, the root of all is what we take the responsibility to act upon.