Steve Jobs @ Stanford

Steve Jobs, starting Apple at 20 years old in his parent's garage, never graduated from college. His biological parents wanted to give him up for adoption and wanted him to go to an educated family. He was adopted by a mother and father who were not educated. He spent his adopted parents life savings on a college that he soon dropped out of. He scavenged food and seemed more like a bum than a prestigious college student. 

He became fascinated with calligraphy and type fonts. His passion for typography bled over into the then new Macintosh computer. He stated that you cannot connect the dots going forward, but you can going backwards. This idea came as a student who had no insight about what was going to happen in his life. At the age of 30 he was asked to leave Apple as his vision was not seen equally by the Board of Directors. In his rejection he realized how much he was in love with what he did, starting Apple. Through his firing, he moved onto Pixar, which through a joint venture he teamed back up with Apple as the CEO. 

Steve's message was that you need to LOVE what you do. Don't settle at all! If you don't find it, keep looking! Steve makes a good argument that we should all be living each day as though it was our last. I believe that this vision is now realized considering his diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. The Dr. stated that he only had 3-6 months to live. That diagnosis changed when he was told by his doctors that his cancer was treatable.

What I have gleaned from his speech was that we should live an individual life with our own and original thoughts. Don't live someone else's dream. Live your dream to its fullest.

Knowledge Management supports design-driven innovation

How can knowledge management support design-driven innovation? 

Design-driven innovation is often-times discussed in small group or meeting sessions. The idea behind design and innovation is that marketing teams try to brainstorm around a particular group to develop or change a product to meet the groups needs or desires. This type of activity requires meetings where information is passed between the different levels (R&D, marketing, finance, etc). 

In design-thinking there are three levels that the thinking go through: People, Technical and Business. Will it attract to the people, is it technically feasible to produce or design and is it viable to the Business ideas and plans. During the many phases that this thinking will have to go through, knowledge management plays an important role in keeping the information organized and relevant. How information is passed from group to group will determine how the information is perceived. It is often said that perception is 9/10 reality. I believe that to be true. 

 In the many phases of design-driven innovation (Inspiration, Ideation and Implementation) there are knowledge transfers that take place. In those knowledge transfers, the different entities of the business design phase work together to share knowledge that they each have in their area of expertise. Without a strong knowledge management framework, the different entities can get lost in their idea. Tim stated in his speech that if a company spent 6 months and 1 million dollars on each different idea that their design team had, they would a. never get anything done and b. be broke and have to cease business. What's the point right? 

In my field, knowledge transfer is how things are organized and how different teams are brought to the same level of thinking. There are many expertise that exist and not all people are masters at everything. Typically we wear many hats and are considered specialists in the field that we choose. There has to be an equal sharing of knowledge for all groups to mesh and co-exist in the business world. 

Real-Life Neural Network

A neural network is the combination of artificial intelligence and the knowledge of biological neuron-based networks to create a software/hardware tool to create a specific output or function. A good example of this would be the new Geminoid project. They have created an AI robot that simulates human body patterns (blinking, smiling and breathing). http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/03/07/creepiest-realistic-robot/?test=faces. Another definition of a neural network is to mimic human/animal patterns. This project will allow humans to simulate human activity without having to use a human life to make it. This could be used in things like police work or other situations that require a human life-form to solve an issue. I believe that while programming this AI robot to mimic human activity, they will stumble upon anomalies that might parallel human anomalies. AI projects typically use mathematical computations and algorithms to achieve what a biological neural network achieve in the human body. 

There are many more examples of AI in the software realm. Packages like Neuronet use software-based models and require input/data to compute to achieve an optimal result. This software can take decision-making happen in a nano-second rather than in minutes. Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) take inputs and filter them through a trigger that contains thresholds to obtain an optimal result. ANN works just like a BBN (Biological Neural Network) in that certain inputs will create an output based on certain parameters. The big difference is that our BNN is created by God where ANN is created by humans, by God.

Assignment # 7 - No Harmony | All Fluxed Up!

Blog Assignment #7 (Due: Mar 23 11:59 pm): Read a chapter in the e-book entitled 10 radical strategies for the new economy. Post a blog to discuss how the topic is related to knowledge management.

The idea that there is no harmony in the world is kind of hard to grasp at first glance, because we all want to believe that everything we do is in balance with other things that happen, so that things just "balance out". In a business world, the idea of balancing, or equilibrium is O.K. if thought of in context with financial balancing of things. The idea that Kevin Kelly pushes in Chapter 8 is that when there is equilibrium, there is not enough flux. Flux is described as a necessary evil to keep enough disequilibrium in between chaos and order. When a company treads in the thin area known as flux, they tend to have just enough balance of order and chaos to perform well. 

The idea of chasing after innovation is sparked from the idea of keeping enough disruption in your flow without being swallowed by the entire field of disruption. It's kind of like when you take a leap of faith to start your own venture. At this point, you are deciding to step out of your comfort zone, into the realm of the unknown, in hopes to achieve a better future. Hopefully you step into just the right amount of disruption, aka risk, to launch your venture. Sometimes, the amount of risk taken can end up being the demise of your dream. I believe the housing market has exemplified this very idea of getting too far outside of the flux zone and was swallowed by the disruption of the market.

The flip-side to running after disruption is to make sure that you don't force the seeking of disruption out of your business. Muting the chase after disruption will inevitably result in an atmosphere of conservative and non-risky business that will, in theory, keep growth and expansion from happening. I believe that this theory is a little far-fetched and the reality is that whatever path you take, totally conservative, or living on the edge, you have just as much risk as failing and just as much opportunity to be successful. Success is really just achieving what your personal definition of success is, not what the world paints as success.  

Blog Assignment 6: Discuss the implication(s) of the notion of flat world for knowledge-based companies.

Blog Assignment 6: Discuss the implication(s) of the notion of flat world for knowledge-based companies. 

 Thomas Friedman makes good arguments that our world is shifting from being a "round" world to a "flat" world. I see a round world as a world separated by differences in terrain, cultures and the way we handle day-to-day life. In a flat world, we all share common practices, technologies and even ways we communicate. This idea of flattening has been happening since the 1400's according to Friedman. Starting in the first era 1.0 lasted from the 1400's to the 1800's. In this era, he states that by countries globalizing, we flattened the world from a Large to a Medium. Era 2.0 1800's to 2000. He theorizes that we've gone from a Medium to a Small. This shrinking happened through companies. I believe that communication and networking advances allowed companies to reach a global market, which has aided in flattening the global playing field. 

It is apparent that the flattening of the world can be credited to the networking technologies provided by Internet Service Providers and master-minds like Mark Zuckerberg. Friedman states that the world has been flattened through countries, then to businesses, next to people. If we think about how that was made possible, countries were able to globalize by the advances in transportation (flight, cars, buggies, ships, etc), then businesses were able to globalize in a .com environment, now individuals are globalizing by communicating with interfaces such as FaceBook, Skype, Fling, Qik, FaceTime, etc. There is no longer a separation of the world, as the barriers (physical and non-physical) have been torn down by new capabilities in technology and in transportation.  


I  would venture to say that the trillions of dollars spent on fiber optics should be compared to the transportation era that our country went through. Fiber optics attached countries to countries.....people to people....businesses to businesses. This fiber optics technology has opened channels and methods of communication that enable our world to become flattened and unified. I have to say that the idea that UPS is not only handling logistics, but is also in the business of distribution, order filling, IT systems repair sounds totally crazy. I've never heard that Nike has distribution centers managed by UPS staff. I've also never heard of Toshiba using UPS as a repair center. It's hard to believe, but I would definitely expect it in the global and fast-paced market we live in.

Edit - 

Building the next generation companies: Innovation, talent, and excellence - Cisco CEO

Blog Assignment #5 (Due Feb 23, 11:59 pm): Post a blog to highlight the key points of and lessons learned from this videoed speech.

John Chambers, a man who turned a company making millions into a company making billions, knows what it takes to harvest a group of employees that are fresh and innovative. He focuses on how tools such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and C-Vision are enabling employees to gain leverage in their jobs. This communication enables employees to learn on the fly, as well as communicate important business information while on the go. John stated that internal networks were predicted, seven years ago, to grow by 200%, but explains that due to the advances in web 2.0, networking and hardware, we are able to utilize the network to use those tools. Because of the advances, internal networks have grown to over 600%. 

With Cisco's technology, businesses, government and other large agencies are able to communicate without having to spend money on flights, hotel, etc. Over the years, Cisco's technology has not taken off due to the propriety of the technology. In today's standard, they have adapted to multiple vendors that run multiple codecs. This change in standards has enabled Cisco's products to integrate wholly with other systems. With Cisco's product innovation, doctors are now able to perform surgeries "live" via webcast. Along those same lines, any user at home can perform tasks via their broadband connections (how-to vids, performances, etc.).

It is apparent that pushing to a global economy has tipped John into performing in the billions rather than millions. His association with China and Jordan has given the business more profit than ever imagined. 

The ideology behind video over network has been a game-changer for years. The only hindrance has been bandwidth issues. With the new web environments, faster hardware and faster network speeds, Cisco's products become more realistic to be used in not only business but personal settings. Having the hardware and framework in place, Cisco will create ideas in people's minds that help push the vision of the company to the next level. 

Blog Assignment #4 (Due: Feb 16, 11:59 pm): Discuss how the knowledge spiral framework interpret the knowledge creation activities in Nucor Steel.

Nucor Steel - Knowledge Creation

Nucor Steel stands out as a business that harbors internal knowledge through the method of "socialization" model integration. Because Nucor only has a few layers of management before getting to the general population of employees, tacit knowledge is able to be easily distributed throughout the organization. Their business philosophy is thought to be very simplistic, which therefore makes their method of learning and management very effective. Along with learning, Nucor believes in fair treatment of their employees. This is backed by company surveys, meetings and social events.

When organizing a spiral model into a business, you can choose from multiple methods; learning and knowledge through guides and manuals, demonstration, or even new methods such as e-learning. Nucor has chosen the model that emphasizes learning from each other. In this environment, when learning from each other is key to productivity, employees tend to want to work more and learn with each other. Nucor wraps productivity and learning into their bonus pay structure. With this bonus structure, employees are paid based on a set amount of production. Also, if an employee misses a day during a regular work week, they will miss out on their entire bonus for that week.

Tacit knowledge is not something that is easily learned, or can be taught directly from a book. This type of knowledge is acquired through life experiences, relationships, and an understanding of the business you work in. This type of knowledge comes as "intuitions, hunches or insights". These types if intuitions come from being influenced and being a part of a business process for a long period of time. Nucor Steel creates an environment with their management and their employees that allows for the sharing of tacit knowledge to achieve the best performance possible. This knowledge comes in in two flavors: Technical and Cognitive: Technical tacit knowledge points to skills that someone has crafted through external and internal education. Cognitive comes from a life-long pursuit of personal feelings, values, ideals and other personal motivating factors. This formal tacit knowledge comes together and enables employees and management to work closely together to achieve greater results.

The management level monetary incentive is based heavily on their team's production. This keeps management responsible for their employees, which creates a spiral effect that encourages cooperation from the top-down. After reading a couple of articles about Nucor Steel, it is very obvious that their primary focus, which drives the company, is a passion for money. Their base salaries, across the board, are lower than most places, but their bonus structure is set up so that they have a potential to make more than they ever could at any other place. It is also known that if the employees prove themselves with production, that they will never have to worry about a job. This is backed up by the simple fact that they have not laid off an employee in over 25 years.

In closing, I believe that if you run a business with a pay structure and a simple step layer of management, that you will create an environment that will easily support the knowledge spiral framework of sharing tacit knowledge, creating concepts, justifying concepts, building an archetype and cross-leveling knowledge. These steps create the internalization of a combination of social (internal) and external skills and ideals that create a powerful synergy within a company.