This is a long read but a good one. I think this is a great example of executive communication that reaches across management, engineers, and other individual contributors. I particularly like at the end of the interview in which Mr. Provoost explains simply how beans and innovation are connected.
My thoughts on this … well first off all, I’m anxious to see what’s new in lighting. I have seen the slow emergence of LED over the past couple of years, but nothing big at the Home Depot yet. Like everyone (and every company), I’m looking for any manner to decrease my electricity bill. I’m also encouraged with this CEO’s positive thoughts about innovating in the midst of a recession. Yes, I agree, being squeezed to optimize can drive innovation. I really like the idea of adversity being inspiration. Anyhow, give this a read and feel good about innovation and get excited about lighting.
Indra Nooyi, the CEO of PepsiCo, is on the cover of the lastest issue of Fortune magazine. Here’s the first page of the write-up. A link at the bottom will take you to the rest of the article. Enjoy!
Here’s an excellent article from AOL Auto. Although it talks about gender based design in terms of automobiles, I think they are some basic design philosophies that carry across all markets. In particular, I think that attention to detail and how a product is going to be used in everyday are of importance beyond pure “specsmanship”.
Here is an interview with Google’s CIO, Douglas Merrill. What’s interesting in the interview is that Google’s IT is decentralized and that a lot support is left up to the employees. At first it sounded to me like Google was kinda loosey-goosey on the software it allows it’s employees to use, but a upon reading the details given, it sounds like many other companies they have restrictions around what software employees are allowed to use and they they are very cost concious about software too — sometimes opting for the personal versions of software rather than the corporate or industrial versions. In all, I was expecting to read that Google handled its IT radically, but I didn’t get that impression from this interview. Consequently, I came away from reading this a little disappointed.
More Rambling 