Reasons To Keep An Open Mind...

"Man will never reach the moon regardless of all future scientific advances."
-- Dr. Lee DeForest, "Father of Radio & Grandfather of Television."

"The bomb will never go off. I speak as an expert in explosives."
- - Admiral William Leahy , US Atomic Bomb Project

"There is no likelihood man can ever tap the power of the atom."
-- Robert Millikan, Nobel Prize in Physics, 1923

"Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons."
-- Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."
-- Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943

"I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won't last out the year."
--The editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957

"But what is it good for?"
-- Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.

"640K ought to be enough for anybody."
-- Bill Gates, 1981

This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us,"
-- Western Union internal memo, 1876.

"The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?"
-- David Sarnoff's associates, in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s.

"The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a 'C,' the idea must be feasible,"
-- A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith's paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service. (Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.)

"I'm just glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling on his face and not Gary Cooper,"
--Gary Cooper on his decision not to take the leading role in "Gone With The Wind."

"A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say America  likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like you make,"
-- Response to Debbi Fields' idea of starting Mrs. Fields' Cookies.

"We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out,"
-- Decca Recording Co. Rejecting the Beatles, 1962.

"Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible,"
-- Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895.

"If I had thought about it, I wouldn't have done the experiment. The literature was full of examples that said you can't do this,"
- - Spencer Silver on the work that led to the unique adhesives for 3-M "Post-It" Notepads

"Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You're crazy,"
-- Drillers who Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist to his project to drill for oil in 1859.

"Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau."
-- Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University  , 1929.

"Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value,"
-- Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre, France  .

"Everything that can be invented has been invented,"
-- Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, US Office of Patents, 1899.

"The super computer is technologically impossible. It would take all of the water that flows over Niagara Falls to cool the heat generated by the number of vacuum tubes required."
-- Professor of Electrical Engineering,  New York   University

"I don't know what use any one could find for a machine that would make copies of documents. It certainly couldn't be a feasible business by itself."
-- the head of IBM, refusing to back the idea, forcing the inventor to found Xerox.

"Louis Pasteur's theory of germs is ridiculous fiction."
-- Pierre Pachet, Professor of Physiology at  Toulouse  , 1872

"The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will forever be shut from the intrusion of the wise and humane surgeon,"
-- Sir John Eric Ericksen, British surgeon, appointed Surgeon-Extraordinary to Queen  Victoria  1873.

And last but not least...

"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."
-- Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977

Sometimes prophetic utterances by people in high places are unbelievable in their silliness.  Especially when we are still around to see the outcome of the new technology.

Mel

Smarts In Business - Is Not About IQ

This story appears in the December 16, 2013 issue of Forbes. 

When academics use the word “smarts,” they usually mean general intelligence, or “g” for short. This is the ability to learn, think and apply. For decades scientists have sought to measure g by using IQ and similar cognitive tests. But smarts is something different in the real world. It isn’t defined by 800 math SATs. It’s more about the importance of hard work, perseverance and resilience:

•  Call it grit. 
•  Call it courage. 
•  Call it tenacity. 
•  Because these are old-fashioned concepts, they’re easy to miss. 

In business the questions are: Who can get things done? Who can achieve, endure and succeed? The oil wildcatter in North Dakota or the top insurance salesman in Kansas City may not be a mathematical genius like Google's GOOG +0.32% Sergey Brin, but they’re both wily, clever and capable. They’ll survive good times and bad. They’ll adapt to changing markets and win more than they lose.

While discussing smarts, CEO Tom Georgens of NetApp NTAP -0.95%, the $6.3 billion data storage company, made a very interesting observation: “I know this irritates a lot of people, but once someone is at a certain point in his or her career–and it’s not that far out, maybe five years–all the grades and academic credentials in the world don’t mean anything anymore. It’s all about accomplishment from that point on.” About his own hires, Georgens offered, “I don’t even know where some members of my staff went to college or what they studied.” To him and other CEOs, at a certain point it just doesn’t matter anymore. 

Taking the idea in a more entrepreneurial direction, Greg Becker, CEO of Silicon Valley Bank, told me, “Some of the better venture capital firms that I know want people who are scrappy, who have been through trials and tribulations. These people will figure out a way to make it work, no matter what.”

Maynard Webb, chairman of Yahoo's YHOO - 0.25% board of directors and a board member of Salesforce.com CRM +0.97%, added, “What I’m looking for is talent. But talent isn’t just intellect. Talent is also what you’ve done. If you’re an entrepreneur trying to break through, it’s hard work. You have to be tough, you have to be willing to take lots of body blows. So I’m looking for that grit factor.”

This should be good news for most of us. We’re not limited or defined by the IQ we’ve inherited. Much of what makes us real-world smart comes from what we’ve learned–usually the hard way. Academics will say those things don’t technically define smarts. Fair enough. Effort and tenacity don’t directly align with the scientific definition of intelligence. But before dismissing this column’s definition of smarts, let me show you how grit leads directly to becoming smarter. This happens because grit results in an increased ability to learn more and adapt faster.

GRIT CREATES SMARTS 
 From the prenatal period to the end of our lives what shapes the neural circuits underlying our behavior is experience. This can include such uncontrollable influences as adversity, as well as such intentional influences as learning and training. The human brain displays amazing plasticity–the ability to modify neural connectivity and function–even into our 70s.

The smartest people in business are not those who have the highest g; they are those who regularly put themselves in situations requiring grit. These acts of courage accelerate learning through adaptation. For example, salespeople who make more calls will almost always outperform salespeople who make fewer calls.

That’s no surprise, but here’s the key point: This doesn’t happen just because the act of making more calls mathematically raises the chances of success.

There’s much more to it. By facing up to the task of making a call, frequent callers:

• Put themselves on a faster learning curve. 
• They discover more rapidly what works and what doesn’t. 
• They’re quicker to learn techniques that overcome rejection. 
• Thus, their success yield will improve– i.e., double the calls, triple the sales. 
• The act of making lots of calls also helps a person learn self-discipline and understand the rewards of delayed gratification. 

In the real world its grit that makes us smart. My daughter was home from college and we were talking about her grades. Her GPA was 3.4 and I told her that that was about what I had when I went to college, but it took me 3 years to get it that high. She said, “Dad, it is an average grade, it is not cumulative!” You would think someone would have mentioned that when I started.

Thank heaven you do not have to have a high GPA to be successful in business.  This is an excellent article that talks about Real Grit and what it takes to be successful.  I thought the comment from one of the presidents was interesting.  He did not know what most of his people majored in college.  Their life experiences and business smarts was what he was interested in seeing in his people.

Mel

Sale Pro Edumacation

 My thanks to David Parks, for forwarding this piece to me for the SP Web Site.