Monday, November 10, 2008

On the Offensive

Why am I not sitting down to write this blog post on a typewriter? Because people like John W. Mauchly envisioned a future of electronic word processing. At a gathering of the American Institute of Industrial Engineers in 1962, Mauchly stated, "There is no reason to suppose the average boy or girl cannot be master of a personal computer." It wasn't until six years later that Hewlett Packard first took the risk of using this term to describe their 9100A.

We are wired to innovate. Culture is wired to progress. There is an innate drive in man to produce, to improve, to outdo himself.
Seth Godin, one of my favorite bloggers, says if we give in to paralysis in the midst of this economic slump, we will only prolong it. If we stop investing in the future, we will find then, and only then, that those who say we're in for a long economic winter were right. If we allow the media to dictate our attitudes -- at this or any time -- we will find ourselves constantly on the defensive.
Don't let the doomsayers dampen your creativity. If there was ever a time for innovation, it is now. Be offensive.

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