Extracts from ‘Great Expectations Essay

The extracts I will be analysing are from the novel Great Expectations written by Charles Dickens. I am going to be describing how Dickens has succeeded in making the reader feel sorry for Pip. Dickens used his own experiences as a boy to help him write sympathetically of being a young child, his family had no money and got transferred from city to city until he was ten years old, his father was also sent to prison for six months over debt. He based the character Pip in remembrance of himself as a child, writing about his own thoughts and feelings to help himself create more sympathy for Pip. Pips given name was Philip Pirrip, as he was so young he couldnt pronounce his complicated name correctly, so he shortened it and named himself Pip. Pip was very imaginative as a young boy, he lived nearby to a graveyard and there wasnt many other people about, so Pip was alone and lonely a lot because he couldnt make friends with anyone. During the first extract we get to see that Pip is an orphan after he says: As I never saw my father or my mother.. (for their days were long before the days of photographs), we recognise that he unfortunately lost both his mother and father along with five brothers he once had, who passed away whilst they were still infants. The only family Pip had, was his older sister Mrs Joe Gargery and her husband who was a Blacksmith. He had lived with them both for most of his life, his sister treats him dreadfully as all she sees Pip as is a waste of space in her household. Whilst her husband – Joe Gargery, treats Pip like he was his own flesh and blood. We now get the chance to begin to see the hard and upsetting life Pip leads and what he has gone through in the past. We start to feel sympathy for Pip, as not many children would have to go through the same experience as he once did. Where he lived was neither such a nice place to be around, nor one of the friendliest places to live either. Pip describes the village he lived in as a marsh country down by the river, also remarking how the churchyard nearby to his home is full of over grown nettles and also bleak. The small bundle of shivers growing afraid of it all, and beginning to cry was Pip, from what we are told of the surroundings and atmosphere where he lives, it all seems  like a gloomy, upsetting place to be around. Also, it sounds as if it were to be constantly dim and discoloured, somewhere were no soul would choose to be, whilst the marsh country is similarly being described with the colours black and red included symbolising things such as death. Dickens used a technique called imagery making us think about how unfortunate Pip is to have to live there, and that it would make you feel depressed and slightly unwanted as you would have no friends, if you were to live there too. Pip sneaks out of his house in the early hours of the morning to visit his mother and fathers grave when he comes across Magwitch who approaches him fiercely. We begin to get the impression of how scared Pip may have been, as he starts to gently cry after he pleaded to Magwitch:Oh! Dont cut my throat sir. Whilst Magwitch was threatening to do so, dressed in:All coarse grey, with a great iron on his leg. A man with no hat and with broken shoes, and with an old rag tied around his headAfter Pip had seen this man who turns out to be and escaped prisoner he knows nothing of, dressing in such clothes, I am sure just the view of him would have scared him, even before Magwitch chose to threaten him once again, asking him to; fetch him some wittle and a file. Wittle was a word used as colloquial which the people of those days would have said, which simply meant; food. Magwitch wanted a file to help him file off the chains left around his ankle. If Pip didnt fetch Magwitch what he had requested, he furiously and vigorously told Pip:If you fail or go by my words in any partickler, no matter how small it is, your heart and live shall be tore out, roasted and ate. Magwitch tried to kid Pip into believing that if he didnt do as he pleaded, a different man he had not seen, would come and find him a nd no matter were he hid, he would be able to get to him. Although this man he speaks of did not exist, Pip was only young so he didnt know any better than to believe the words that came form Magwitchs mouth. Yet, the thoughts Pip must have had running through his head at this moment in time must have been horrific, seeing as Pip was so much more than just imaginative and always thought of the worse scenario possible, making things even harder for himself of what would have happened if he didnt do as he were told. At this moment in time we begin to feel enormously sorry for Pip,  after we get to see what Magwitch put him through just to get his own way. As Magwitch would have known, the younger he was the easier he was to fool over this imaginary man he had told him of. As a result he was proved right, when Pip then brought himself back to the churchyard the following morning with the goods Magwitch insisted he brought. After this extract the reader is affected with thoughts of what Pip went through after meeting the prisoner and after being viscously threatened by him. Dickens wrote this effectively for the reader to feel sympathy for Pip affectionately, also to create an image of what was going on in more detail, than if Dickens didnt put so much effort into making it much more intense. Dickens uses descriptive language to add life to the characters and tell us more about them. For example Magwitchs character uses a lot of dialect such as: Who dyou live with – supposing youre kindly let to live, which I hant made up my mind about? this suggests that Magwitch is a scruffy, common character. Dickens has wrote Magwitchs character to be phonetic, this also gives a comic edge to the convicts character. Whilst Miss Havisham doesnt have a personal dialect although her speech is very prosperous and well spoken: You are not afraid of a woman who has not seen the light since you were born?. This also brings the point across of how she hasnt left the chair she is sitting in since her wedding day, which never went forward. In the second extract Pip is asked to visit Miss Havisham, after she remarked how she would like Estella to play with Pip. Pip was worried at what she would think of him as he had never met this woman before. When we see Pips facial expressions after his first glimpse of Miss Havisham, we start to feel sympathy for him as she was dressed in a wedding dress still from the day she was supposed to get married. Pips description of her at this moment is: She was dressed in rich materials — satins, and lace, and silks — all of white. Her shoes were white. And she has a long white veil dependent from her hair Decayed objects. She was sat in a dim room, which she hadnt moved from since her wedding day. You could see from Pips body language and facial expressions that he was  horrified at the sight of her: I regret to state that I was not afraid. Miss Havisham asked if he were somehow frightened of her and he blatantly told the lie that he wasnt, although he regretted it sometime afterwards he was very afraid to admit that he was nervous and scared of her at the time. Estella was Miss Havishams adopted daughter, who was asked to play with Pip and break his heart. After Estella says to Pip: What coarse hands he has!. Pip then changes his mind and wants to become a gentleman instead of a Blacksmith, as she keeps on insulting Pip and denounced him for a labouring boy, we start to feel sorry for him. Whilst Pip thought Estella was a very pretty and proud young lady, she was just in need of breaking his heart as she had been asked to do so. Miss Havisham had power over Pip because she was rich, so he did his best to do as he was told, in dread of what she could have done if he disobeyed her. Towards the end of the second extract, Pip begins to wish he had lead a different life and blames Joe Gargery for his upbringing: I wished Joe had been rather more genteelly brought up, and then I should have been so too. This is a turning point for Pip whilst he also blames Joe for teaching him to call the picture-cards jacks, instead of knaves in a pack of cards, because Estella had laughed at him for calling them jacks. Again we begin to feel sympathy for Pip for the way Estella treats him, because he is a: Common labouring-boy! as she describes him. We especially feel sorry for him when Miss Havisham tells Pip he may not say anything of Estella. She also repeats her words: She says many hard things of you, but you say nothing of her. This shows the reader how harsh Miss Havisham is towards Pip, further on in the extract we see that Miss Havisham treats Pip even more harsh, just to hurt his feelings and make him wish he was a different boy. Overall I think Dickens was successful, as my response being the reader I thought that it was very touching and I easily felt sympathy for Pip throughout both of the extracts. I personally think that it is important to be able to feel sympathy for Pip in the first extract, as it then helps us feel sympathy whilst he visits Miss Havisham later on in the novel in the second extract. After we see that Pip doesnt have much of a family and that  he is horrified of doing anything wrong, just because of the circumstances which would have occurred by his sister or even Magwitch it makes us feel more sympathy towards the end while Miss Havisham and Estella try and mess up his mind and upset him.

I Want to Be a Nurse Essay

Writing assessment Empire college offers a unique learning environment for the busy learner who may be juggling a number of roles, spouse, parent, manager, entrepreneur, volunteer, caregiver, and more. We offer a flexible learning environment, with individually designed degree programs, and opportunities to study online,face to face, or a combination of the two. In a type essay of no fewer than 300 words, please describe: 1. Your reason for applying to Empire State College. 2. Your personal and professional goals, and what topics or areas you hope to study 3. Your strengths and experiences (educational, employment, community and personal background) that will make you a successful student in our learning environment. MY LIFE STORY Life is a long journey to seek happiness and great joy! Sometimes we can successfully overcome some kind of hardships in life and sometimes we are still struggling and suffering but don’t ever be despondent. No matter how hard it is, as long as you stay persistent and self determined you will overcome those obstacles. There were so many stages on my risky challenge journey to find a happy life! To know who you are you must know where you began. My life starts in a small village in Viet Nam. Despite growing up with a privilege life full of food on the table, a warm bed to sleep in, plenty of toys†¦It is human nature to want what I don’t have-nurturing parents. My parents worked very hard to provide a better life that they never had. I and three of my brothers were grown up with unhappy childhood. We never had time to play with friends, go to the park or even get any gift on our birthday †¦.All of us had to work after school to help my parents earn more money for food and others basic shelters. When I was in the middle school I had to do all of the housework and trading in the market for foods. I believed that is why I am so independent on my life. MY name is â€Å"My† which is often misspelled and misunderstanding. But it carried a full meaning to my parents. First it means beautiful. Second it links to a country â€Å"United State of American†. When I was a kid my parents usually tell me about how wonderful American are which in . Wealthy, Independence and freedom†¦ In 1987 when I was born my parents escaped from Vietnam to United State of American to explore a new life with a standard living but they failed and I was named â€Å"My† to chase my parents dream. I and my Parents had shared about â€Å"American dream† since I was 10 years old. I always dreamed of get out of my small village to fulfill my family dream and make a better life to help my parents who had sacrifice themselves to raise us to become good persons. Even how hard they are we still go through school. I was always study very hard at school and look for a chance to study aboard in the promising land American. Time went by and even how hard my parents and I tried we still could not afford for going aboard. But I still kept thinking about this dream until one day I had got a chance to take risk to work aboard as a technician specialist named Chartered Semiconductor in Singapore. The day I left my country and my family was a gloomiest day that I never forget. I was very excited to explore about Singapore at the first time I came there. I heard that Singapore is a very high standard country. Living and working in this country I don’t have to suffer from any obstacle. But dream is always dream and when I started to work I knew that it is never easy to get what you want without skills and experiences. Things never come the way I expected. It s so much can be say for living and immersing myself in another country and multicultural. I had to face with a lot of horrible experiences at work. Especially it was so difficult for me to adjust to speak Sing-English. Co-worker made fun of my English. I was hurt like a deep wound cut inside. I was cried some nights and even I was mad at myself. But 2 weeks later I told myself not to be discouraged because I left my homeland for this and there was no excuse for me to give up. Slowly I tried to join at work, make friends and ask them whatever I didn’t understand. I found my own way to get help. I gradually created my life with a fully eye-open experience. I built a lot of intangible skills. Each situation was a stepped stone thread through to my life with so many little things teaches me independence, management, organization and the best is self-confidence. I also found my love destiny here. I met my husband at work who was a nice, thoughtful and caring Vietnamese-American. He helped and supported me during the time I was struggle and suffer at work and the new life here. Through him I had come to God and believed in God. God had leaded me the way to go further and fulfill my dreams. We married after 3 years dating. One Year later we moved to Germany because of my husband work and we stayed there for 1 year and 4 months. From this time, I was really enjoy my life. I has chances to experience plenty of new things with my flesh eyes which I had read in books and surfed on Internet. I knew more about amazing country over the world and I was so interested to learn so many things about social, history, custom, religious about Germany and European. I had built a very good relationship here. I will never forget about this wonderful period of my life. And I, now finally, am here in New York. Enjoy my second winter. My dream about American for a long time had come true. To me, New York was a far-away and strange land at the first time. I was scared and lonely for almost 3 months. I and my husband moved to New York last winter in October 2011 and we experienced 2 terrible storms then we settled up everything to get ready for a lot of plans. I could not forget the first time my husband teach me to drive. My heart was bumping and my palm was sweat. I tried to get my driver license other way I had to stay at home. And now I can I drive to library every week, found a good job, made good friends and had plenty of good relationships, and the best thing is I will be Baptism next month to become a Catholic Christian. Thanks God blessed for me onmy life. I had so many goals and I had made them come true. I was on phone with my Mum on my 27th birthday. She said she is so proud of about me that I made her happy and the most important she asked me â€Å"What are you going to do next?† Five years living aboard is such a long time, but it goes so fast. I did not let any hardship hold me back and I am going to go through another bigger goal which is go to college and I will never stop to achieve my dreams. I was interested in Health filed and I always wished to become a helpful nurse when I was very young. Being a Vietnamese girl learn English to become a nurse is my first and forehead goal I want to do in this coming year. I would love to care about people and make them happy. My motivation is 4 year college and then go to study beyond later if I have a chance because education never stop. There are a lot of things to do in this country. I still want to have a good future with a solid stepped stone in life and a loving family. I will raise my children to become a successful person. They will use my experience story as a role for them to work hard and to be successful in their lives. And I have to say my heart was burning when I found Empire State Community college. I really want to get my degree here so desperately. Empire State community college offer the course which I interested in with flexible study option and it have great faculty, also a warm and diverse community and interesting traditional according to students. I can decide how, where and when I sturdy to complete my education.That’s great. I have a long way to go but I will do my best to reach my goals. Yes! Everyone have a story-history that has made them the way they are to make a happy life! And that is who am I!

Michele de Montaigne on Making Decisions

Michel de Montaigne on Making Opinions In his three books of essays, Michel de Montaigne reflects upon his life to uncover some of the stable truths that will help to guide a man’s opinions. He claims that man is â€Å"miraculously vain, various and wavering. It is difficult to found a judgement [sic] on him which is steady and uniform† meaning that man and his opinions are unstable and fluid. It is possible for a reader of the essays to see how Montaigne employs his theories within his own life as he searches for the truth the natural world can provide. A flaw of humanity, according to Montaigne, is a lack of healthy doubt.Man takes facts and â€Å"ignore[s] the whats and expatiate[s] on the whys. † Instead of questioning facts from outside sources, man takes them as being the truth and blindly follows them. Humanity looks to tradition and history — the way things have always been done — and assumes them to be correct instead of being skeptical of the fluidity of events. In traditions of old, the â€Å"wavering† quality is found in Alexander the Great and causes him to change paths. He was considered â€Å" the most generous toward the vanquished† yet, unpredictably, had Betis brutally dismembered.Montaigne suggests that in order to enter the realm of well-considered judgment, one must first begin to reject commonly accepted traditions and historical ideas and instead look within for the beginnings of truth. Humanity, and everything in life is unstable and changing. Making sound judgments is difficult because the man and what is being judged are constantly in states of flux. Montaigne says to be â€Å"suspicious of the things discovered by our minds†¦of which we have abandoned Nature and her rules†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Through saying this, Montaigne declares that one needs to be faithful to his unchanging nature in order to find truth.As an example in his own life, Montaigne relates that he considers his actions a s â€Å"ruled by what I am and are in harmony with how I was made. † Montaigne believes that the first step to good judgment is finding stability in one’s self. Humans believe that experience is the key to understanding things. If one experiences, he can better form opinions. However, according to Montaigne, reasoning and judgment based on experience is just as unstable as reasoning based on thoughts. If experience could uncover the truth, why is it still that doctors all have different opinions?Years and years of experience do not improve the authority of the doctors because they still cannot come to a common judgment. What Montaigne appears to say is that the path to well-considered opinions comes from the search for truth in all aspects of life. And this search for truth requires man to take a skeptical view on everything and to turn away from the â€Å"truth† found in science and scholarship in favor of the power of nature—to look to what is unchangea ble, his own nature, rather than what is constantly in flux.Not only must man experience things, he must look at them skeptically and reject commonplace ideas and traditions to look within and to nature in order to uncover the truth in all things. Man needs to create an internal model of himself in order to find stability. In order to find certainty, one must discover stable truths, which can only happen through the questioning of everything and the doubting of all things, because this doubt will allow one to be constantly aware of the changing of the world.In Montaigne’s essays, it is possible to see the effects of this â€Å"healthy skepticism† in his experiences, especially in his continued reflection on life. Montaigne questions all things that can change in order to make sound judgments. He lives a life of skepticism and reflection because he sees it as a â€Å"mighty endeavor and a full one† and this reflection helps him to better consider his opinions. Ho wever, it is also possible to see that this search for truth is a lifelong process.Montaigne says clearly that â€Å"I speak as an ignorant questioning man: for solutions I purely and simply abide by the common lawful [Church] beliefs† and he makes no effort to prove that he has succeeded in finding pure stability of ideas in anything but Christian doctrine. Montaigne shows that skepticism must be a way of life in order for one to develop meaningful opinions. Bibliography de Montaigne, Michel, The Complete Essays. Translated by M. A. Screech. London, England: Penguin Books Ltd. , 1987. ——————————————– [ 1 ].Michel de Montaigne, â€Å"We Reach the Same Ends by Discrepant Means,† in The Complete Essays, trans. M. A. Screech (London, England: Penguin Books Ltd. , 1987), 5. [ 2 ]. Montaigne, â€Å"On the Lame,† 1161. [ 3 ]. Montaigne, â€Å"We Reach the Same End s by Discrepant Means,† 5-6. [ 4 ]. Montaigne, â€Å"On the Resemblance of Children to Their Fathers,† 866. [ 5 ]. Montaigne, â€Å"On Repenting,† 916. [ 6 ]. Montaigne, â€Å"On the Resemblance of Children to Their Fathers,† 871. [ 7 ]. Montaigne, â€Å"On Repenting,† 911. [ 8 ]. Montaigne, â€Å"On Three Kinds of Social Intercourse,† 923. [ 9 ]. Montaigne, â€Å"On Repenting,† 909.

Experience with Paramahansa Yogananda's Self Realization Fellowship Essay

Experience with Paramahansa Yogananda's Self Realization Fellowship The Lake Shrine - Essay Example On the other side were plaques with inspirational and moving scriptures on them. Statues of Mahatma Gandhi, Jesus, and Lord Buddha were some of the statues in the beautiful garden. The writings on them were uplifting and people gathered around in meditation and repentance. On joining them, I could see love among the people around courtesy of the passed on legends and what came to my mind is the philosophical saying that if you care about others you are doing good to yourself. There was a temple in the garden where individuals were taught about religion and way of living. Looking at the portraits, I came to understand that Yogananda believed that one comes to know God through intuition. All religions were in the temple who called their Gods in different names which made me meditate on the philosophical saying that there exist different Gods in different situations. The site does not only give spiritual teachings and comfort but also gives the opportunity to learn about other

The Humanity And Issues Related To It In Literature Essay

The Humanity And Issues Related To It In Literature - Essay Example The men at the hotel are wondering if they have also played some part in The Swede’s death. This paper criticizes two important quotations from the story, which I will connect to how I see humankind, and how I view the world. First, I will go into the detail of the quotation, â€Å"Every sin is a result of collaboration† (Crane). Crane has talked about collaboration in the sense that the characters of the story are interacting with each other. They talk to each other, and get into fights, due to which they hurt and kill each other. This is how sin is produced. However, I think that here, collaboration means that the society and the sinner are interacting with each other, where both are opposite to each other and are necessary for each other’s survival. If there is a virtue, there is a sin. If it is good, there is bad. If there are thieves, there are priests. If there are angels, there is Satan. So, both the opposite extremes exist, and become recognized for the opposite. So, when there is a collaboration between man and others are around him, there is either virtue or sin that is produced. This is how society will go on until the end of the world. Collaboration may also mean here that sin is produced with mutual agreement between two people, as Crane has shown the men at the hotel talking about how they had all taken part in killing Swede. Although many sins can be committed without the involvement of a second person; yet, here collaboration means sin committed with the help of two or more persons, who have interacted with each other and have planned to commit the sin. We know it because the Easterner explains it by saying, â€Å"We, five of us, have collaborated in the murder of this Swede.

Gender and Identity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Gender and Identity - Essay Example It has been observed that gender identity critics' focal point is reflecting the others who are the contributors; whereas, to understand gender identity, it is imperative to look at all the social and biological aspects. Moreover, gender identity may be influenced by a number of social structures, including the person's ethnic group, employment status, religion or irreligion, and family etc. Research on masculinity and femininity has a long, complex, and controversial history. This may be due in part to the questions addressed. Often researchers ask questions whether masculinity and femininity really exist, and if it does, how are they best defined and measured The argument carried forward in this paper is the question of what molds and determines a person's degree of masculinity and femininity, whether biological factors or social factors Because the roles of men and women have been the subject of passionate debate in recent years, it's no wonder that research on masculinity and femininity has become embroiled in the debate. If masculinity and femininity are real traits, perhaps even genetically determined to a significant extent, then gender would seem to be partly inflicted into our personalities. On the other hand, if masculinity and femininity are social constructions, learned patterns of behavior that are culturally and historically variable, then existing gender roles may be compliant and subject to liberating alternatives. Related Literature The formation of a gender identity is an intricate process that begins with conception, but later on it involves critical growth processes during development and even learning experiences after birth. There are points of differentiation all along the way, but language and tradition in most societies insist that every individual be categorized as either a man or a woman. When diversity is subjectively reduced to absolute beliefs, conflicts are sure to result. (Wikipedia, 2006) Once children develop a stable gender identity and stable gender categories for others (All people come in two varieties, either male or female), they begin to identify with and prefer others of their own gender (e.g., "I am a girl; I like other girls, and girls are good"). Although young children are aware of gender as a social category, they do not think about gender as adults do. For instance, toddlers do not always realize that gender is defined most fundamentally by genital differences. Instead, they may define gender by its surface features, such as clothing, hair length, and kinds of play. By age 6 or 7, most children realize that sex and gender are constant (i.e., you can't readily change them) and linked to male and female genital differences. According to Kohlberg's theory, children older than age 7 nonetheless continue to develop their gender concepts. For example, they learn gender stereotypes (e.g., "Women are nicer and gentler than men," "Men are more violent than women "), and they learn that some cultural symbols (e.g., butterflies and flowers) are more associated with girls, whereas others (e.g., worms and frogs) are more associated with boys. (Kohlberg, 1966) A question arises at this point, should research on gender differences promote inequality between the genders Not necessarily. Even if there are actual differences between men and women, this does not need to imply that one gender is better than the other. Psychologist Diane Halpern notes that although no one would deny that female

Describe, compare and contrast the ethical systems of Hinduism and Essay

Describe, compare and contrast the ethical systems of Hinduism and Confucianism - Essay Example This core belief presupposes a journey of transcendence, of transformation, that ultimately brings the soul to spiritual perfection, or moksha. The idea of the reincarnated soul is intrinsic to Hinduism, which teaches that the atman at long last merges with the great universal soul, or Brahman. Confucianism espouses a more humanistic, temporal view that emphasizes the improvement of human nature through teaching and personal experience. Confucianism is not a Deist religion in the same sense as Hinduism. It is sometimes considered more of a philosophy than a pure religion in the sense that it doesn’t emphasize care of the soul. However, its 6 million adherents have come to regard Confucius as a divine source of wisdom who achieved a form of ideal perfection in his life. Confucianism is a fairly elastic term for a belief system that has been present in China â€Å"from time immemorial† (Sarkar, 1916). In â€Å"Chinese Religion Through Asian Eyes,† Sarkar writes that a man named Confucius was the librarian at Lu and is thought to have compiled, or edited, a classic text in which the ancient Chinese â€Å"Cult of the World Forces† found expression (Ibid). Therefore, Sarkar writes that Confucianism, as it is now known, had actually pervaded China long before Confucius was born. It has since the 5th century A.D. become more like Hinduism in that Confucius himself has been worshipped as a god since that time (Ibid). Confucianism may, in practice, be an intricate system of moral, philosophical and social thought but it has long held the status of a religion in China as Hinduism has for hundreds of millions in India and throughout Southeast Asia. For many, the comparison between the two begins and ends there. Hinduism is, after all, a polytheistic religion with thousands of deities in which reincarnation plays a prominent role. Salvation only comes after the soul is at long last freed from the cycle of birth and death. For adherents of

Management of Marketing Channels Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Management of Marketing Channels - Assignment Example They provide with special services like build-to-order that directly fulfil the demands from production at a low cost. Build-to-replenish and configure-to-order are also included. The company has an excellent supply chain management with low inventory levels that provide to its network spread over 30 countries across the world. Their supply chain management is extraordinarily efficient since it is backed by key performance drivers like inventory management, transportation management, information system and IT integrated systems to provide the right product at the right time and place. Their worldwide supply chain provides cost-effective services available to all. Reverse logistics is yet another innovation that backs their supply chain by pulling out damaged, obsolete or over-stocked products and redistributing them by using disposition management rules to maximize the original lifecycle of the product. Overall, Flextronics provides low cost products worldwide through a very efficien t and effective supply chain management system backed by logistics solutions for maximum customer satisfaction since satisfying the consumer is the primary priority of the company. Venture Corporation being the leader provides an excellent combination of manufacturing and delivering facilities

Research paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 14

Research Paper Example This is what the author refers to as the The dark side of the all-American meal tackling issues related to the poor pay of farmers, distorted supply chains that result in food contamination among other relevant factors. In the process of analysing the subject matter, Schlosser applies unique writing strategies that not only improve the books efficiency but also create an entertaining reading for the audience. He exhibits straightforward reporting skills, use of simple language, personalization of the context through the use of first language and imagery to deliver a perfectly written and well research book. The first notable writing strategy used by Schlosser is the use of imagery. The author states the book with a clear description of the terrain and later on proceeds to use similar forms of descriptive writing throughout the book as a means of engaging his audience. The first use of imagery is in the introductory part where he describes the Cheyenne Mountain as being on the eastern slope of Colorado’s Front Range, rising steeply from the prairie and overlooking the city of Colorado Springs† (p. 9). In the next chapter, he delivers a vivid imagery of the process of buying fast food; a process familiar to most Americans. He writes that â€Å"Pull open the glass door, feel the rush of cool air, walk in, get on line, study the backlit color photographs above the counter, place your order, hand over a few dollars, watch teenagers in uniforms pushing various buttons, and moments later take hold of a plastic tray full of food wrapped in colored paper and cardboard† (p. 9 ). The two incidences of descriptive writing state above are very significant in the book since they provide the audience with a clear picture of the situation the author is grounding on for his arguments. Due to the effectiveness of such descriptive writing, it comes as no surprise that Stonehill uses a similar writing technique in his song, American Fast

Friar Lawrence's Influence on Romeo & Juliet Through Baz Luhrmann's Essay

Friar Lawrence's Influence on Romeo & Juliet Through Baz Luhrmann's Eyes - Essay Example Generally, Baz Luhrmanns film provides a perfect understanding of the occurrences in the play. In the film, Luhrmann utilizes artificial and natural light to signify Friar Lawrences influence on Romeo and Juliet. Certainly, the influences of Friar Lawrence results to action in the dramatic end of the play. Without the presence of this character in the play, chances of the occurrence of a tragedy are minimal. Friar decides to marry Romeo and Juliet, thereby being the direct cause of the end tragedy. In other words, assuming that Friar did not marry the two, chances of Romeo and Juliet dying would be minimal. Moreover, Friar Lawrence pushes Romeo at an inopportune point where Romeo becomes uncertain about the position he occupies in love, and Friar Lawrence has hopes that the marriage has high possibilities of generating a positive impact on the quarrelling families. This is evident when Friar Comments; The intentions that Friar has for the potion are good, however, the results of using this portion becomes tragic. The main intention that Friar has for this portion is to help bring together the two feuding families, and at the same time keep Romeo and Juliet together, but unfortunately, this plan ends up to be a contribution of a double suicide. Further, in Luhrmann’s film, Friar Lawrence is depicted as having intense influence on the dreadful outcome of the play. In the play, Friar Lawrence is a holy man trusted by everybody, and Romeo and Juliet hold his judgments with highest reverence. In other words, Friar is a representation of wisdom and moderation (Brenner 58). Despite all the respect and trust that Friar receives, he fails to offer a sensible solution to Romeo and Juliet’s dilemma. Romeo and Juliet’s sad end results from Friar Lawrences inclination to hasty action, his fright of being embarrassed, and his irresponsibility. The first shortcoming of Friar that contributes to tragic outcome is the manner in which he

Theme of outsiders Essay Example for Free

Theme of outsiders Essay Probably the first indication of the theme of outsiders is the arrival of heathcliff to Wuthering heights as a child. Old Mr. Earnshaw returns to his family from a trip to Liverpool with the child as a gift from god but the more liked observation is the childrens remark of him as a gipsy brat and a dirty ragged black-haired child. Catherine and Hindley immediately dislike the outsider mainly because the presents which their father had promised had been either crushed or lost on the way home . Mrs. earshaw too is appalled at the idea of having to feed him and clothe him as well. He is considered an outsider more than any other character in the novel because, well because he is! , metaphorically and literally. He is then reduced to the status of a servant or in other words he has been turned into a pariah-an outcast, when Earnshaw died and passed Wuthering heights to Hindley. He drove him from their company to the servants, depriving him of the instructions of the curate, and insisted that he should labour out of doors instead. When heathcliff and Cathy were caught at Thrushcross Grange , laughing at the lintons they were both considered social outsiders to Thrushcross Grange, even though Cathy isnt, they two together were because they were foreigners. The residents launched a bull dog at the pair which is the ultimate sign of unwelcomeness and inhospitability. Heathcliff was accused of being a theif almost instantaneously for the way he looks, which was an out-and-outer. The role of the outsider should not be overlooked because the setting of Wuthering Heights is one of complete isolation. The moors connecting Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange serve a double purpose linking the two households while still separating them from the village and all others. This isolated setting is important for Brontes combination of realism and gothic symbolism. Living beyond the bounds of society means that the outsider, whoever it may be is seen as a suspicious and threatening entity, someone who has to be excluded or isolated for the good of the society at . this is an example of how the outsider has now become the enemy and a threat to society and yet still occupies a position of vulnerability. Isolation is a concept of utter importance in all gothic novels and is closely linked to the idea of the outsider. This is very easy to see in novels such as Dracula with the secluded castle on the mountain tops or Frankenstein in the far end of the arctic. And so Bronte is actually forced to use this symbolism and create a desolate world for her characters . This is also an indication of how Bronte was brought up, in Emilys whole life the only places she favoured to go to were her the moors and her home, Emilys isolation and unsociability also affected her story. The setting of the novel is only limited to two dwellings Wuthering heights and Thrushcross grange and moors around them and the only nearby village is gimmerton which is rather far from both dwellings. Lockwoods first impression of the place is in all England, I do not believe that I could have fixed on a situation so completely removed from the stir of society this indicates the extent to which Wuthering heights stands alone and isolated this is somewhat symbolic for it distances the cruel, barbarous and bizarrely excessive events from everyday life. It also shows the helplessness of the victims of these events and their defenselessness since it is very difficult to get help. One of the most outspoken and clearly proving-its-existence quotes is we dont in general take to foreigners here, Mr. Lockwood, unless they take to us first this shows that outsiders are definitely unwelcomed guests and are only to be approved of after they can be trusted and even after they have been taken into guardianship (for example young Heathcliff, Hareton and Linton) they can still be prejudiced and treated infernally. The second example of an outsider in Wuthering heights (after Heathcliff) is of course Isabella linton she has been taken out of her home at thrushcross grange and moved to the outsider status in Wuthering heights she writes (to nelly dean) youll not be surprised ,Ellen, at my feeling particularly cheerless, seated in worse than solitude, on that inhospitable hearth . Isabella also becomes an outsider to her own brother, Edgar as soon as she elopes with Heathcliff and bears his child. She is left homeless since the residents of her new home treat her as an unwelcomed guest and her brother wont take to her either Hereafter she is only my sister in name; not because I disown her, but because she has disowned me. . This can be seen from another point of view, Isabella has become an outsider simpy because she has married one. The third and final example is of course, Hareton linton he has been born into a house lacking of love or any feeling to nurture him into growing up into a healthy young man, but he is then introduced to Catherine who rather tames him in a way and bringing his illiterate, ignorant self to an end. He is turned into an outsider ever since he was taken under Heathcliffs care, or in this case lack of it. Heathcliff degrades hareton and puts him into the same treatment he has been through (which led him to become an outsider in the past). Hareton lacked education and gentleness and in one instance Heathcliff had to remind him how to act when catherine first visited Dont use any bad words; and dont stare, when the young lady is not looking at you, and be ready to turn your face when she is. The theme of outsiders is also existant in the color purple in many characters. First and foremost Celie she is an outsider in every aspect. When she is at home with her pa being raped and enslaved into working hard and still keeping quite and not fight back whatever happens to her. She is also an outsider to her own self she does not know who she is (I am) and does not understand her body, she becomes an outsider to her 2 children and does not get to know them and hence they become outsiders. Mr____ tries to define her being you black, you pore, you ugly, you a woman. Goddam, you nothing at all but fails since his description is merely superficial but still has a big affect on celies development. Another social outsider in the color purple is of course Shug Avery, in the beginning of the novel she was discriminated against for being well, a slut, hussy, heifer and street cleaner of course people did not consider that as a life choice because of the platitude people at that time had for the role of women especially black women. When Shug Avery became sick nobody in this town wants to take the Queen Honeybee in. Everyone is afraid of her because they believe that Shug has the nasty woman disease. The olinka people are made to be outsiders to the whites that own the land, but have very different lifestyle which cause them to be unwanted. Tashi did not want to marry Adam because she feared she would be discriminated against in America because of the different way she looks and because she is an outsider again both metaphorically and literally.

The Wizard of Oz Essay Example for Free

The Wizard of Oz Essay The Wizard of Oz uses film form by using similarity and repetition. With Dorothy being the main character, she is always reappearing in the film. As well as all of the characters, The Tin Man, The Lion, and The Scarecrow, have similarities to Dorothy. Each of them need something, Dorothy needs to go back home, The Tin Man needs a brain, The Scarecrow needs a heart, and The Lion needs courage. The film also progresses from the beginning to the end, as well as the characters. Dorothy starts at one spot, follows the yellow brick road and eventually makes it to her destination to see The Wizard of Oz, gets what she wants and ends up back home. The characters grow as they go. You can really evaluate this film because it is very interesting and catchy. The director carries the story very well in his Narrative form. Film Style (Mise-en-Scene) The viewers can pick up a lot from the film The Wizard of Oz. The setting is always pretty much the same, there is a lot of different colors, different shapes, and patterns. The filmmaker is always grabbing our attention with the variety of things that show up throughout the film. Something else that the viewers notice a lot is the characters, especially Dorothy. Each of their costumes represents the character, leaving the viewers to remember them by what they are wearing. The main thing that is remembered about Dorothy is her ruby red heels that end up getting her back home. Dorothy receives the ruby red heels at the beginning of her adventure and she wears them all throughout the film down the yellow brick road, and at the end of the film the ruby red heels have a big significance. Dorothy ends up getting let in to see the Wiz of Oz only because of the ruby red heels. Eventually, Dorothy clicks her ruby red heels together and they magically get her back home. (Cinematography) The Cinematography that the Wizard of Oz used is a benchmark for Technicolor’s three-strip process. The individual colors stand out everywhere, and there is never a trace of chroma noise. The image is brighter and sharper in the film. The contrast of the film really affects the mood. Since the contrast is so bright the viewer is bound to stay focused and aware because everything is so catchy and noticeable. Also, the exposure changes throughout the film. At the very beginning the film starts in black and white and changed to color as the story progressed. The filmmaker uses a lot of Long Takes, each shot of Dorothy meeting someone new is pretty lengthy. (Editing) The Wizard of Oz is an early film but editing is used quite a bit. First off, the absence of color in the beginning and the ending of the film. This sets an overall feeling of Dorothy being home. Next the film turns to color once Dorothy dreams of being in a different world, the color, yet again, set an overall mood for Dorothy in this new world â€Å"Over the rainbow.† The first steps of Dorothy being in the world of The Wizard of Oz gives off an example of inside and outside editing. The shot begins with a close up of Dorothy’s face and the camera slowly moves out to show everything else around Dorothy, which was the start of the yellow brick road and Munchkin land. After the viewer see all of that, the camera moves back in to Dorothys face when she says that they are not in Kansas anymore. One editing transition used a lot in The Wizard of Oz is the fade-in and dissolve. Another is cross-cut, two events occurring at the same time but in two different locations. This is used in the scene at the poppy field, after Dorothy and her friends meet the Lion. The shot zooms out to the Witches crystal ball, and fades away. Then the Witch looks into her crystal ball and can see the poppy field, zooming back in to see Dorothy and her friends on their adventure to see The Wizard of Oz. (Sound) The perceptual properties of film sound used in The Wizard of Oz are the loudness (volume) and pitch. The scenes where the group sing â€Å"We’re off Were off to see the Wizard, The wonderful Wizard of Oz, Youll find that the man is a whiz of a Wiz, If ever a Wiz there was, If ever, if ever a Wizmthere was, The Wizard of Oz is one because, Because, because, because, because, because, Of the wonderful things he does, Were off to see the Wizard, The wonderful Wizard of Oz,† the volume as well as the pitch always go up. The rhythm flows really well. An example from the Wizard of Oz that shows non-diegetic sound is when Dorothy is talking to the Wicked Witch and the Good Witch. The characters conversation is mirrored with the music playing in the background. The non-diegetic sound supports the narrative. As well as helping the viewer’s get an emotional attachment to the shots. (Narrative)

Path Goal Theories Situational Factors And Leader Style Management Essay

Path Goal Theories Situational Factors And Leader Style Management Essay The national trust is the biggest charity in the UK and it is completely independent of Government. They rely for income on membership fees, donations revenues and legacies. They have 3.6 millions members and over 55,100 volunteers, more than 14 million people pay entry for the property and over 50 millions visit their open air properties. National trust has too many historic houses, gardens and they look after forest, fens, farmland, downs and nature reserves. Task 1 .P1: Analyze any two leadership theories or modules that reflect current thinking. PATH- GOELS LEADERSHIP THEORY The path-goal leadership theory states that by rectifying the path to attain high level performance and removing downfalls and increasing own satisfaction for the work, and he/se should be able to motivate and maintain performances to his subordinate in work Path-goal theories Situational Factors and leader style Directive Supportive Participative Achievement oriented 1: Directive Leader- instructs the all subordinates and provides the proper and clear instructions and ideas to make their work perfect and perform well and finish their work within the given timeline and the job measured standard 2: Supportive Leader- works more with the well being and human need of his subordinates. And all subordinates are treated equally by the supportive leader 3: Participative Leader- the word participative defines itself that the participative leader participates and involves in ideas, opinions, suggestions and offers with the all subordinates about their job. 4: Achievement-Oriented Leader- the leader who motivates, encourages, and does everything for continuous performance and improvement. The leader motivates for the goals and gives the confidence to his subordinates to get their challenging goals. Ups and Down of this theory UP Side CHOOSING AN APPROPRIATE LEADERSHIP MOTIVATIONAL FACTORES PRACTICAL The theory tells leaders about which style should be used and how to choose a perfect leadership. The theory considerate motivational factors and it helps to define about leadership style for using in different situation. Down Side Broad Scope Worker Motivation Dependency This theory has a broad scope. Trying to implement too many variables in the selected style to a specific task is really difficult to do That theory does not explain how a leader can maintain standard, encourage employees to feel competent, it just tells the qualities about the leader And also it places more responsibilities on leader then subordinates and which make them dependent of the leader and discourage them too. (http://www.bealeader.net/107/the-path-goal-theory/) CONTINGENCY APPROACHES Contingency Approaches based on the concept that there is no single way of managing that works perfect in every situation. It attempt to isolate the key factors that should be considered and show how to cope with the situation when all key factors are present. Some factors of the theory Forces in the manager This theory helps the managers confidence amongst his subordinates, his value system, leadership inclination and awareness of the security in bad situation. Forces in the subordinates It also helps subordinates for their expectation, also gives them independency, decision making tasks and gives them proper approach to solve the problems and get involve in every matter and maintain the standard of their company by helping the leader, and also their interest in every matter. Forces in the situation Types of the organizations, groups and their effectiveness, the tasks and time limit In this theory manager make some decisions and before implementing them he/she refers them to the subordinates to get their suggestions and then implement the decisions which are the best approach to boost the organization and complete all goals. (http://www.stewart-associates.co.uk/leadership-models.aspx) Task.1 P1.2: Explain the expected impact of those theories on the organization that you have selected. Expected impact of path-goal theory on The National Trust UK Below we can find the expected impact of path-goal theory on the national trust In some cases it can be very much appropriate for the national trust to work under the directive system and they can expand their business more under the well established management. As I have worked within the organizations they already follow this theory. As this theory tells us where there leader take the more responsibility to boost the business and encourage all employees or subordinates and tells them to work properly. And not only work properly but also complete them within the time limit by this theory leader focus on the organization can be really good. He/she can assist all the team performance and can realize the performance of his/her employees and help them if they are having any kind of problem. And then by this theory leaders support can be really helpful for the organization, where there leader does not differentiate employees and employees are equal to him and he/she treats them equally which can give a positive impact on subordinates and the organizations and employ ees can work by their hearts as they are being treated equally. As we know this theory encourages leader to participate with his/her team or subordinates and then leader can involve all employees in ideas and he/she can take opinion about the work and can suggest them to work in right way, which can be really affective for the national trust. And then this theory also boost leader to get continuously performance and motivation for the goals can be helpful for the organization to expand their donations and business. The only negative impact of this theory on the organization is that this increase dependency for employees and they remain bound to get orders and instructions from up side which may be a drawback for the organization because it discourages employees but apart from this it goes fine for the organization. Impact of Contingency approaches theory on The National Trust UK The impact of this theory on the national trust can be more reliable then path-goal theory the reason is why because the big part of the national trust is running by the volunteers, and this theory increase independency for the subordinates and then they can show their performances. The impact of this theory on the organization is good because it gives the security for the employees and volunteers in bad circumstances and they own take all responsibilities to complete all tasks and can work together with the managers. This theory involves all small employees to show their mutual performances and gives them full confidence which can take this type of organization too forward, and positive thing about this theory is that this allow leaders to get involve all employees in any decision before its implementation, so by this kind of act volunteers interest may become more about their jobs and this can give them surety that they are really getting good experience from the organizations and then by the volunteers support national trust expand their donations. Task 2, P2.1:- Assess current requirement of leadership within the organization. The leadership requirements of the national trust are nearly based on contingency approaches. Competency:- The most essential requirement of leadership is competency. The leaders must know each and every work. They cant assess the employees if they dont know about the job their employees are doing, if you know everything then you can suggest or help others. Without knowing their work they cant expect their employees to do the job that they dont do. So leaders should be an example Loyalty:- The leader should also take care of his subordinates. He should loyal to his employees as well as organization. He has to find out where the problem is, if the company is not doing what the best for the people with him. Leader should be cooperative and should ask their needs about their job and help them in every matter. Respect:- Working as a leader in the national trust will force you to respect people and employees as the national trust relies on volunteers so it essential for the leader to respect. Respect is really important in every nature of the job. And this is one of the main requirements of the leadership in any organization. Leader should respect his subordinates and should know the status of their subordinates; it is obvious that if you respect people you get respect back. Mostly in some organizations employees leave their job because of their self respect amongst managers. Honest Honesty is the best policy. Leader must be honest. They dont string their subordinates along by promising rewards the never come through. And lie is the fastest way to lose respect amongst people who work for you. Integrity A leader who has the integrity will not join the office joking and will pull the rug out. He will never shit blame to others when he will be responsible. He will always accept responsibility for his own action. Learning, Listening and understanding others No one is perfect. It doesnt mean if you are leader and you know everything. Leader should listen and understand others and get the ideas from their subordinates. Leaders should welcome the ideas from down side. Goods leaders dont discourage subordinates for their ideas. They listen to them and give them feedback. In simple words I would say leader should be customer focused person who knows the value of the customers and deals with them properly and treats his employees as customers These requirements are the current basic for the leaders in the organization and they have to follow them for better performance. P2.2:- Develop an internally consistent ant plausible scenario of likely future requirement of leadership for the selected organization. Type of staff One of the future requirements of leadership is to hire the right and competent staff who may take the company too forward. National trust hires seasonal staff every year from February to October, so it is a big duty to judge staff and their mentality level, because most of the seasonal staff run away during the season to find out another job. So this is the main requirement for leadership to select right staff. History of the business National trust gets donations and money from historical houses, so it will be strong requirement for the managers to remember the history and maintain it for future because their business relies on their history houses and old places and its own history Culture of the business Same as its history culture is also more important. This might be a big challenge for them but leaders have to maintain the culture of the business for the new comers. If they come and they would be able to maintain as it was before. Quality of the relationship Members of this organization are the assets. National trust gets donations from its members. Members pay annual membership charges which makes a good relationship between national trust and them. So it is important for the leadership to maintain the quality of relationship in future for their future. Nature of changes needed Change is a part of every business. For attaining the goals and achievement some businesses try to change methods and rules which some time help them to go forward for their goals but some time not, and if they change circumstances at the right time and proper they get reward. So this is also a future requirement for the leadership to apply changes at the right time, for right thing and for right purpose. Accepted norms within the organization It might be required for the leadership to accept the standard within the organization. It can be a difficult task for the new leadership to follow the standard or pattern. Everyone tries to give their own suggestions. But the environment and modal of the company should be same which is running from companys birth.

Nurturing or poisoning :: essays research papers fc

Nurturing or poisoning? The human race has become fascinated and awe-struck by the phenomenal research and findings of the past century. From improved sanitation to prescription drugs for every cough or ache, technology makes life simpler and healthier. Humans are living longer, experiencing better health and suffering from illness and disease less. Right? On the contrary, in the United States, one in three people die of cancer, one in five suffers from mental disorders and one out of every five pregnancies result in miscarriage (Fallon, 1). Alzheimer’s, epilepsy, chronic fatigue, dyslexia, hyperactivity, ulcers, obesity, arthritis, multiple sclerosis and diabetes are only a few of the ailments that hinder the American population. Chronic disease afflicts nearly half of the population of the United States and causes an astonishing three out of four deaths. Although such physical and mental problems once characterized the elderly, more and more children and teenagers are struck by chronic illness than ever before (Fallon, 1). In light of every medical advancement and scientific breakthrough, why is it that more people than ever suffer from chronic illnesses, obesity and heart disease? The human body is a complex, living organism that has taken thousands of years to comprehend and fathom on the simplest level. Today, most Americans view the human body as something constantly rebelling, breaking down, aging or malfunctioning. With every ache and pain or cough and sniffle, the body demonstrates its downfall and weaknesses. In combating these ailments, the majority of our powerless nation depends on prescription drugs, shots, surgeries and other medical treatments for any chance of recovery or improvement. All the while wondering about the source of such diseases and health disorders. Meanwhile, the average diet consists of fast foods, candy bars, and carbonated beverages loaded with preservatives, artificial sweeteners, salt and empty calories. Although the consumption of certain foods cannot account for every chronic disease and illness one hundred percent, the nutrition derived from food plays an important role in how the body functions. First and foremost, the view of the human body must change in order to comprehend the purposes and intricate workings of its components. In its natural state, the human body is a picture of beauty, wholeness, balance and vitality (Fallon, 1). Thousands of years ago, Galen sought to grasp an understanding of this magnificent creation through experiment, dissection and research. For Galen the body was a detailed masterpiece waiting to be unraveled.

Giralamo Savonarola and the Development of the Renaissance in Florence

THESIS STATEMENT The moral fanatic and religious fundamentalist, Giralamo Savonarola, inhibited the development of the Renaissance in Florence and brought the city back into the Middle Ages. PURPOSE STATEMENT Through scholarly research of Florentine politics and daily life during the rule of the Medici, it is affirmed that Giralamo Savonarola used religion and fear to inhibit the progression of the Renaissance in Florence. INTRODUCTION Religion provides hope for those who are hopeless. It aims to welcome those who are alienated and feel that their life has no purpose. Religion served the same function in the Middle Ages and Renaissance as it does today. However, religion was embraced more during the Middle Ages by desperate individuals frantically searching for calm and stability in their lives. Religion provided hope for these bleak individuals who lovingly and unquestioningly embraced religion and the church’s teachings. The church controlled every aspect of these people’s lives and had a grip of their minds. â€Å"The church had a grip on men’s minds which it is difficult for us to imagine: the strength of the grip was basically Medieval† (Rowdon 159). Far into the cultural and intellectual rebirth in Florence, Giralamo Savonarola used religion to reclaim the minds of the citizens and bring the city back into the Middle Ages. Under the Medici rule, especially the leadership of Lorenzo de’Medici, art thrived and new revolutionary ideas emerged, furthering the Renaissance in Florence while challenging the stronghold of the church. Florence became an edifice for art and the greatest painters of the time flocked to the city including Fra Filippo Lippi, Verrocchio, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, and Michelangelo (Greenblatt 13)... ...ermons, Savonarola won the hearts of the common people of Florence. He implored them to retreat back to the church. Savonarola took advantage of the invasion of the French and set up the ideal religious state centered on a moral lifestyle. Savonarola was able to inhibit the development of the Renaissance in Florence and he successfully brought the city back into the Middle Ages. As he had persuaded the citizens of Florence back to the church through fear, he similarly used the tactic to maintain their loyalty. â€Å"The church offered hell-fire for disobedience and playing on those pagan fears that never quite deserted Italian imagination† (Rowdon 159). The people however began to resent the rule of Savonarola and he was deposed and later burnt at the stake. However, his fiery sermons and moral fanaticism never left the minds of the citizens of Florence.

Language Essay -- Essays Papers

Language Language is essential; language is what we use to communicate among others. It is something that joins us just as strongly as it separates us. There are many different â€Å"languages† in the world but really they are all bound by certain rules, they all have a format that they follow, all of them have, nouns, verbs, tenses, and adjectives. Language is almost like a math, the point of it is that when you speak, you try to reach a conclusion with a different person, and in math you use equations to solve problems and reach conclusions, one is numbers the other is words. Math is not easy, and learning a Language can be challenging. I came here from Mexico years ago, and I still remember how it was to not know how to communicate. I had to learn and I did; now I’m what you would call bilingual. While learning the language I was also adapting to culture, to a totally different life style than the one I was used to, learning a different language was in a way helpful in adapting to this new world because it opened doorways for me which would be closed with out it. In my younger years it seemed routine but now that I am older and reflect on my experience I can relate to those who just came here and have a â€Å"language barrier†, it’s almost like being handicapped. When I read the Tan essay, it hit close to home for me, because I knew what a language barrier feels like, I knew how people could take advantage of you because they assume that you are stupid, the thing is that society makes assumptions about people who have a language barrier, they make fun of kids who go to bilingual class, where in fact those kids are learning something that the other ones in the future can only wish that they could have learned. When it comes t... ... key factor, our ability to communicate. In school’s they should have kids talk to each other, have the Caucasian boy talk to the Asian girl, let them learn from each other, because when a child is young its mind is pure, its not â€Å"programmed† yet, so lets fill that mind with useful things which will teach them tolerance to others, and so we could filter our society of people who will look at a Mexican and call him a â€Å"spic†. Our society is full of different people, tall people, short people, rich, poor, but there is only one thing that brings all those people together and that is language. When you read this paper you will make a comment on it, post it, write it down, do whatever with it, but anyway you look at it, you will use a language, and the moment you do my point is made, that language is a essential part of our society, and that we have to let it expand.

Illuminati Essay

On the first experiment, they use a pepper-like substance called Potassium Permanganate (KMn04) which is an oxidant and an oil-like substance called Brake Fluid which is a fuel. When they combined these two substances in a stainless container, this results on having a little fire on the container. And they said it is because of the Chemical Reaction made by the two substances and the mixture should release energy in the form of heat that’s why this results on combustion. At first, I thought that the Brake Fluid they used is just a simple Cooking Oil and the Potassium Permanganate is just a pepper.But those â€Å"simple† substances I thought made an amazing experiment which makes me understand how heat was released by a Chemical Reaction. On the second experiment, the special substance they use is Dry Ice – which is a Frozen Carbon Dioxide – together with a balloon, funnel, mortar and pestle (to crush the Dry Ice) and a bottle with water. They crushed the D ry Ice first into small pieces then they put in the funnel which is connected to the balloon, and after this they put the balloon with Dry Ice onto the bottle with water.They let the Dry Ice be poured into the water which results in Sublimation and the gas this made was used to inflate the balloon. This gas is called Carbon Dioxide. I already knew that a Dry Ice is a Frozen Gas, but I didn’t know that this gas is a Carbon Dioxide which is commonly used to inflate a balloon. Before the experiment started, I knew that the combination of Dry Ice and water has something to do to inflate the balloon because I’ve done this before with my siblings.On the third experiment, they used a wick, an aluminum tray, one spoon of salt peter (salitre), one spoon of sugar and lighter. First they combined the salt peter and sugar into the tray then they insert the wick. After that they light it using the lighter and this result on having a smoke-effect because of Oxidation. I have learned so many things on this experiment, first is that when the salt peter and sugar were heated, the electrons of the sugar were transferred to the salt peter. And that the molecules released with oxygen will be a smoke which we can be seen.On the last experiment, Faye Young, a Prosthetics Artist made fake blood using water, corn syrup, liquid soap and food color, these liquids are Miscible – refers to two/more substances that can be dissolve into one another without separating. And she also did a fake finger using Clay which is a Malleable object, and she painted it with make-up foundation. I am amazed on how simple objects like Clay, Food Color, Liquid Soap, Corn Syrup and Water can be an effective additive on creating illusions or imitations of some parts of a human body (like fingers and blood).

Hearing Loss Attributed to the 21st Century use of Personal Music Player Essay

In the recent few years leisure noise has become one of the threats to the hearing as it can reach high volumes and an increasing number of people are exposed. The danger is not only exposed by the music from the clubs but also it has been extended to the new generation of music players which are known to produce sounds at high volumes. Across Europe it is estimated that millions of people are using personal music players on a daily basis and in most of the cases these gadgets are being used inappropriately putting the user at a great risk of ear damage. This is a serious concern as the emerging technology may cause numerous problems to the people who are fond of using these entertainment gadgets. To add salt into the injury the users are exposing themselves to this particular danger for a long time as they are spending substantial time listening to music using ear phones. The amount of time one exposes to the sound of loud music from the personal music players increases the chances of hearing loss. The children and the youth are at risk as they have been noted to constitute the highest proportion of users. In this paper I will discuss the dangers involved in the use of personal music player and at the same time bring into the understanding who should be blamed for the hearing loss as a result of the constant use of these gadgets. Is it the makers of the personal music players or should we blame the users for putting their life at risk? A scientific study that was carried out for the European Union revealed that noise from the personal music players is a routine pollution for many people. It threatens permanent damage of the ear to as many as hundred million people in Europe and other parts of the world. The report indicated that those people who listened to the music for a continuous five hours per week on high volume were exposing themselves to high noise than it is allowed in the factory work places. This means that users of the personal music player who prefer to listen to their music on high volume are at a worse position than workers who are located in a noisy factory in an industrial hub. (Linkov,I and Steevens,J 2009 359) Experts argue that the maximum volume from these equipments can generate as much noise as an aero plane that is taking off. That kind of noise is enough to make a person have a quick and permanent hearing loss. The worst thing according to this report is that the users do not realize the problem until very late. This is the time when the damage has already been caused and nothing can be done about it. It is a very sad situation where a young person with bright future prospects losses his or her ability to hear at such an early age, it can be a very devastating experience but whom do we blame? Do we pass the buck to the manufacturer of these gadgets fro their neglect or do we blame the users for sometimes knowingly exposing themselves to dangers through their constant use of the music players. (Jameson,P and Romer,D 2008 347) The MP3 generation is headed for permanent hearing impairment in the cause of their lives. The youth are at the greatest risk as well as the older people too, in twenty seven countries across Europe it is estimated that fifty to a hundred million people out of five hundred people may be listening to a portable personal music player at any given time. Equivalents of five percent listeners who expose themselves to these new generation entertainment gadgets for more than one hour are at the greatest risk. These statistics have raised fears among some people prompting them to take some actions so as to avoid a future generation which has numerous problems which has been caused by things which can only be described as luxurious. In the year 2006 a man in Louisiana sued one of the manufacturing firms, The Apple claiming that this company had failed to take enough steps to prevent the problem of hearing loss among the users of one its popular product, the iPod. The suit which was filed in a federal district court in California city of San Jose claimed that iPod produces a sound which is as loud as one hundred and fifteen decibels when the maximum sound that is considered safe for listening is eighty five decibels. To this man the Apple Company was to blame for the problem that is threatening to have millions of deaf people in some years to come. I tend to disagree with his sentiments as it is clearly evident that the ipods sold by this company and many other manufacturer comes with a warning in the manual where the users are warned about the dangers they expose themselves into through playing the music in high volumes from their personal music players. It is blatantly clear that the users expose themselves to the risk of hearing loss through ignoring the warnings given by the manufacturers. The companies can not escape blame too, such warnings are printed using very tiny fonts such that not all the users might get a chance to read the small inscriptions which are usually placed on a page where the user might not even see. (Kirk,R and Mayshork,C 2007 73) The risk involved do not only come from ipods, the portable phones and personal stereos pose a similar problem as their earphones leads to a high sound exposure than any other type of a listening device. It has been stressed that young people who continue to expose themselves through listening to the high volume music from their music devices usually run into the risk of developing some hearing complications by the time they hit their twenties. Problems such as persistent tinnitus which is induced by high volume music has been reported common among the people in their youth and are constant users of the personal music devices. Despite this problem the same people continue using these devices. Therefore the problem squarely lies with the users, they are clearly aware of the risks involved, they have gone through numerous problems which have been as a result of their insatiable appetite for entertainment but they still continue to expose themselves to the risk. This can only be termed as deliberate move by these users to harm themselves and it is for this reason we can not blame the companies for the problems that are being experienced by the MP3 generation. The manufacturing firms only came to fill the gap that existed; they offer satisfaction to the people who are keen on entertainment especially when they are on move. They have clearly indicated the dangers one can expose him or herself to if the device is not used properly, that is if it is put on high volumes but the users choose to ignore such information for their personal reasons. (Tulchinsky,T and Varavikova,N 2000 285) The choices we make in life determine the direction we head, if we make the right ones we will always be on the right direction, if we happen to take the wrong choices as we mostly do then we are bound to blame others for the trouble we may get ourselves into later in our lives. It is extremely important for us to make the right decision as pertaining what we do as the opposite can lead to devastating effects. People have a choice of either buying a personal music player or any other similar device, they make a choice as to whether they will listen to the music high or low, it is basically a matter of choice. There is nothing about MP3 technology that can directly lead to hearing loss. It is the choice we make. For those users who choose to always put their devices at manageable and recommended sounds the problem of hearing impairment might not affect them but for those who choose to ignore the warnings given by the manufacturers, this problem will affect the rest of their lives. They just make a mistake of listening to the music on loud volumes for too long therefore exposing themselves to al manner of dangers associated with the noise. (Chan,S and Kwok,S 2003 34) The European Union is planning to regulate the volumes on personal music players and other stereos due to the fears that usage of these devices is causing the damage to the ears. This action has been precipitated by the findings of the scientific commission which was given a task of coming out with ways in to which this problem that is threatening the ability of million to hear can be tackled. In normal circumstances the personal music players are allowed to go up to one hundred decibels but when it used with an inbuilt headphones the sound can go up to one hundred and twenty. This is way above the recommended safe sound volumes which are close to eighty five. The recommended sound levels by the European Union committee are eighty, a figure which has been pointed out as safe enough to warrant any fears. This clearly points out that it is only a matter of educating the users on how they are supposed to go about listening to music using their sophisticated technology. If someone decided to ignore the message, he or she can not blame the manufacturing company for the problems that hearing problems which might occur later in life due to inappropriate use of the device (Linkov,I and Steevens,J 2009 359) For the sake of those who ignore the information given by the manufacturers, the makers of these devices should be advised to limit the volume levels so that they do not exceed the recommended limits. Though this might affect their sales it is the right thing to do as it will save those who have a problem following the given instructions. The company will in the short term suffer minimal losses but in the long term they will have more users as they will have expanded the markets as the effects of these devices to the ears will be minimal. The users will have won the confident of the music players as they have been set according to the standards which are considered safe for average use. (Davis,G 2004 40) The government can not limit the time a given person will spend on the personal music player. This is an individual choice; we spend as much time as we can get on these entertainment gadgets. Therefore it is up to the users to limit themselves as to how long they are going to be exposed . The user should ensure that they spend less time listening to the music through their devices to minimise the risk involved. All these points indicate that the manufacturing companies have no role to play as far as the usage of the personal music player is concerned. Their duty is to inform the users of the dangers involved through playing it loud and continuos exposure over a long period. The rest lies with the person using the gadget to decide how much time he or she is going to spend listening and on what volume they will get their music. If one decides to put his or her health at risk you can not turn at the company and blame it for the presonal problems which were as aresult of own volition. The government has the responsibility of ensuring that the manufacturing company follow the standards as far as making of the personal music players is concerned. This will go a long way in saving the users who are conscious about their health. The recommeded standards should include limiting the volume settings to a particular level which can not harm the user even if the decide to ignore the warnings. People need to take a responsibility as far as their actions are concerned. There is a need for every user to take precautiosn as far as usage of these devices is concerned. Inappropriate use can lead to devastatiting health effects which would have been prevented if the user was careful. Technology advancement has come to make our lives easier and more enjoyable. This can only be achieved if we use this technology appropriately,use of personal music player beyond the recommended sound volume can lead to seroius effects which are not related to the manufacturing. The user have all the responsibility to ensure that this piece of sophistication does not harm him or her rather it serves the right purpose which is entertainment. (Markel,G 2007 25) The manufacturing company should carry a warning on the users who violate the instructions which comes along with the product. They have a responsibility to save the end users from their own ignorance. They can do this through offering and sponsoring sessions where users get to be taught on the proper methods of handling these entertainment equipement. This can help save some people but the biggest part should be played by the end user,they must use the device responsbly so as to avoid complications that might be brought by high sound volumes besides the time spent listening to the music at the expense of other important actiivities such as studying. The sole responsbility of the hearing loss as a result of inappropriate use of the personal music player and other related devices lies squarely on the user. He or she has the ability to control its use and therefore ealding a healthy life. (Anderson,B 2004 103) Work Cited Tulchinsky,T and Varavikova,N The New Public Health:An Introduction for the 21st Century,Academic Press (2000) Linkov,I and Steevens,J Nanomaterials ,Spring Publishers (2009) Davis,G How to do Everything with your iPod and iPod Mini,Mac Graw Hill Professionals (2004) Chan,S and Kwok,S Culture and Humanity in the new Millenium:the Future of Human Value Chinese University Press (2003) Kirk,R and Mayshork,C Personal Health in Ecological Perspective,Mosby (2007) Markel,G Defeating the 8 Demons of Distraction,Geraldine Markel (2007) Jameson,P and Romer,D The Changing Portrayal of the Adloescents on the Media Since 1950,Oxford University Press (2008) Anderson,B Bringing Business to Life:Achieving Corporate Social Responsibility,ASQ Quality Publishers (2004)

Innovators Dna

(Continued from front flap) is the Horace Beesley Professor of Strategy at the Marriott School, Brigham Young University. He is widely published in strategy and business journals and was the fourth most cited management scholar from 1996–2006. is a professor of leadership at INSEAD. He consults to organizations around the world on innovation, globalization, and transformation and has published extensively in leading academic and business journals. is the Robert and Jane Cizik Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and the architect of and the world’s oremost authority on disruptive innovation. â€Å"Businesses worldwide have been guided and in uenced by e Innovator’s Dilemma and e Innovator’s Solution. Now e Innovator’s DNA shows where it all starts. is book gives you the fundamental building blocks for becoming more innovative and changing the world. One of the most important books to come out this year, and one that will remain pivotal reading for years to come. † Chairman and CEO, salesforce. com; author, Behind the Cloud â€Å" e Innovator’s DNA is the ‘how to’ manual to innovation, and to the fresh thinking that is the root of innovation.It has dozens of simple tricks that any person and any team can use today to discover the new ideas that solve the important problems. Buy it now and read it tonight. Tomorrow you will learn more, create more, inspire more. † Chairman of the Executive Committee, Intuit Inc. â€Å" e Innovator’s DNA sheds new light on the once-mysterious art of innovation by showing that successful innovators exhibit common behavioral habits—habits that can boost anyone’s creative capacity. † author, e 7 Habits of Highly E ective People and e Leader in Me Having worked with Clayton Christensen on innovation for over a decade, I can see that e Innovator’s DNA continues to stretch our thinking with insights that cha llenge convention and enable progress in the important cause of innovation . . . so critical to competitiveness and growth. † retired Chairman of the Board and CEO, e Procter & Gamble Company Also by Clayton M. Christensen: Bestselling Author of e Innovator’s Dilemma You can be as innovative and impactful— if you can change your behaviors to improve your creative impact. In e Innovator’s DNA, authors Je Dyer,Hal Gregersen, and bestselling author Clayton M. Christensen ( e Innovator’s Dilemma, e Innovator’s Solution) build on what we know about disruptive innovation to show how individuals can develop the skills necessary to move progressively from idea to impact. By identifying behaviors of the world’s best innovators—from leaders at Amazon and Apple to those at Google, Skype, and Virgin Group—the authors outline ve discovery skills that distinguish innovative entrepreneurs and executives from ordinary managers: Associati ng, Questioning, Observing, Networking, and Experimenting.Once you master these competencies (the authors provide a self assessment for rating your own innovator’s DNA), the authors explain how you can generate ideas, collaborate with colleagues to implement them, and build innovation skills throughout your organization to sharpen its competitive edge. at innovation advantage can translate into a premium in your company’s stock price—an innovation premium—that is possible only by building the code for innovation right into your organization’s people, processes, and guiding philosophies. Practical and provocative, e Innovator’sDNA is an essential resource for individuals and teams who want to strengthen their innovative prowess. (Continued on back flap) 100092 00 i-vi r1 rr. qxp 5/13/11 6:52 PM Page i THE INNOVATOR’S DNA 100092 00 i-vi r1 rr. qxp 5/13/11 6:52 PM Page ii 100092 00 i-vi r1 rr. qxp 5/13/11 6:52 PM Page iii THE INNOVATORâ €™S DNA MASTERING THE FIVE SKILLS OF DISRUPTIVE INNOVATORS Jeff Dyer Hal Gregersen Clayton M. Christensen H A R VA R D B U S I N E S S R E V I E W P R E S S BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 100092 00 i-vi r1 rr. qxp 5/13/11 6:52 PM Page iv Copyright 2011 Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen, and Clayton M.Christensen All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior permission of the publisher. Requests for permission should be directed to [email  protected] harvard. edu, or mailed to Permissions, Harvard Business School Publishing, 60 Harvard Way, Boston, Massachusetts 02163. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataDyer, Jeff. The innovator’s DNA : mastering the ? ve skills of disruptive innovators/ Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen, Clayto n M. Christensen. p. cm. ISBN 978-1-4221-3481-8 (hardback) 1. Creative ability in business. 2. Technological innovations. 3. Entrepreneurship. I. Gregersen, Hal B. , 1958– II. Christensen, Clayton M. III. Title. HD53. D94 2011 658. 4'063—dc22 2011008440 The paper used in this publication meets the requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Publications and Documents in Libraries and Archives Z39. 48-1992. 100092 00 i-vi r1 rr. qxp /13/11 6:52 PM Page v Contents Introduction 1 Part One Disruptive Innovation Starts with You 1 The DNA of Disruptive Innovators 17 2 Discovery Skill #1 41 Associating 3 Discovery Skill #2 65 Questioning 4 Discovery Skill #3 89 Observing 5 Discovery Skill #4 113 Networking 6 Discovery Skill #5 133 Experimenting Part Two The DNA of Disruptive Organizations and Teams 7 The DNA of the World’s Most Innovative Companies 157 100092 00 i-vi r1 rr. qxp 5/13/11 6:52 PM Page vi vi CONTENTS 8 Putting the Innovatorâ €™s DNA into Practice 175 People 9 Putting the Innovator’s DNA into Practice 93 Processes 10 Putting the Innovator’s DNA into Practice 215 Philosophies Conclusion: Act Different, Think Different, Make a Difference 235 Appendix A: Sample of Innovators Interviewed Appendix B: The Innovator’s DNA Research Methods Appendix C: Developing Discovery Skills Notes Index Acknowledgments About the Authors 241 245 249 261 269 283 295 100092 00a 001-014 INT r1 go. qxp 5/13/11 9:53 AM Page 1 Introduction I It’s the lifeblood of our global economy and a strategic priority for virtually every CEO around the world. In fact, a recent IBM poll of ? teen hundred CEOs identified creativity as the number-one â€Å"leadership competency† of the future. 1 The power of innovative ideas to revolutionize industries and generate wealth is evident from history: Apple iPod outplays Sony Walkman, Starbucks’s beans and atmosphere drown traditional coffee shops, Skype u ses a strategy of â€Å"free† to beat AT and British Telecom, eBay crushes classi? ed ads, and Southwest Airlines ? ies under the radar of American and Delta. In every case, the creative ideas of innovative entrepreneurs produced powerful competitive advantages and tremendous wealth for the pioneering company.Of course, the retrospective $1 million question is, how did they do it? And perhaps the prospective $10 million question is, how could I do it? The Innovator’s DNA tackles these fundamental questions— and more. The genesis of this book centered on the question that we posed years ago to â€Å"disruptive technologies† guru and coauthor Clayton Christensen: where do disruptive business models come from? Christensen’s best-selling books, The Innovator’s NNOVATION. 1 100092 00a 001-014 INT r1 go. qxp 5/13/11 9:53 AM Page 2 2 INTRODUCTIONDilemma and The Innovator’s Solution, conveyed important insight into the characteristics of disr uptive technologies, business models, and companies. The Innovator’s DNA emerged from an eight-year collaborative study in which we sought a richer understanding of disruptive innovators—who they are and the innovative companies they create. Our project’s primary purpose was to uncover the origins of innovative—and often disruptive— business ideas. So we interviewed nearly a hundred inventors of revolutionary products and services, as well as founders and CEOs of game-changing companies built on innovative business ideas.These were people such as eBay’s Pierre Omidyar, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Research In Motion’s Mike Lazaridis, and Salesforce. com’s Marc Benioff. For a full list of innovators we interviewed whom we quote in this book, see appendix A; virtually all of the innovators we quote, with the exception of Steve Jobs (Apple), Richard Branson (Virgin), and Howard Schultz (Starbucks)—who have written autobiogra phies or have given numerous interviews about innovation—are from our interviews. We also studied CEOs who ignited innovation in existing companies, such as Procter & Gamble’s A.G. Lafley, eBay’s Meg Whitman, and Bain & Company’s Orit Gadiesh. Some entrepreneurs’ companies that we studied were successful and well known; some were not (for example, Movie Mouth, Cow-Pie Clocks, Terra Nova BioSystems). But all offered a surprising and unique value proposition relative to incumbents. For example, each offered new or different features, pricing, convenience, or customizability compared to their competition. Our goal was less to investigate the companies’ strategies than it was to dig into the thinking of the innovators themselves.We wanted to understand as much about these people as possible, including the moment (when and how) they came up with the creative ideas that launched new products or businesses. We asked them to tell us 100092 00a 001-0 14 INT r1 go. qxp 5/13/11 9:53 AM Page 3 3 Introduction about the most valuable and novel business idea that they had generated during their business careers, and to tell us where those ideas came from. Their stories were provocative and insightful, and surprisingly similar. As we re? ected on the interviews, consistent patterns of action emerged.Innovative entrepreneurs and executives behaved similarly when discovering breakthrough ideas. Five primary discovery skills—skills that compose what we call the innovator’s DNA—surfaced from our conversations. We found that innovators â€Å"Think Different,† to use a well-known Apple slogan. Their minds excel at linking together ideas that aren’t obviously related to produce original ideas (we call this cognitive skill â€Å"associational thinking† or â€Å"associating†). But to think different, innovators had to â€Å"act different. † All were questioners, frequently asking questions that punctured the status quo.Some observed the world with intensity beyond the ordinary. Others networked with the most diverse people on the face of the earth. Still others placed experimentation at the center of their innovative activity. When engaged in consistently, these actions—questioning, observing, networking, and experimenting—triggered associational thinking to deliver new businesses, products, services, and/or processes. Most of us think creativity is an entirely cognitive skill; it all happens in the brain. A critical insight from our research is that one’s ability to generate innovative ideas is not erely a function of the mind, but also a function of behaviors. This is good news for us all because it means that if we change our behaviors, we can improve our creative impact. After surfacing these patterns of action for famous innovative entrepreneurs and executives, we turned our research lens to the less famous but equally capable innovators aro und the world. We built a survey based on our interviews that taps into the discovery skills of innovative leaders: associating, questioning, observing, networking, and experimenting. To date, we have 00092 00a 001-014 INT r1 go. qxp 5/13/11 9:53 AM Page 4 4 INTRODUCTION collected self-reported and 360-degree data on these discovery skills from over ? ve hundred innovators and over ? ve thousand executives in more than seventy-five countries (for information about our assessments for individuals and companies, go to our Web site: http://www. InnovatorsDNA. com). We found the same pattern for famous as well as less famous leaders. Innovators were simply much more likely to question, observe, network, and experiment compared to typical executives.We published the results of our research in Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, the top academic journal focused on entrepreneurs (details of our study are reported in appendix B). 2 We also published our ? ndings in an article titled â€Å" The Innovator’s DNA,† which was the runner-up for the 2009 Harvard Business Review McKinsey Award. We then turned to see what we could learn about the DNA of innovative organizations and teams. We started by looking at BusinessWeek’s annual ranking of innovative companies.This ranking, based on votes from executives, identified companies with a reputation for being innovative. A quick look at the BusinessWeek lists from 2005 to 2009 shows Apple as number one and Google, number two. OK, intuitively that sounds right. But we felt that the BusinessWeek methodology (executives voting on which companies are innovative) produces a list that is largely a popularity contest based on past performance. Indeed, do General Electric, Sony, Toyota, and BMW deserve to be on the list of most innovative companies today? Or are they simply there because they have been successful in the past?To answer these questions, we developed our own list of innovative companies based on curre nt innovation prowess (and expectations of future innovations). How did we do this? We thought the best way was to see whether investors—voting with their wallets—could give us insight into which companies they thought most likely to produce future innovations: new products, services, or markets. We teamed up with HOLT (a division of Credit Suisse Boston that had done a similar analysis for The Innovator’s 100092 00a 001-014 INT r1 go. qxp 5/13/11 9:53 AM Page 5 5 Introduction Who Is Classified as an Innovator?Perhaps one of the most surprising findings from the past thirty years of entrepreneurship research is that entrepreneurs do not differ signi? cantly (on personality traits or psychometric measures) from typical business executives. a We usually meet this ? nding with skepticism, since most of us intuitively believe that entrepreneurs are somehow different from other executives. Note that our research focused on innovators and, in particular, innovative en trepreneurs rather than entrepreneurs. Here’s why. Innovative entrepreneurs start companies that offer unique value to the market.When someone opens a dry cleaner or a mortgage business, or even a set of Volkswagen dealerships or McDonald’s franchises, researchers put them all in the same category of entrepreneur as the founders of eBay (Pierre Omidyar) and Amazon (Jeff Bezos). This creates a categorization problem when trying to ? nd out whether innovative entrepreneurs differ from typical executives. The fact is that most entrepreneurs launch ventures based on strategies that are not unique and certainly not disruptive. Among entrepreneurs as a whole, only 10 percent to 15 percent qualify as â€Å"innovative entrepreneurs† of the kind we’re discussing.Our study includes four types of innovators: (1) start-up entrepreneurs (as we described earlier), (2) corporate entrepreneurs (those who launch an innovative venture from within the corporation), (3) prod uct innovators (those who invent a new product), and (4) process innovators (those who launch a breakthrough process). Our process inventor category includes folks like A. G. La? ey, who initiated a set of innovative processes at Procter & Gamble that sparked numerous new product innovations. In all cases, the original idea for the new (continued) 00092 00a 001-014 INT r1 go. qxp 5/13/11 9:53 AM Page 6 6 INTRODUCTION business, product, or process must be the innovator’s idea. While these different types of innovators have numerous similarities, they also have some differences, as we will show in the chapters that follow. a. This is evident in the conclusions of numerous studies on entrepreneurs, including the following: â€Å"After a great deal of research, it is now often concluded that most of the psychological differences between entrepreneurs and managers in large organizations are small or non-existent† (L.W. Busenitz and J. B. Barney, â€Å"Differences Between E ntrepreneurs and Managers in Large Organizations,† Journal of Business Venturing 12, 1997). â€Å"There appears to be no discoverable pattern of personality characteristics that distinguish between successful entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs† (W. Guth, â€Å"Director’s Corner: Research in Entrepreneurship,† The Entrepreneurship Forum, winter 1991). â€Å"Most of the attempts to distinguish between entrepreneurs and small business owners or managers have discovered no differentiating features† (R. H. Brockhaus and P. S.Horwitz, â€Å"The Psychology of the Entrepreneur† in The Art and Science of Entrepreneurship, 1986). Solution) to develop a methodology for determining what percentage of a ? rm’s market value could be attributed to its existing businesses (products, services, markets). If the ? rm’s market value was higher than the cash ? ows that could be attributed to its existing businesses, then the company would have a gr owth and innovation premium (for our purposes, we’ll just call it an innovation premium). An innovation premium is the proportion of a company’s market value that cannot be accounted for from cash ? ws of its current products or businesses in its current markets. It is the premium the market gives these companies because investors expect them to come up with new products or markets—and they expect the companies to be able to generate high profits from them (see chapter 7 for details on how the premium is calculated). 100092 00a 001-014 INT r1 go. qxp 5/13/11 9:53 AM Page 7 7 Introduction It is a premium that every executive, and every company, would like to have. We unveil our list of the most innovative companies—ranked by innovation premium—in chapter 7.Not surprisingly, we found that our top twenty-five companies include some on the BusinessWeek list—such as Apple, Google, Amazon, and Procter & Gamble. These companies averaged at least a 35 percent innovation premium over the past five years. But we also learned that companies such as Salesforce. com (software), Intuitive Surgical (health care equipment), Hindustan Lever (household products), Alstom (electrical equipment), and Monsanto (chemicals) have similar premiums. And as we studied these ? rms in greater detail, we learned that they are also very innovative.As we examined both our list and the BusinessWeek list of innovative companies, we saw several patterns. First, we noticed that compared to typical companies they were far more likely to be led by an innovative founder or a leader who scored extremely high on the ? ve discovery skills that compose the innovator’s DNA (their average discovery quotient was in the eighty-eighth percentile, which meant they scored higher than 88 percent of people taking our discovery skills assessment). Innovative companies are almost always led by innovative leaders. Let us say this again: Innovative companies are almos t always led by innovative leaders.The bottom line: if you want innovation, you need creativity skills within the top management team of your company. We saw how innovative founders often imprinted their organizations with their behaviors. For example, Jeff Bezos personally excels at experimenting, so he helped create institutionalized processes within Amazon to push others to experiment. Similarly, Intuit’s Scott Cook shines at observing, so he pushes observation at Intuit. Perhaps not surprisingly, we discovered that the DNA of innovative organizations mirrored the DNA of innovative individuals.In other words, innovative people 100092 00a 001-014 INT r1 go. qxp 5/13/11 9:53 AM Page 8 8 INTRODUCTION systematically engage in questioning, observing, networking, and experimenting behaviors to spark new ideas. Similarly, innovative organizations systematically develop processes that encourage questioning, observing, networking, and experimenting by employees. Our chapters on bui lding the innovator’s DNA in your organization and team describe how you too can actively encourage and support others’ innovation efforts.Why the Ideas in This Book Should Matter to You Over the last decade, many books on the topic of innovation and creativity have been written. Some books focus on disruptive innovation, such as Clayton Christensen’s The Innovator’s Dilemma and The Innovator’s Solution. Others, such as Ten Rules for Strategic Innovators (Govindarajan and Trimble), Game Changer (A. G. La? ey and Ram Charan), and The Entrepreneurial Mindset (Rita McGrath and Ian MacMillan), examine how organizations, and organizational leaders, encourage and support innovation. Others look more speci? ally at product development and innovation processes within and across firms, such as How Breakthroughs Happen (Andrew Hargadon) and The Sources of Innovation (Eric von Hippel). Other books on innovation look at the roles individuals play in the innova tion process within companies, such as The Ten Faces of Innovation and The Art of Innovation (both by Tom Kelley of IDEO), or A Whole New Mind (Daniel Pink). Finally, other books like Creativity in Context (Teresa Amabile) and Creativity (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi) examine individual creativity and, more speci? cally, theories and research about creativity.Our book differs from the others in that it is focused squarely on individual creativity in the business context and is based on our study of a large sample of business innovators, including some big-name innovators such as Jeff Bezos (Amazon. com), Pierre Omidyar (eBay), Michael Lazaridis 100092 00a 001-014 INT r1 go. qxp 5/13/11 9:53 AM Page 9 9 Introduction A Disclaimer . . . Sort of We think it is important to remember three signi? cant points as you read The Innovator’s DNA. First, engaging in the discovery skills doesn’t ensure ? nancial success. Throughout the book, we tell stories of people who were manifestly successful at nnovating. We focus on the success stories because we are all more naturally drawn to success than failure. However, in our sample of ? ve hundred innovators, only two-thirds launched ventures or products that met our criteria of success. Many were not successful. The innovators developed the right skills— questioning, observing, networking, and experimenting—that produced an innovative venture or product, but the result was not always a ? nancial success. The point is that the discovery skills we describe are necessary, indeed critical, for generating innovative business ideas, but they don’t guarantee success.Second, failure (in a ? nancial sense) often results from not being vigilant in engaging all discovery skills. The more ? nancially successful innovators in our sample demonstrated a higher discovery quotient (scored higher on the discovery skills) than less successful ones. If you fail with an innovation, it may be that you didn’t as k all the right questions, make all of the necessary observations, talk to a large enough group of diverse people, or run the right experiments. Of course, it is also possible that you did all these things but an even newer technology emerged or some other bright innovator came up ith an even better idea. Or maybe you just didn’t excel at executing on the idea or have the resources to compete with an established ? rm that imitated your invention. Many factors can prevent a new product or business idea from gaining traction in the market. But the better you are at asking the (continued) 100092 00a 001-014 INT r1 go. qxp 5/13/11 9:53 AM Page 10 10 INTRODUCTION right questions, engaging in the right observations, eliciting ideas and feedback through networking with the right people, and running experiments, the less likely you are to fail.Third, we spotlight different innovators and innovative companies to illustrate key ideas or principles, but not to set them up as perfect exa mples of how to be innovative. Some innovators we studied were â€Å"serial innovators,† as they had developed quite a number of innovations over time and appeared motivated to continue doing so. Others bene? tted by being in the right place at the right time to make a critical observation, talk to a key person with particularly useful knowledge, or serendipitously learn from an experiment. They made an important discovery once, but they might not necessarily be apable or motivated (perhaps due to financial success) to continue generating innovative ideas. In similar fashion, we have found that innovative companies can quickly lose their innovative prowess, while others can quickly improve it. In chapter 8, we show that Apple’s innovation prowess (as measured by its innovation premium) dropped dramatically after Jobs left in 1984, but then jumped up dramatically a few years after he returned to lead the company. Procter & Gamble was a solid innovation performer before La? ey took the helm, but increased its innovation premium by 30 percent under his leadership.The point is that people and companies can change and may not always live up to our lofty expectations. (Research In Motion/BlackBerry), Michael Dell (Dell), Marc Benioff (Salesforce. com), Niklas Zennstrom (Skype), Scott Cook (Intuit), Peter Thiel (PayPal), David Neeleman (JetBlue and Azul airlines), and so on. The premise of our book is that we explain how these big names got their â€Å"big ideas† and describe a process 100092 00a 001-014 INT r1 go. qxp 5/13/11 9:53 AM Page 11 11 Introduction that readers can emulate. We describe in detail five skills that anyone can master to improve his or her own ability to be an innovative thinker.Ask yourself: Am I good at generating innovative business ideas? Do I know how to ? nd innovative people for my organization? Do I know how to train people to be more creative and innovative? Some executives respond to the last question by encouragin g employees to think outside the box. But thinking outside the box is precisely what employees (and executives) are trying to ? gure out. We’ve even watched some executives answer the â€Å"How do I think outside the box? † question with another equally generic (and unhelpful) answer, â€Å"Be creative. † If you ? d yourself struggling with actionable answers to these questions, read on to gain a solid grasp of ? ve skills that can make all the difference when facing your next innovation challenge. All leaders have problems and opportunities sitting in front of them for which they have no solution. It might be a new process. It might be a new product or service. It might be a new business model for an old business. In every case, the skills you build by putting into practice the innovator’s DNA may literally save your job, your organization, and perhaps your community. Indeed, we’ve found that if ou want to rise to the highest levels of your organi zation— to a business unit manager, president, or CEO position—you need strong discovery skills. And if you want to lead a truly innovative organization, you likely will need to excel at those skills. We hope that The Innovator’s DNA will encourage you to reclaim some of your youthful curiosity. Staying curious keeps us engaged and our organizations alive. 3 Imagine how competitive your company will be ten years from now without innovators if its people didn’t find any new ways to improve its processes, products, or services. Clearly, your company would not survive.Innovators constitute the core of any company’s, or even country’s, ability to compete. 100092 00a 001-014 INT r1 go. qxp 5/13/11 9:53 AM Page 12 12 INTRODUCTION How The Innovator’s DNA Unfolds Like a pocket-sized map in a foreign place, our book serves as a guide to your innovation journey. The first part (chapters 1 through 6) explains why the innovator’s DNA matte rs and how the pieces can combine into a personalized approach to innovation. We put ? esh onto the â€Å"think different† slogan by explaining in detail the habits and techniques that allow innovators to think differently.The chapters in part one give rich detail about how to master the specific skills that are key to generating novel ideas—associating, questioning, observing, networking, and experimenting. The second part (chapters 7 through 10) ampli? es the building blocks of innovation by showing how the discovery skills of innovators described in part one operate in organizations and teams. Chapter 7 introduces our ranking of the world’s most innovative companies based on each company’s innovation premium, a market value premium based on investors’ expectations of future innovations.We also provide a framework for seeing how the innovator’s DNA works in the world’s most innovative teams and organizations. We call this the  "3P† framework because it contains the discovery-driven building blocks of highly innovative organizations or teams—people, processes, and philosophies. Chapter 8 focuses on building-block number one, people, and describes how innovative organizations achieve maximum impact by actively recruiting, encouraging, and rewarding people who display strong discovery skills—and blending innovators effectively with folks who have strong execution skills.Chapter 9 shows innovative team and company processes that mirror the ? ve discovery skills of disruptive innovators. In other words, innovative companies rely on processes to encourage—even require— their people to engage in questioning, observing, networking, experimenting, and associating. Chapter 10 focuses on the funda- 100092 00a 001-014 INT r1 go. qxp 5/13/11 9:53 AM Page 13 13 Introduction mental philosophies that guide behavior within innovative teams and organizations. These philosophies not only gu ide disruptive innovators but also get imprinted in the organization, giving people the courage to innovate.Finally, for those interested in building discovery skills in yourself, your team, and even the next generation (young people you know), in appendix C we guide you through a process of taking your innovator’s DNA to the next level. We’re delighted that you’re starting or continuing your own innovation journey. We have watched scores of individuals take the ideas in this book to heart and who describe how they have dramatically improved their innovation skills as a result. They continually confirm that the journey is worth taking.We think you’ll feel the same way once you’ve finished reading about and mastering the skills of a disruptive innovator. 100092 00a 001-014 INT r1 go. qxp 5/13/11 9:53 AM Page 14 100092 01 015-040 r1 go. qxp 5/13/11 9:56 AM Page 15 PA R T O N E Disruptive Innovation Starts with You 100092 01 015-040 r1 go. qxp 5/13/11 9:56 AM Page 16 100092 01 015-040 r1 go. qxp 5/13/11 9:56 AM Page 17 1 The DNA of Disruptive Innovators â€Å"I want to put a ding in the universe. † —Steve Jobs, founder and CEO, Apple Inc. D to generate innovative, even disruptive, business ideas? Do I know how to ?nd creative people or how to train people to think outside the box?These questions stump most senior executives, who know that the ability to innovate is the â€Å"secret sauce† of business success. Unfortunately, most of us know very little about what makes one person more creative than another. Perhaps for this reason, we stand in awe of visionary entrepreneurs such as Apple’s Steve Jobs, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, and eBay’s Pierre Omidyar, and innovative executives like P A. G. La? ey, Bain & Company’s Orit Gadiesh, and eBay’s Meg Whitman. How do these people come up with groundbreaking new ideas? If it were possible to discover the inner O I KNOW HOW 17 100092 01 0 15-040 r1 go. xp 5/13/11 9:56 AM Page 18 18 DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION STARTS WITH YOU workings of the masters’ minds, what could the rest of us learn about how innovation really happens? Ideas for Innovation Consider the case of Jobs, who was recently ranked the world’s number-one best-performing CEO in a study published by Harvard Business Review. 1 You may recall Apple’s famous â€Å"Think Different† ad campaign, whose slogan says it all. The campaign featured innovators from different ? elds, including Albert Einstein, Picasso, Richard Branson, and John Lennon, but Jobs’s face might easily have been featured among the others.After all, everyone knows that Jobs is an innovative guy, that he knows how to think different. But the question is, just how does he do it? Indeed, how does any innovator think different? The common answer is that the ability to think creatively is genetic. Most of us believe that some people, like Jobs, are simply born with cr eative genes, while others are not. Innovators are supposedly right brained, meaning that they are genetically endowed with creative abilities. The rest of us are left brained—logical, linear thinkers, with little or no ability to think creatively.If you believe this, we’re going to tell you that you are largely wrong. At least within the realm of business innovation, virtually everyone has some capacity for creativity and innovative thinking. Even you. So using the example of Jobs, let’s explore this ability to think different. How did Jobs come up with some of his innovative ideas in the past? And what does his journey tell us? Innovative Idea #1: Personal Computers Should Be Quiet and Small One of the key innovations in the Apple II, the computer that launched Apple, came from Jobs’s decision that it should be quiet. His conviction resulted, in part, from all the time he’d spent 00092 01 015-040 r1 go. qxp 5/13/11 9:56 AM Page 19 19 The DNA of D isruptive Innovators studying Zen and meditating. 2 He found the noise of a computer fan distracting. So Jobs was determined that the Apple II would have no fan, which was a fairly radical notion at the time. Nobody else had questioned the need for a fan because all computers required a fan to prevent overheating. Getting rid of the fan wouldn’t be possible without a different type of power supply that generated less heat. So Jobs went on the hunt for someone who could design a new power supply. Through his network of contacts, he found RodHolt, a forty-something, chain-smoking socialist from the Atari crowd. 3 Pushed by Jobs, Holt abandoned the ? fty-year-old conventional linear unit technology and created a switching power supply that revolutionized the way power was delivered to electronics products. Jobs’s pursuit of quiet and Holt’s ability to deliver an innovative power supply that didn’t need a fan made the Apple II the quietest and smallest person al computer ever made (a smaller computer was possible because it didn’t need extra space for the fan). Had Jobs never asked, â€Å"Why does a computer need a fan? † and â€Å"How do we keep a computer cool without a fan? the Apple computer as we know it would not exist. Innovative Idea #2: The Macintosh User Interface, Operating System, and Mouse The seed for the Macintosh, with its revolutionary operating system, was planted when Jobs visited Xerox PARC in 1979. Xerox, the copier company, created the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), a research lab charged with designing the office of the future. Jobs wrangled a visit to PARC in exchange for offering Xerox an opportunity to invest in Apple. Xerox didn’t know how to capitalize on the exciting things going on at PARC, but Jobs did. Jobs carefully observed the PARC computer screen ? led with icons, pull-down menus, and overlapping windows—all controlled 100092 01 015-040 r1 go. qxp 5/13/11 9:56 AM Page 20 20 DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION STARTS WITH YOU by the click of a mouse. â€Å"What we saw was incomplete and ? awed,† Jobs said,â€Å"but the germ of the idea was there . . . within ten minutes it was obvious to me that all computers would work like this. †4 He spent the next ? ve years at Apple leading the design team that would produce the Macintosh computer, the ? rst personal computer with a graphical user interface (GUI) and mouse. Oh, and he saw something else during the PARC visit.He got his ? rst taste of objectoriented programming, which became the key to the OSX operating system that Apple acquired from Jobs’s other start-up, NeXT Computers. What if Jobs had never visited Xerox PARC to observe what was going on there? Innovative Idea #3: Desktop Publishing on the Mac The Macintosh, with its LaserWriter printer, was the ? rst computer to bring desktop publishing to the masses. Jobs claims that the â€Å"beautiful typography† available on the Macintosh would never have been introduced if he hadn’t dropped in on a calligraphy class at Reed College in Oregon. Says Jobs:Reed College offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully handcalligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn’t have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can’t capture, and I found it fascinating. None of this had even a hope of any ractical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the ? rst Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It 100092 01 015-040 r1 go. qxp 5/13/11 9:56 AM Page 21 21 The DNA o f Disruptive Innovators was the ? rst computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it’s likely that no personal computer would have them. 5 What if Jobs hadn’t decided to drop in on the calligraphy classes when he had dropped out of college?So what do we learn from Jobs’s ability to think different? Well, first we see that his innovative ideas didn’t spring fully formed from his head, as if they were a gift from the Idea Fairy. When we examine the origins of these ideas, we typically ? nd that the catalyst was: (1) a question that challenged the status quo, (2) an observation of a technology, company, or customer, (3) an experience or experiment where he was trying out something new, or (4) a conversation with someone who alerted him to an important piece of knowledge or opportunity. In f act, by carefully examining Jobs’s behaviors and, speci? ally, how those behaviors brought in new diverse knowledge that triggered an innovative idea, we can trace his innovative ideas to their source. What is the moral of this story? We want to convince you that creativity is not just a genetic endowment and not just a cognitive skill. Rather, we’ve learned that creative ideas spring from behavioral skills that you, too, can acquire to catalyze innovative ideas in yourself and in others. What Makes Innovators Different? So what makes innovators different from the rest of us? Most of us believe this question has been answered. It’s a genetic endowment. Some people are ight brained, which allows them to be more intuitive and divergent thinkers. Either you have it or you don’t. But does research really support this idea? Our research con? rms 100092 01 015-040 r1 go. qxp 5/13/11 9:56 AM Page 22 22 DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION STARTS WITH YOU others’ work th at creativity skills are not simply genetic traits endowed at birth, but that they can be developed. In fact, the most comprehensive study con? rming this was done by a group of researchers, Merton Reznikoff, George Domino, Carolyn Bridges, and Merton Honeymon, who studied creative abilities in 117 pairs of identical and fraternal twins.Testing twins aged fifteen to twenty-two, they found that only about 30 percent of the performance of identical twins on a battery of ten creativity tests could be attributed to genetics. 6 In contrast, roughly 80 percent to 85 percent of the twins’ performance on general intelligence (IQ) tests could be attributed to genetics. 7 So general intelligence (at least the way scientists measure it) is basically a genetic endowment, but creativity is not. Nurture trumps nature as far as creativity goes. Six other creativity studies of identical twins con? rm the Reznikoff et al. esult: roughly 25 percent to 40 percent of what we do innovatively stem s from genetics. 8 That means that roughly two-thirds of our innovation skills still come through learning—from first understanding the skill, then practicing it, and ultimately gaining con? dence in our capacity to create. This is one reason that individuals who grow up in societies that promote community versus individualism and hierarchy over merit—such as Japan, China, Korea, and many Arab nations—are less likely to creatively challenge the status quo and turn out innovations (or win Nobel prizes).To be sure, many innovators in our study seemed genetically gifted. But more importantly, they often described how they acquired innovation skills from role models who made it â€Å"safe† as well as exciting to discover new ways of doing things. If innovators can be made and not just born, how then do they come up with great new ideas? Our research on roughly ?ve hundred innovators compared to roughly ? ve thousand executives led us to identify five discover y skills that distinguish innovators from typical executives (for detail on the research 00092 01 015-040 r1 go. qxp 5/13/11 9:56 AM Page 23 23 The DNA of Disruptive Innovators methods, see appendix B). First and foremost, innovators count on a cognitive skill that we call â€Å"associational thinking† or simply â€Å"associating. † Associating happens as the brain tries to synthesize and make sense of novel inputs. It helps innovators discover new directions by making connections across seemingly unrelated questions, problems, or ideas. Innovative breakthroughs often happen at the intersection of diverse disciplines and ? elds.Author Frans Johanssen described this phenomenon as â€Å"the Medici effect,† referring to the creative explosion in Florence when the Medici family brought together creators from a wide range of disciplines—sculptors, scientist, poets, philosophers, painters, and architects. As these individuals connected, they created new ideas a t the intersection of their respective fields, thereby spawning the Renaissance, one of the most innovative eras in history. Put simply, innovative thinkers connect fields, problems, or ideas that others ? nd unrelated.The other four discovery skills trigger associational thinking by helping innovators increase their stock of building-block ideas from which innovative ideas spring. Speci? cally, innovators engage the following behavioral skills more frequently: Questioning. Innovators are consummate questioners who show a passion for inquiry. Their queries frequently challenge the status quo, just as Jobs did when he asked, â€Å"Why does a computer need a fan? † They love to ask, â€Å"If we tried this, what would happen? † Innovators, like Jobs, ask questions to understand how things really are today, why they are hat way, and how they might be changed or disrupted. Collectively, their questions provoke new insights, connections, possibilities, and directions. We fou nd that innovators consistently demonstrate a high Q/A ratio, where questions (Q) not only outnumber answers (A) in a typical conversation, but are valued at least as highly as good answers. 100092 01 015-040 r1 go. qxp 5/13/11 9:56 AM Page 24 24 DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION STARTS WITH YOU Observing. Innovators are also intense observers. They carefully watch the world around them—including customers, products, services, technologies, and companies—and the bservations help them gain insights into and ideas for new ways of doing things. Jobs’s observation trip to Xerox PARC provided the germ of insight that was the catalyst for both the Macintosh’s innovative operating system and mouse, and Apple’s current OSX operating system. Networking. Innovators spend a lot of time and energy ?nding and testing ideas through a diverse network of individuals who vary wildly in their backgrounds and perspectives. Rather than simply doing social networking or networking for resources, they actively search for new ideas by talking to people who may offer a radically different view of things.For example, Jobs talked with an Apple Fellow named Alan Kay, who told him to â€Å"go visit these crazy guys up in San Rafael, California. † The crazy guys were Ed Catmull and Alvy Ray, who headed up a small computer graphics operation called Industrial Light & Magic (the group created special effects for George Lucas’s movies). Fascinated by their operation, Jobs bought Industrial Light & Magic for $10 million, renamed it Pixar, and eventually took it public for $1 billion. Had he never chatted with Kay, he would never have wound up purchasing Pixar, and the world might never have thrilled to wonderful animated ? ms like Toy Story,WALL-E, and Up. Experimenting. Finally, innovators are constantly trying out new experiences and piloting new ideas. Experimenters unceasingly explore the world intellectually and experientially, holding convictions at bay and testing hypotheses along the way. They visit new places, try new things, seek new information, and experiment to learn new things. Jobs, for example, has tried new experiences all his life—from meditation and 100092 01 015-040 r1 go. qxp 5/13/11 9:56 AM Page 25 25 The DNA of Disruptive Innovators living in an ashram in India to dropping in on a calligraphy class at Reed College.All these varied experiences would later trigger ideas for innovations at Apple Computer. Collectively, these discovery skills—the cognitive skill of associating and the behavioral skills of questioning, observing, networking, and experimenting—constitute what we call the innovator’s DNA, or the code for generating innovative business ideas. The Courage to Innovate Why do innovators question, observe, network, and experiment more than typical executives? As we examined what motivates them, we discovered two common themes. First, they actively desire to change the status quo .Second, they regularly take smart risks to make that change happen. Consider the consistency of language that innovators use to describe their motives. Jobs wants to â€Å"put a ding in the universe. † Google cofounder Larry Page has said he’s out to â€Å"change the world. † These innovators steer entirely clear of a common cognitive trap called the status quo bias—the tendency to prefer an existing state of affairs to alternative ones. Most of us simply accept the status quo. We may even like routine and prefer not to rock the boat. We adhere to the saying, â€Å"if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,† while not really questioning whether â€Å"it† is â€Å"broke. In contrast, innovators see many things as â€Å"broke. † And they want to ? x them. How do innovators break the status quo? One way is to refuse to be dictated by other people’s schedules. Just glance at an innovative executive’s typical calendar a nd you will ? nd a radically different schedule compared to less inventive executives. We found that innovative entrepreneurs (who are also CEOs) spend 50 percent more time on discovery activities (questioning, observing, experimenting, and networking) than CEOs with no innovation track 100092 01 015-040 r1 go. qxp /13/11 9:56 AM Page 26 26 DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION STARTS WITH YOU record. That translated into spending almost one more day each week on discovery activities. They understand that ful? lling their dreams to change the world means they’ve got to spend a signi? cant amount of time trying to discover how to change the world. And having the courage to innovate means that they are actively looking for opportunities to change the world. Embracing a mission for change makes it much easier to take smart risks, make mistakes, and most of all, learn quickly from them.Most innovative entrepreneurs we studied felt that mistakes are nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, they are an expected cost of doing business. â€Å"If the people running Amazon. com don’t make some signi? cant mistakes,† Jeff Bezos told us, â€Å"then we won’t be doing a good job for our shareholders because we won’t be swinging for the fences. † In short, innovators rely on their â€Å"courage to innovate†Ã¢â‚¬â€an active bias against the status quo and an un? inching willingness to take smart risks—to transform ideas into powerful impact. In summary, the DNA of innovators—or the code for enerating innovative ideas—is expressed in the model shown in ? gure 1-1. The key skill for generating innovative ideas is the cognitive skill of associational thinking. The reason that some people generate more associations than others is partly because their brains are just wired that way. But a more critical reason is that they more frequently engage in the behavioral skills of questioning, observing, networking, and experimenting. These are the catalysts for associational thinking. Of course, the next question is, why do some people engage these four skills more than others?The answer is that they have the courage to innovate. They are willing to embrace a mission for change and take risks to make change happen. The bottom line is that to improve your ability to generate innovative ideas, you need to practice associational thinking and more frequently engage in questioning, observing, 100092 01 015-040 r1 go. qxp 5/13/11 9:56 AM Page 27 27 The DNA of Disruptive Innovators FIGURE 1-1 The innovator’s DNA model for generating innovative ideas Courage to innovate Behavioral skills Cognitive skill to synthesize novel inputs QuestioningChallenging the status quo Taking risks Observing Associational thinking Networking Innovative business idea Experimenting networking, and experimenting. That will likely only happen if you can somehow cultivate the courage to innovate. As innovators actively engage in their discove ry skills over a lifetime, they build discovery habits, and they become de? ned by them. They grow increasingly con? dent in their ability to discover what’s next, and they believe deeply that generating creative insights is their job. It is not something to delegate to someone else.As A. G. La? ey declared, â€Å"innovation is the central job of every leader—business unit managers, functional leaders, and the CEO. †9 The Innovator’s DNA We’ve just told you that the ability to be innovative is not based primarily on genetics. At the same time, we’re using the DNA metaphor to describe the inner workings of innovators, which suggests that it is. Bear with us for a moment. (And welcome to the world of innovation, where the ability to synthesize two seemingly opposing ideas is the type of associating that produces novel 00092 01 015-040 r1 go. qxp 5/13/11 9:56 AM Page 28 28 DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION STARTS WITH YOU insights. ) Recent developments in the ? eld of gene therapy show that it is possible to modify and strengthen your physical DNA, for example, to help ward off diseases. 10 Likewise, it is metaphorically possible to strengthen your personal innovator’s DNA. Let us provide an illustration. Imagine that you have an identical twin, endowed with the same brains and natural talents that you have. You’re both given one week to come up with a creative new business idea.During that week, you come up with ideas alone, just thinking in your room. By contrast, your twin (1) talks with ten people— including an engineer, a musician, a stay-at-home dad, and a designer—about the venture; (2) visits three innovative start-ups to observe what they do; (3) samples five â€Å"new to the market† products and takes them apart; (4) shows a prototype he’s built to five people, and (5) asks â€Å"What if I tried this? † and â€Å"What would make this not work? † at least ten times eac h day during these networking, observing, and experimenting activities.Who do you bet will come up with the more innovative (and usable) idea? My guess is that you’d bet on your twin, and not because he has better natural (genetic) creative abilities. Of course, the anchor weight of genetics is still there, but it is not the dominant predictor. People can learn to more capably come up with innovative solutions to problems by acting in the way that your twin did. As figure 1-2 shows, innovative entrepreneurs rarely display across-the-board strength in observing, experimenting, and networking, and actually don’t need to. All of the high-pro? e innovative entrepreneurs in our study scored above the seventieth percentile in associating and questioning. The innovators seemed to hold these two discovery skills more universally. But the innovators we studied didn’t need world-class strength in the other behaviors. It certainly helped if they excelled at one of the four skills and were strong in at least two. If you hope to be a better 100092 01 015-040 r1 go. qxp 5/13/11 9:56 AM Page 29 29 The DNA of Disruptive Innovators Discovery Skill Strengths Differ for Disruptive Innovators To understand that innovative entrepreneurs develop and use ifferent skills, look at ? gure 1-2. It shows the percentile rank scores on each of the ? ve discovery skills for four well-known founders and innovators: Pierre Omidyar (eBay), Michael Dell (Dell), Michael Lazaridis (Research In Motion), and Scott Cook (Intuit). The percentile rank indicates the percentage of over ? ve thousand executives and innovators in our database who scored lower on that particular skill. A particular skill is measured by the frequency and intensity with which these individuals engage in activities that compose the skill.FIGURE 1-2 High-pro? le innovators’ discovery skills pro? le 100 90 Percentile rank 80 70 Mike Lazaridis Pierre Omidyar Scott Cook Michael Dell Noninnovators 60 50 40 30 20 10 or kin g Ne tw en tin g Ex p er im in g bs er v O ni ng io ue st Q As s oc iat in g 0 As you can see, the pattern for each innovative entrepreneur is different. For example, Omidyar is much more likely to acquire his ideas through questioning (ninety-fifty percentile) and (continued) 100092 01 015-040 r1 go. qxp 5/13/11 9:56 AM Page 30 30 DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION STARTS WITH YOU bserving (eighty-seventh percentile), Dell through experimenting (ninetieth percentile) and networking (ninety-eighth percentile), Cook through observing (eighty-eighth percentile) and questioning (eighty-third percentile), and Lazaridis through questioning (ninety-sixth percentile) and networking (ninetyeighth percentile). The point is that each of these innovative entrepreneurs did not score high on all ? ve of the discovery skills. They each combined the discovery skills uniquely to forge new insights. Just as each person’s physical DNA is unique, an innovator’s DNA comprises a uni que combination f skills and behaviors. innovator, you will need to ? gure out which of these skills you can improve and which can be distinguishing skills to help you generate innovative ideas. Delivery Skills: Why Most Senior Executives Don’t Think Different We’ve spent the past eight years interviewing scores of senior executives—mostly at large companies—asking them to describe the most novel and valuable strategic insights that they had generated during their careers. Somewhat surprisingly, we found that top executives rarely mentioned an innovative business idea that they had personally generated.They were extremely intelligent and talented individuals who were accomplished at delivering results, but they didn’t have much direct, personal experience with generating innovative business ideas. In contrast to innovators who seek to fundamentally change existing business models, products, or processes, most senior executives work hard to efficien tly deliver the next thing that should be done given the existing business model. That is, they 100092 01 015-040 r1 go. qxp 5/13/11 9:56 AM Page 31 31 The DNA of Disruptive Innovators I’m Not Steve Jobs . . . Is This Relevant?OK, so you’re not Steve Jobs. Or Jeff Bezos. Or any other famous business innovator. But that doesn’t mean you can’t learn from these innovators. You can get better at innovating, even if most of your innovations are somewhat incremental in nature. We’ve seen it happen, and we’ve seen that it can make a difference. We’ve seen a pharmaceutical executive practice a questioning technique (see chapter 3) each day to identify key strategic issues facing his division. After three months, his boss told him that he’d become the most effective strategic thinker on his team.Within six months, he was promoted to a corporate strategic planning job. â€Å"I just improved my ability to ask questions,† he told us . We’ve seen MBA students in our classes use the observing, networking, and experimenting techniques to generate entrepreneurial business ideas. One got the idea for launching a company that uses bacteria to eat pollution from networking with someone he met at a neighborhood barbeque. Another observed that the best English speakers in Brazil were people who watched American movies and television. So he launched a company that sells software that helps people learn English by watching movies.Many innovative ideas may seem small, such as a new process for effectively screening job recruits or a better way to build customer loyalty, but they are valuable new ideas nonetheless. And if you come up with enough of them, they will de? nitely help you advance in your career. The point is this: you don’t have to be Steve Jobs to generate innovative ideas for your business. work inside the box. They shine at converting a vision or goal into the speci? c tasks to achieve the de? n ed goal. They organize work and conscientiously execute logical, detailed, data-driven plans of action.In short, most executives excel at execution, including the 100092 01 015-040 r1 go. qxp 5/13/11 9:56 AM Page 32 32 DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION STARTS WITH YOU following four delivery skills: analyzing, planning, detail-oriented implementing, and disciplined executing. (We’ll say more about these skills later in the chapter and in chapter 8, but for now we need only note that they are critical for delivering results and translating an innovative idea into reality. ) Many innovators realize that they are de? cient in these critical skills and, consequently, try to team up with others who possess them.For example, eBay founder Omidyar quickly recognized the need for execution skills, so he invited Jeff Skoll, a Stanford MBA, and Meg Whitman, a Harvard MBA, to join him. â€Å"Jeff Skoll and I had very complementary skills,† Omidyar told us. â€Å"I’d say I did more of the creative work developing the product and solving problems around the product, while Jeff was involved in the more analytical and practical side of things. He was the one who would listen to an idea of mine and then say, ‘Ok, let’s ? gure out how to get this done. ’† Skoll andWhitman professionalized the eBay Web site, added ? xed-price auctions, drove international expansion, developed new categories such as autos, and integrated important capabilities such as PayPal. Why do most senior executives excel in the delivery skills, but are only above average in discovery skills? It is vital to understand that the skills critical to an organization’s success vary systematically throughout the business life cycle. (See ? gure 1-4). For example, in the start-up phase of an innovative venture, the founders are obviously more discovery-driven and entrepreneurial.Discovery skills are crucial early in the business life cycle because the company’s key task is to generate new business ideas worth pursuing. Thus, discovery (exploration) skills are highly valued at this stage and delivery (execution) skills are secondary. However, once innovative entrepreneurs come up with a promising new business idea and then shape that idea into a bona fide business opportunity, the company begins to grow and then must pay attention to building the processes necessary to scale the idea. 100092 01 015-040 r1 go. qxp 5/13/11 9:56 AM Page 33 33 The DNA of Disruptive Innovators The Discovery and Delivery Skills Matrix:How Innovators Stack Up To test the assertion that innovative executives have a different set of skills than typical executives, we used our innovator’s DNA assessment to measure the percentile rank of a sample of highpro? le innovative entrepreneurs (founder CEOs of companies on BusinessWeek’s list of the top one hundred most innovative companies) on both the ? ve discovery skills (associating, questioning, observing, net working, experimenting) and the four delivery or execution skills: analyzing, planning, detail-oriented implementing, and self-disciplined executing. We averaged their percentile rank scores across the ? e discovery skills to get an overall percentile rank, and then did the same thing across the four delivery skills to get an overall percentile rank. We refer to the overall percentile rank across the ? ve discovery skills as the â€Å"discovery quotient† or DQ. While intellectual quotient (or IQ) tests are designed to measure general intelligence and emotional quotient (or EQ) assessments measure emotional intelligence (ability to identify, assess, and control the emotions of ourselves and others), discovery quotient (DQ) is designed to measure our ability to discover ideas for new ventures, products, and processes.Figure 1-3 shows that the high-pro? le innovative entrepreneurs scored in the eighty-eighth percentile on discovery skills, but only scored in the ? fty-sixth perc entile on delivery skills. In short, they were just average at execution. We then conducted the same analysis for a sample of nonfounder CEOs (executives who had never started a new business). We found that most senior executives in large organizations were the mirror image of innovative entrepreneurs: they scored around the eightieth percentile on delivery skills, while scoring only above average on (continued) 100092 01 015-040 r1 go. qxp 5/13/11 9:56 AMPage 34 34 DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION STARTS WITH YOU FIGURE 1-3 Discovery-delivery skills matrix 100 (Percentile score) 75 Discovery skills Founder CEOs at innovati