(God Told Phil Collins To Yell At Me)
Over the next few months I continued to work on the SoftVoice System, by expanding it’s capabilities, improving it’s voice recognition rate with new software, adding the ability to draw in color, and I even got to system to speak back to you! I installed voice synthesizing for the first time. I guess at this point I created another first. I created a computer that will speak and listen to its user and do what it’s told.
It was great to see Herb alive and smiling. Herb was cautious, and happy. Herb eventfully left St. Elizabeth’s hospital to live and work on his own. A funny note I remembered as I completed the last entry. The last time I saw Herb I was with my new wife Sherry. She joined me on a trip to visit Herb. As we were leaving the hospital I was explaining how sever Herb’s injuries were and how close to death Herb was, when we heard someone behind us. It was Herb in his regular, not an electric wheelchair. Herb, by now, had the partial use of both of his arms. He could use his arms enough to push his own wheelchair and type on his keyboard.
(Innovators Rules #10 & #11)
From the last story we realize two more important Rules of being an Innovator; Rule #10: Don’t Force Your Product Into One Category and Rule #11: The Roller Coaster Ride.
Rule #10 is easy to forget but important to remember. If you aren’t constantly aware of this rule, you could miss out on market segments you never thought of and like in the examples below the missed markets were larger than the original markets. And, of course when I say “markets” I mean “revenues”.
Rule #11 is a rule you can never forget about. Being an Innovator is getting up every morning, driving to the Innovator’s Amusement Part (your office), and stepping on that roller coaster ride for another 12 hours of excitement.
Here are the next two Rules of Innovation…
(Is It Possible?)
As I left ST. Elizabeth’s hospital that morning I had a strange sense of profound satisfaction. It was the first time I had ever designed and built something for someone who was so in need. It was gratifying. It was very exciting for me to see that someone could benefit so greatly from a product the I developed. I never experienced anything like this before. … Continue Reading
(Are your Cheap, Committed and Self-Confident?)
In the last installment of our Innovators story we saw three new Rules of Innovation emerge; Rule #7: Innovators Are Cheap, Rule #8: Commitment Versus Contribution, and Rule #9: Embrace Your Self – Confidence.
… Continue Reading
After several months of therapy, rehabilitation, and instruction on how to live as a quadriplegic, Leon returned home, was working as an engineer, earning a good living, and doing very well on his own. In the fall of 1998; however, we lost Leon due to medical complications. Because of the quadriplegic’s paralysis, they remain physically inactive and often contract pneumonia and die of infection. This is how most quadriplegics die as we have recently seen with the actor, Christopher Reeves who became a C-2 Quadriplegic due to a horse ridding accident. Chris was the last disable person I got to work with using my SenSei System.
(The World’s First Voice Activated Environmental Control Computer)
During the remaining four days before the demonstration, I retreated to my garage both day and night. What would this country be without its garages? Some people think that it’s the entrepreneurial spirit that makes us so innovative, but it may very well be that most everyone has a garage.
(WII-FM)Whenever I go into a company or organization to train, or teach any marketing class the first thing I teach is always ask “What’s In It For Me?”, WII-FM. What do I get out of it? What do I walk away with? What are my take-a-ways?
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Director, Consumer Services
General MIlls
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Senior Vice President
Omaha Steaks
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NCO Group
