And, once more, ...

Thesis: If you are a jogger, you need a stopwatch to measure your running speed. Antithesis: You do not need a stopwatch to measure your running speed. Synthesis: Devise a sensor embedded in your shoe that measures your running speed.

The solution is the Nike Plus shoe, that has a sensor embedded in the sole which can talk to an Apple iPod. When used together, the iPod Nano will measure the distance, time and pace of your run, while playing your favourite music. The results can then be uploaded on nikeplus.com for comparing your achievements with fellow jogging enthusiasts.

Rock 'n run, as the Apple site http://www.apple.com/ipod/nike/ describes it.

So, again, what's your synthesis today?

Success

What brings success? Three things in my opinion. Unwavering focus, the strength to keep on trying undeterred by repeated failure, and an ability to unfailingly seize any opportunity.

The first two qualities are summed up in a Sanskrit verse. Though actually meant for describing the qualities desired in an ideal student, it nevertheless is an apt description for any striving professional

Kako chesta bako dhyanam shayana nidra tathaiva cha

Attempting like a crow, focusing like a crane, with but little sleep and rest.

Those who have seen a crow attempting to snatch away some food laid out in the sun on the balcony or terrace will know how steadfastly it keeps on trying. Throw a stone at it, chase it out with stick or just shout at it, it caws and flies away a little distance, just to come back and try once more. Kako chesta – keep on trying like a crow.

And what about the crane? It stands in water on one leg, focusing so deeply on the fish below, that it seems lost in its own world and oblivious to the world, just like a meditating yogi. Bako dhyanam. Only thing is that it is not meditating, it is just focusing on one thing, and only one thing. It has withdrawn its mind from everything else.

And then there is the ability to seize an opportunity. Opportunities are like those sharp, low catches going past the third slip in a one day cricket match. Not only are they are difficult, they also do not come by too often. But then success rewards the team which can make the best use of these rare and difficult chances. And so does it reward those in life who are willing to go after the smallest of opportunities without dragging their feet and inventing excuses. In Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, Brutus sums it up,

There is a tide in the affairs of men
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat;
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.

Take the current when it serves. Seize the opportunity. Do not hesitate and drop the catch.

Once more...

Once more,

Thesis: The functionality of electronics is limited by its principle, which depends solely on the charge carried by electrons. Antithesis: Electronics need not be limited by the charge carried by electrons. Synthesis: Create applications based on properties of electrons other than charge.

The solution is the newly founded science of Spintronics, which depends of the spin of electrons, as opposed to conventional electronics which harnesses just their charge. Spintronics devices store information as a particular orientation of spin, up or down. As spin is a property that makes electrons act as tiny bar magnets, since 1998 hard disk drive heads have been using a spintronics effect called giant magnetoresistance to detect the microscopic magnetic fields on the disk representing the 1s and 0s of the data.

Another spintronics application is a non-volatile memory technology called MRAM – Magenetoresistive Random Access Memory, its non-volatility stemming from the fact that it stores information as magnetisation. It requires far less refresh than conventional DRAM, and its speed is compatible to SRAM (CPU cache memory), and it is likely to lead to more storage in mobile devices with longer battery life.

Freescale Semiconductor, a Motorola spinoff, has been selling MRAM since 2006.Though MRAM is currently very expensive and available only in low densities, and targeted at a few specialised customers, a MRAM disk could be expected sometime around 2010, possibly replacing current hard disks and giving us computers that can be instantly turned on.

Look around yourself. What is your synthesis today?

Struggle

The 2007 Nobel Prize in Medicine was shared between three scientists, Mario Capecchi, Sir Martin Evans and Oliver Smithies, for, as the Nobel site describes, "their discoveries of principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem cells". Dr Capecchi's contribution, in the words of The Economist (Oct 13-19 issue), was to "work out how to define and excise particular pieces of DNA from a cell while leaving the rest intact".

But what interests me here is not so much is the science behind his work, but the struggles of his childhood.

Mario Capecchi was born in 1937 in Verona, Italy. During the Second World War his airman father was killed in Libya, while his mother was sent to the Dachau concentration camp for belonging to an anti-Fascist group. And at the age of four and a half years, he was on his own on the streets of Northern Italy. For four years he lived in orphanages and moved around with groups of homeless children, nearly dying of malnutrition. His mother, after being freed from Dachau, located him in a hospital after a yearlong search. He had a fever, and was surviving on just chicory coffee and bread crust.

He moved with his mother to America in 1946, after an uncle sent them money. In 1961 he received his BS degree in chemistry and physics and in 1967 completed his Ph.D. in biophysics from Harvard.

From a homeless street child to a Nobel Laureate; a difficult journey indeed. In fact much more difficult than any of us is ever likely to face. So if you think that your own struggles are too difficult, and you are almost ready to give in, do recall once more the life of this great man.

Learning from Apple

In a cover story about Apple, the June 9-15 issue of The Economist points out the lessons other organisations can learn from it.

1. Innovation need not come only from inside. Though seen as an innovator, Apple's success lies in putting together technologies from both outside inside, but adding its own polish. The iPod contained off the shelf components as well Apple's own ingredients. Even iTunes was bought and the spruced up.
   
2. Products need to be designed around the needs of the user, not the demands of technology. Many tech firms think smart technology is enough to sell products, but Apple has always combined technology with simplicity and ease of use. Though the iPod may not have been the first digital-music player, it was probably the first to make the transfer and organisation of music easy enough for anybody and everybody.
   
3. Sometimes companies may need to ignore what the market says it wants. The iPod was ridiculed when it was launched, but Steve Jobs stuck to it.
   
4. Fail wisely. Apple has had its share of failures, but has always learned from it. The attitude should be not to stigmatise failures, but rather tolerate it and learn from it.
   

Customer Service

In the book Chief Customer Officer, Jeanne Bliss lays down three primary reasons why customer service suffers: Motivation, Metrics and Mechanics.

• Motivation: Employees will follow the path laid down by the leaders of the organisation. They will always want to be a part of what is of the greatest importance to the organisation. So if the leaders are not clearly signalling the importance of customer service through their actions, and not just words and catchy slogans, the rest of the organisation will simply follow suit.
  
• Metrics: Metrics are criteria by which success is measured, and are clear guidelines to employees how they should focus their efforts. Very few organisations have metrics measuring customer satisfaction that are followed with the same zeal as revenue and profit targets. Without metrics, there is simply no initiative for the employees to drive performance in customer satisfaction.
  
• Mechanics: When a customer interacts with an organisation, he/she has to often move along from one part of the organisation to the other. If the processes for moving the customer along from one department to the other is not well oiled and the departments act and behave as water tight compartments, it causes the customer a lot of pain. In many organisations, the mechanics to move the customer seamlessly across departments is often missing, leaving the customer bewildered and often disgruntled. How often we ourselves have said, "Don't you people ever talk to each other?"

Thesis- Antithesis-Synthesis

The phrase, Thesis -Antithesis -Synthesis, forms an important tenet of Marxism, and is said to have been developed by the German philosopher Hegel. Thesis stands for a proposition or theory that is widely believed in. Antithesis is a negation of refutation of this theory. Synthesis is a new theory that reconciles these two opposing viewpoints. Though mostly associated with Marxist thought, this line of thinking can also be applied to any new innovation. Let me illustrate this by a few examples,

Thesis: Men cannot fly. Antithesis: Men can fly. Synthesis: Create a flying machine which can help many fly.

Thesis: Cars can run only on petrol. Antithesis: Cars need not run on petrol. Synthesis: Develop cars that run on electricity.

Thesis:
People need to go the bank to draw cash.
Antithesis: It's not necessary to go to the bank to draw money. Synthesis: Develop ATMs that can dispense cash at convenient locations.

Most innovations in fact come from a desire to break accepted conventions, and the Thesis-Antithesis-Synthesis model can serve as a good tool to look at the world around us and come up with new innovations.

Since the above examples showcase solutions which are common, the model make seem somewhat like hindsight and not too applicable in real life. So here's an example of an innovation that is not too widely known. But first, once more the model,

Thesis: Riding a two wheeled vehicle requires the rider to have balancing skills. Antithesis: Balancing
skills are not necessary to ride two wheeled vehicles. Synthesis:
Develop a self balancing two wheeled vehicle.

And now the solution. Segway PT is a two wheeled self balancing vehicle that uses tilt sensors to keep itself upright, removing the need for the user to be skilled in balancing it. In fact, it is hailed as one of the most innovative transport system. Check out their web site and this Wikipedia article for more information.

Look around yourself. What is your Synthesis today?