风之谷: Entrepreneur

来源二：不一致

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:42:29 GMT

· 不一致是事实如何与应该如何时间或者现实情况与每个人对此作出的假设之间的差异和不协调。它是定性的，而不是定量的。

· 不一致的经济现状：如果在一项需求持续上升的产业内得不到利润，就表示经济现状之间存在着不一致。

o 这种不一致是一种宏观现象

o 这种创新机遇一般适合于小型企业。在现存企业或供应商意识到他们又有了新竞争之前，利用不一致的创新者会有很长一段时间不受干扰地进行研究。做些能产生结果对增加需求加以利用的事。

o 成功利用经济现状之间某种不一致的创新，必须是“简单”的，而不是复杂的；必须是“明显的”，而不是浮夸的。

· 现实和假设之间的不一致

o 如果每当专注而认真的努力没有使事物改善，反而使之恶化，那么努力的方向极有可能发生差错。只要将注意力重新集中在会产生结果的领域，十有八九会轻易且快速地产生高额利润。

o 解决办法仍然应该具有简单，非常特定以及专注的特点。

· 认知的和实际的顾客价值观和期望之间的不一致

o 在所有的不一致里，认知和现实之间的不一致可能是最普通的一种。

o 生产商和供应商几乎总是对顾客实际上购买的东西产生误解。他们总是把自认为代表着价值的东西，假设为对顾客也会有同样的价值。

o 没有一个顾客认为他所购买的是生产商和供应商所提供的价值，他们的期望和价值观总是不同的。

来源一：出乎意料的情况

Mon, 24 Sep 2007 08:45:15 GMT

意外成功：
- 没有任何其他领域能够像意外成功那样提供给成功创新最多的机遇。与其他领域相比，它所提供的创新机遇风险最低，创新过程也较简单。
- 管理部门很难接受意外成功的原因之一，是因为我们往往相信：一切事物凡是能持续相当长时间的，就一定是“正常”的，而且还将一成不变地存在下去。因此任何事物，只要与我们已认定的自然规律相矛盾，就会被视为是不可靠的，不健康的，不正常的东西而加以拒绝。让管理部门接受一个意外的成功绝非是一件易事。它需要决心，具体的政策，直面现实，以及纠正以往举措的诚意和决心。
- 对意外成功视而不见的原因之一在于我们现存的情报部门忽视市场竞争趋向，不经常作出分析和报道。大家一般都会将注意力集中在产生问题的一面，而往往会忽略了业绩比预期好的一面。
- 意外成功不仅是一个创新机遇，它还要求有创新行动。它要求我们提问：就机构的业务而言，目前有哪些基本的改变能适合它呢？就它的科技而言呢？就它的市场而言呢？
- 要确保意外事件正被发现，确保它能引起有关人员的注意。它必须被适当地记载在管理部门所获得并进行研究的信息里。
- 管理人员必须带着问题看待每一次意外成功。问题包括
  - 如果我们对它加以利用，它对我们会有什么意义？
  - 它会引导我们走向何处？
  - 我们怎样做才能将它转变成机遇。
  - 我们如何着手做？这意味着：第一，管理部门必须拨出特定时间，对意外成功加以讨论；第二，必须指派人员对意外成功加以分析，并全面考虑如何对它加以利用。
- 意外成功是一种机遇，但它也提出了要求。它要求认真对待：要求最优秀的人员的支援，而非任何有空闲的人；要求管理部门的支援与出现的机遇大小成正比。机遇是值得慎重考虑的。
意外失败：
- 如果某事物在精心策划，仔细设计，谨慎执行后仍失败，那么这种失败经常预示着基本的变革以及伴随着机遇。
- 意外失败要求你走出原来的思路，到外面看看，聆听别人的意见。失败应该总是被当作一种创新机遇的征兆，必须认真对待。
- 竞争对手的意外成功或意外失败也同等重要。在任何一种情况下，你都应将它们看作为创新机遇的征兆而加以认真对待。你不能只对它们进行“分析”，更需要外出调查。
- 创新者的所见所闻必须经过严格的逻辑分析。仅凭直觉行事是不够的。
- 需要我们乐观地说出我所知道的仍不足以进行分析，但我会获取到更多的信息。我将走出办公室，四处观察，提出问题，聆听建议。
意外的外部事件
- 外部事件指没有被机构的管理部门记录在信息和数据中的事件。它们也很重要。事实上常常更为重要。
- 想要成功地利用意外的外部事件有一个条件，这就是它必须和利用者的知识和技能相符。因此，最重要的一点是，意外的外部事件是一种将已经存在的专门知识予以全新应用的机遇。但这种运用并不改变“我们所从事行业”的本质。它可能是一种延伸，而并非是经营多样化。但是，它也要求产品上的创新，而且常常要求在服务上，销售渠道上创新。

有目的的创新

Tue, 18 Sep 2007 09:17:55 GMT

能使现有资源的财富生产潜力发生改变的任何事物都足以构成创新。
创新不一定必须与技术有关，也完全不需要是一种"实物"。从造成的影响来看，任何技术创新都不能与保险之类的社会创新相抗衡。
管理，首次作为使拥有不同技术和知识的人能够在一个"机构"中一起工作的实用性知识，是20世纪的创新。
成功的企业家从不守株待兔。他们外出工作，勤奋踏实。他们不想成为大亨，也不寻求会使工业发生革命性转变，或者能一夜之间使
他们成为富豪之类的创新。那些一开始就指望能短时间内飞黄腾达的企业家往往会失败。那些看似伟大的创新，其结果可能仅仅是技术方面的精湛而已。成功企业家都设法创造价值，作出贡献。他们设定的目标相当高。他们决不仅仅满足于对现存事物加以改进或修正。他们试图创造出全新的且不同的价值和满足，试图将“材料”转化成“资源”。
绝大多数成功的创新都是利用变化完成的。大多数成功的创新都十分平凡，不过利用变化而已。因此，创新的训练是一种诊断性训练：它是对通常提供创业机遇的变化之领域进行系统化的检查。
新知识，特别是科学新知识，并非是成功创新最可靠或最可预测的来源。尽管以科学为基础的创新引人注目，富有魅力，且非常重要，但它其实却是最不可靠，最不能预测的来源。相反，假如对基本变化的征兆（如意外的成功或意外的失败）所做的分析看似非常平凡且乏味，但其风险和不确定性反而相当低。而由这一点所引发的创新，在新企业的创立和可预见的记过（不管是成功还是失败）之间，前置时间最短（指从产品设计到实际生产及使用的时间）。

接下来书中讨论了创新机遇的七个来源。我会分别加以引述。

《创新与创业精神》

Sun, 16 Sep 2007 12:23:03 GMT

最近在读德鲁克的《创新与创业精神》（《Innovation and Entrepreneurship》）。写的非常好。不愧是管理学的鼻祖和绝对的大师。我按照原书的章节安排，把一些我认为精华的东西摘录出来，供大家鉴赏。

第一章创新型经济

一项创新成功与否不在于是否新颖，巧妙或具有科学内涵，而在于它是否能赢得市场。
创业精神既不是科学，也不是艺术，而是一种实践。
创新是企业家的特定工具。他们利用创新改变现实，作为开创其他不同企业或服务项目的机遇。创新能够成为一门学科，能够被人们学习及实践。企业家需要有目的的搜寻创新的来源和变化，并且法西由于变化而出现的成功创新机会的征兆。此外，他们也需要了解及运用成功创新的原理。
不论对个人还是机构而言，创业精神都是一种独特的含义。它不是一种个性特征。追求确定性的人往往不能成为优秀的企业家。制定决策是不可避免的。而任何决策的本质就是不确定性。凡是能够大胆决策的人都有可能经过学习成为企业家，并表现出创业精神。
企业家将变革视作规范及有益的事。通常，他们自己并不引发变革。但是企业家总是搜寻变革，对它作出反应，并将它视作机遇加以利用。
理论上，创业应该是风险最小的方式。相当多的个体企业家在创办新企业上，显现出极高的平均成功率，这足以反驳创业是高风险的普遍看法。创业之所以含有“风险”，其主要原因是在所谓的企业家中，只有极少数人知道自己在干什么。他们缺乏方法论，并违背了基本并且众所周知的规则。高科技企业家尤其如此。（这本书就是教企业家必要的方法论和基本规则的）

致新领导的信（1）

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 07:23:48 GMT

亲爱的简：

祝贺你得到提升！我们都为你感到高兴。我们知道，能够在更高的层次上施展才华一定让你兴奋不已。而我们也想拿出一些信息来与你分享，希望能够对你迎接新的挑战有所帮助。

让我们先说说这个工作要求你具有哪些能力，以及它们跟你现在已经掌握的技能有什么不同。我们相信你完全有勇气面对这样的自我评估。如果你在某个领域里经验不足的话（你也知道，有些公司领导者在他们职业生涯的某个阶段的确存在这个问题），那么请放心，这里有很多经验丰富的人愿意为你效力。总体来讲，你需要建立一支团队，使其中具备各种不同类型的人才，以增加你成功的把握。

你对你领导的公司了解多少？最好的办法是真正去到那些正在进行实际工作的人们中间，跟公司里各个阶层的人聊天，向他们提问题，倾听他们的回答。你将从中了解到很多关于公司业务的真实情况，同时也可以建立起与员工的良好联系，而这正是一个成功的领导者最重要的标志。

尽早了解你手下雇员的信念和做事风格。你现在的成就跟你个人的工作作风也是密切相关的。简，你一直坚持开放式的思维，对不同于你的观点采取开明的态度，而且你总是能够让谈话进行得开诚布公，引导人们讲出真实的情况。此外，你一直把切实地完成工作放在首位，有效地把一些具有不同才能地最优秀地人才吸引到你身边。

你在新的职位上是否能找到一些与你见解一致的人？公司的文化是否鼓励人们按照各自的工作表现来争取承认和嘉奖？人们是否愿意面对现实，并能一起进行有建设性的讨论？或者，公司里是不是充满了政客式的勾心斗角和互相拆台？如果情况真是这样，那么你就得立刻开始设法改变这种公司文化，这样才能将整个公司真正置于你的领导之下，而这同时也是你保持骄人业绩的关键所在。

上面所说的三项核心工作在你的个人领导中是至关重要的。它们是公司生存的灵魂和动力，也是你借以改变公司文化的杠杆。实干的公司和其他公司的最大区别就在于公司领导者是否以最大的决心和热情去完成这三项工作。你会发现自己的日程被许多人瓜分，社区领导，政府官员，供应商，还有各式各样的大小会议都需要占用你的时间。但是，无论你有多少事情要忙，这三项工作都应该排在你日程的最首要位置。

致新领导的信（2）

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 07:22:48 GMT

我们知道，你完全理解人才式公司最重要的资源，但是在未来的实际工作里，你会发现这个信念将受到现实的挑战。切记把人力资源管理放在公司事务的首位。你的成就将取决于你拥有多少一流的人才，以及你是否能够让他们在一起进行良好的合作。你至少应该对公司中最好的1/3的人才有相当深刻的了解，知道他们目前的工作表现和未来的发展潜力。你需要确保各种评估意见都是诚实而直接的，为你的人提供他们发展所必须的意见和培训。此外，既然回报才是提高工作业绩的最终动力，你就必须确保你所制定的奖励体系能够让表现出色的人得到满意的回报。

我们建议你将竞争对手作为参照，来评价自己员工的表现，看一看自己公司制定的业绩标准是否够高，自己的员工是否具备长期保持优胜所必须的纪律性。

要想为自己和公司取得成功，确定发展战略也是非常关键的。战略究竟式根据公司领导者的意愿制定的，还是有其自身独立的模式？这些发展战略中的信息是否正确，能否准确地反映出你公司在同行业竞争中所处的位置？发展战略是否包含了足够的细节，以便让你的员工明确地了解通过执行该战略，公司最终将取得哪些成就和发展？在这些发展战略地关键问题上，你决不可以满足于含糊其辞地口号，而必须制定出具体的项目计划。计划中是否明确指出了公司目前面临的问题？你的新团队在过去是否有着克服种种困难的良好纪录？正如你所知的，如果不能明确定义，讨论和解决公司发展中最核心的问题，公司就只能停滞不前。此外，现有的资源是根据项目的机会和成功几率进行了有机的配置，还是平均分配给了所有的项目，最后导致每个项目都陷入资源不足的困境？具体的发展战略是否简单明确，易于理解？记住，你需要让公司里的所有员工都全面正确地领会公司地发展战略。

你肯定能得到一份公司预算，但你是否知道关于这些预算地具体行动计划？我们看到过许多耗费了大量心血制作出来地预算报告，虽然看上去很专业，但跟实际地公司经营活动毫无关系。一个年度经营计划就是一个取得业绩地模板。它用公司发展计划和人力资源管理作为纽带，将公司中地各个部门联系在一起，使它们同时运营，彼此协调。它会在业绩和回报之间建立起明确的关系，从而确定团队的责任，使领导者得以运用所有的纪律和想象力来应对一切未知的情况。

简，我们认为有一点必须多次强调，那就是你应该身体力行地去完成那三项核心工作。从每项工作的开始，直到后期的评估和后继工作，你都要一路确保那些应该进行的工作已经落到实处。只有这样，你才能了解如何在现实的基础上，将公司作为一个有机的整体来进行经营。只有这样，你才能真正获得领导公司的权威，同时最终确保这三项工作彼此联系，共同发展。

致新领导的信（3）

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 07:21:21 GMT

还有什么其他事情需要提醒你注意的呢？虽然值得说的有很多，不过在这里我们只特别提出三点。第一，确保你和你的员工真正理解客户，包括他们的需求，购买行为及其变化。弄明白为什么他们更喜欢你的产品，而不是其他同类产品。要知道，客户是公司成功的基础。第二，不断寻求改进自身的方法，积极引入六希格玛标准或数字化等新元素。这些创新不仅能够提高公司的生产水平，而且可以使你的员工为了相同的事业团结起来。第三，坚持锻炼你对现实的敏感，使自己保持实事求是。你要看的是事物的本来面目，而不是你所希望的幻象。

有的时候，你很难知道自己究竟干得怎么样。我们很希望你能通过对公司的观察和了解来评价自己的工作成效。除此之外，作为一个公司领导，你恐怕仍然需要一位在你公司之外的朋友。所谓旁观者清，他可以帮助你在工作中保持正确的方向。这个朋友应该具备相当的智慧，并且愿意帮助你不断自醒：你是否在成长，在学习，在困难的选择面前做出了明智的决定。好好照顾你自己。这个新的工作可能会给你很大压力，你需要给自己的生活找到很好的平衡。和谐的生活是自信的表现，它同样也能感染你周围的人，使他们树立信心。

总之，简，记住你现在的领导地位是凭着你对工作的一贯执着赢得的。保持和发扬这种对工作的执着和投入。有人会在工作中成长进步，但也有人在职位上自满膨胀，只有那些对工作充满热情的人才能获得进步。他们从来不会为了端大老板的架子，而将重要的工作细节和一起工作的同事放在一边；他们从不觉得自己高高在上，无所不能。相反，他们总是乐于倾听和学习，保持着他们第一天进公司上班时的好奇心和对新奇想法的开明态度。

你恐怕会觉得我们这两个老朋友太罗嗦了，但我们真的为你的进步感到高兴，我们也知道你有能力在未来取得更多更大的成就。

诚挚的，

拉里和拉姆

创新与企业家精神 (Innovation & Entrepreneurship)

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 08:41:28 GMT

最近读了很多关于创新与企业家精神的书，也听了相关领域的人士的一些podcast。我来说说我对这个问题的理解。我想讨论的话题是：什么人适合创业？我对适合创业的人的定义有三点：喜欢冒险（risk seeker）, 对喜欢的事有热情（passionate),和有远见（vision）。具有前两个特点的人就应该算是有企业家精神了。这样的人会喜欢在一个小的，平等的团队里面和自己喜欢，欣赏的人一起做自己喜欢的事情。如果运气好，也能做些有意义的东西出来，在一定程度上改善人们的生活。但基本上很难做出很伟大的事情来。如果这个团队的领袖有远见，能看得比绝大多数的人都远，都清晰。那就有可能做出改变世界的事。Make the world a better place！典型的例子就是Yahoo!的Jerry Yang，Ebay的Pierre，和Craigslist的Craig Newmark等。

谈到Vision的时候还有一个VC和投资人界典型的说法是Team A + Idea B和Team B + Idea A，选哪个投资。标点创投的Andy Rachleff的选择很明确，就是后者。他认为Visionary是天生的也是最关键的。投资人本身都是没有Vision的，他们的工作是找有Vision的企业家。然后，如果需要，帮他们创建一个有执行力的完整的团队（Team A）。最典型的例子就是Ebay，感兴趣的朋友可以去看一本叫做《Eboys》的书。讲标点是如何投Ebay和其他创业公司的。我读后收获还是挺大的。对这点Garage的Guy（写《The art of the start》)也在一个采访中表示认同。这也是他为什么没有坚持自己去创业，而是去做了投资人的原因。

但是，大家一致都认同的是，如果一个团队的领袖即有上面提到的企业家精神，又愿意学习管理企业的基本技能。学习如何提高自己的执行力，做Executive。那这个公司会很伟大。比如Microsoft的Bill Gates, Apple的Steve Jobs, Dell的Michael Dell，和Oracle的Larry Ellision。看看这些公司的市值就知道了，呵呵。他们都是既是Founder又是CEO。

Execution是可以培养的，如果愿意培养的话。比如上MBA学校。而Entrepreneurship是天生的。不是学习能学到的。大家可以想想自己适合做哪种。不论做什么，最重要的是工作和活的开心。而赚钱永远都不是最终的目的。适合创业的人创业会上瘾的，就像Myspace，Facebook和Bloglines的那些founder们。他们一个接一个的做自己的创业公司，追逐自己的梦想！

祝大家都能找到适合自己的路，开心，幸福，快乐的走下去！

Craig Newmark ---- A typical entrepreneur

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 03:30:20 GMT

I've just listened to the inverview of Craig Newmark on iinnovate. Craig is the founder of Craigslist the biggest classified ads site of the planet. If entrepreneurship is nature-born and not trainable, Craig is just such one nature-born entrepreneur. For people want to be entrepreneur or want to do something to change the world no matter it's profitable or non-profitable, this podcast worth your 20 minutes.

Personal Card with PHOTO

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 08:33:08 GMT

I think one of the most stupid things of a business (or personal) card is NO photo. Just imagine that you attend a party and exchange card with dozens of people. Can you tell who is who later based on the cards? Therefore, I asked Ruochi and Shuo to design a signature and a personal card for me. Attached is my new card designed by Ruochi. The signature is a combination of the design of Shuo and Ruochi two great designers on the planet:-)

Farewell to the STUPID (my personal view, no offensive to the designers) card design of MS:-)

Where do new ideas come from?

Mon, 16 Apr 2007 07:40:23 GMT

I'm reading "Big MOO" an interesting marketing book of Seth Godin. Following is a good post about generating new ideas.

According to the author, "you won’t get the great ideas you need from the vice president of strategy or the head of new product development. They’ve got hurdle rates to consider, budgetary constraints to navigate, and lots of competing claims on their time, attention, and political support… And you definitely can’t wait for great ideas to come from the CEO. He or she may be at the top of the heap, but that doesn’t mean a thing when it comes to generating the best thinking. By the time most CEOs actually make it to the top, they’re running on intellectual fumes, having spent their creativity in the jobs they had that propelled them to the top…"

So, where do great ideas come from?

New hires –fresh green recruits that have not been lulled by the daily operations of the workplace. A good practice is too ask the new hires to do a performance review of the company after they've on board for three months.
People on the Periphery – distributed close to the customers, these people are not so stifled by the corporate roadblocks. If something is wrong, it is easily buried. 可以胡搞搞:-)
Front-Line Workers – the tech reps and call-service reps working directly with the customers, the developers and testers working directly with the product. Toyota used to save millions of dollars a year just by giving each assembly line worker a pencil and asking her to write down ideas for improving the product or the process.
Customers – they may not know what they need, but they know what they like and if you show it to them, they will quickly tell you what they think.
Great Companies in Other Industries – the hard truth is, there aren’t any new ideas. There are only new applications and smart twists to old ones. The history of innovation is chock-full of "geniuses" who begged, borrowed, and stole ideas from one category and simply applied them to another.

What's an innovative place?

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 03:39:06 GMT

According to a podcast of David Kelley the founder of IDEO, an innovative place has the following characteristics:

1. Where the boss talks all the time and other people sucks up to him (her) so the boss's idea is treated as much more important than those of the receptionists is NOT an innovative place.

2. Where the higher level people has better office and the boss has the best office is NOT an innovative place. (He suggested that if you were a business owner, take the crummiest office in the place, then you’ll never have to deal with that. If somebody comes in says they don’t like their office, say “will you trade with me?”)

3. Office with lots of high walls is NOT an innovative place.

4. Office has "Private" rooms not everybody could enter is NOT an innovative place. (When I was a visiting scholar in Hamburg university, a single key of a student could open all the offices of the university:-). They pay much money for the insurance of the key)

A place that everybody could move the furniture around is an INNOVATIVE place. (Now, I can move my chair. I moved a chair in the meeting room to my place yesterday and it was moved back soon:-)).

原创与抄袭

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 04:36:28 GMT

中国人有趋同的心里。说的好听些是喜欢借鉴，借用他人的好的想法，理念和成果。说的不好听些就是没有创意，喜欢跟风抄袭别人的东西。比如旅游这件事。西方人更喜欢去一些没什么人去过的地方。希望能看到别人看不到的东西。也希望这种个性的环境能和自己的个性产生共鸣。而这种共鸣带来的享受和喜悦是难以言表，意味深长的。但国人更喜欢去那些出名的地方，比如巴黎，罗马等（这两个地方我都去过，但给我印象最深，最好的还是法国东南的那片蓝蓝的海，呵呵）。对艺术品的欣赏上也有类似的现象，比如对歌曲和影视作品的需求。

同样的心里和做法会用在产品开发上。近代以来，中国人好像很少有自己的原始创新。大部分东西都是copy的西方的东西。已经很久没有令国人自豪的类似四大发明的东西出现了。连诺贝尔奖都少的可怜，呵呵。其他领域我不熟悉，我主要说说互联网这个新兴领域吧。看看目前这些活跃的网站和服务，哪个是我们的原创？三大门户copy AOL, Yahoo!, MSN；QQ copy ICQ（马当初就是ICQ的）；Baidu copy Google；视频网站copy YouTube；网摘网站copy del.icio.us；社区网站copy Myspace；网游最早也是韩国引进的；评论网站copy IMDB, Amazon；B2C, C2C网站copy Amazon, Ebay；音乐网站copy Pandora, Last.fm；新闻网站copy Digg；连号码百事通都是copy的 Tellme。国内两个真正原创的网站（说出去不让人笑话的），我认为是马云的阿里巴巴和陈华的酷讯。这两个网站的创意，模式等都是世界领先的。国外也有B2B服务，但大都死掉了。活着的也活得比较惨。国内，在酷讯前也有类似的分类信息检索网站，现在也都基本死光了。第一个想到一个创意的人不重要，第一用实际行动说服世界接受这个创意的人才最重要。当然，那些SP网站也算是中国特色，但因为没有技术上的创新和突破又受限于移动和电信的心情，所以目前活得比较辛苦。

说到Copy，我觉得这不是一个简单的事情。不是什么东西都能copy的。只要是和人相关的东西，我认为都很难copy。比如一些以人为主的服务行业。因为没有两个人的服务是完全一样的，就像没有两个人长的完全一样一样。软件是可以copy的，尤其是用户能看到的那部分。比如微软就copy了苹果的很多很好的创意。Internet service我认为也是很难copy的。和软件不同，这种服务是一个长期的过程，而这个过程又有大量的人（提供者（Web1.0）和用户（Web2.0））的参与。可以简单的Copy一些点，面，甚至片断。但很难copy整个过程。比如，很多人看到Myspace的成功，想在中国复制。但目前看来还没人能成功。我认为原因有两点，一个是Myspace的团队和启动阶段的用户群是很难复制的。另一个原因是，Myspace的发展经历是比较难复制的。比如什么时候发布，改进或撤销什么feature。这个过程是最重要的，而不是今天看到的Myspace。这有点儿像艺术创作。可以按照成型的作品去临摹复制。但却无法复制原创者的心情，状态和创作过程和由此产生的真正有价值的“神韵”。另外一个很难复制的因素是时间。很多时候一件事之所以能做的很伟大正是因为在正确的时间开始，用正确的速度和加速度演变，最后又在正确的时间结束。而时间是无法倒转的，呵呵。

因此，不要想去Copy别人什么东西。试着去领悟，理解伟大的东西，人和过程的精髓。试着去窥探上帝的秘密。发现了上帝的秘密的人想不成功都难，呵呵。而作为上帝和诸神盛装自己的容器的我们，应该敞开胸怀，欢迎诸神的光临。如果有幸被某神看中，那也算不辱使命了。

在正确的时间，正确的地点和正确的人一起做一件让上帝看得起的事，就会成功！

怀远（我给自己起的字，呵呵）

Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Speech 2005

Sun, 25 Mar 2007 05:36:26 GMT

The most powerful and joyable presentation is story telling. In this speech, Steve told three inspiring and touchable stories.

The first story is about "connecting dots". By dots, he meant certain events of one's life. He told us his birth, eduction and the beginning of Mac. Some random "dots" finally connected perfectly and resulted in great things. He told us about his quit of college (he thought it is one of the most right thing for him:-)) and a class that impacted himself and even the whole IT industry. He delievered two key messages here. One is that you should have faith in the possible dots in your life that seems to be random, irrelevant and worthless in others' eyes. The other is that those dots should be connected backward (believe in what you are doing and keep moving forward in a "random" way) instead of forward (predicting and planning your future).

The second story is about "love and lose". By love, he mainly referred to the "Jobs" and career. He told us about his "failure" at Apple when he was thirty and his "success" at "Next" and "Pixar". He summarized that the abjection from Apple a comany that he started is one of the most fortunate thing in his life. However, the key point here is that he continued pursuing his dreams after a "BIG" failure of his career just because he LOVED what he did. You do something because you LOVE it. Something you do could be successful or even great only because you LOVE it. So as he emphasized, if you have not found something to do that you really LOVE, keep finding it and DON'T SETTLE. Otherwise, you'll regret when you are too old to move on. This reminds me of Yue Li who is a very brave and passionate guy seeking his dream in the whole country. Good luck, buddy!

The last story is about "death". He was diagnosed to have an uncurable cancer. The doctor told him to prepare for his death in 4-6 months. Thankfully and surprisingly, the cancer turned to be curable by surgery. He took the surgery and it was successful. Thanks God for saving a genius. After this close touch with death, he got to know more "truth" about death. He said that no one wants to die. Even the people that want to go to heaven, they don't want to go there via death. However, death is the final destination that everyone shares. The old ones will be cleaned for the new ones. We are the new ones now. But someday, we'll become the old ones to be cleaned. Therefore, DON'T live with other's life. Don't let those temporal rules and points dominant your brain and even your heart. Most importantly, follow your HEART and INTUITION not your BRAIN which might be eaily biased.

Finally, he gave a kind advice to young guys like me. "KEEP HUNGRY, KEEP FOOLISH".

Cheers

Following is the transcript of the speech:

"I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

"Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become."

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. 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 practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first 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, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I retuned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much."

My Wishlists at Amazon.com

Wed, 28 Feb 2007 10:07:54 GMT

MVP of Microsoft

Thu, 08 Feb 2007 13:27:28 GMT

As Guy said in his "The Art of the Start" book, "The higher you go in big companies, the thinner the oxygen; and the thinner the oxygen, the more difficult it is to support intelligent life. Thus, intelligence is concentrated in the middles and bottoms of large companies." The "MVP" of Microsoft is Scott Guthrie. Following is the bio of Scott:

" My name is Scott Guthrie, and I am a General Manager within the Microsoft Developer Division. I run the development teams that build the following products/technologies:

Common Language Runtime (CLR)
.NET Compact Framework
ASP.NET / Atlas
Windows Forms
Windows Presentation Foundation (aka "Avalon")
IIS 7.0
Commerce Server
Visual Web Developer
Visual Studio Tools for WPF (aka "Cider")

My email address is: scottgu@microsoft.com "

Microsoft Executive E-mails

Thu, 08 Feb 2007 11:51:48 GMT

Here are the emails of Bill and Steve to customers during 2002--2007. It is noteworthy that Bill has shown his continuous concerns on trustworthy computing in both software and Internet, e.g. the article of 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2007.

KanWeb (看or侃Web)

Sat, 27 Jan 2007 12:22:10 GMT

Due to the unstablility and difficulty for customization of Live Spaces, I asked Qixing to creat a blog for me to write something on Internet. I named the blog as "the third eye on Internet". Shirley proposed an interesting domain name for it: KanWeb (看or侃Web). The purpose of the blog is to share some thoughts of my friends and mine on Internet. It will be co-authored by a group of people including Shirley (Wireless), Eldon (What's going on in US.), Shuo (General Design), Ruochi (Flash Design) and me (Web Search and Mining). In the future, I'll only publish non-tech posts here.

职业经理人

Wed, 13 Dec 2006 02:18:51 GMT

我认为这个世界上只要是有头脑的职业经理人，没有一个是真正为公司着想的。每个人都希望自己有更多的resource做更多的事情得到更多的权利和利益（如股票）。即使成为partner情况也是一样的。所谓为公司着想其实也无非是因为公司的利益和自己的利益成正比罢了。如果是成反比的，一定会放弃公司成全自己的。职业经理人这样想，我认为是很对的。既然公司随时可以为自身的利益把一个员工裁掉，员工干吗要为公司真正牺牲自己的利益呢。所以开复离开MS去最直接的竞争对手公司是完全可以理解的。相反，一个人如果把公司当自己的父母来孝顺，我倒是觉得没什么脑子了，呵呵。因为你没有DNA和哪个公司是有关系的。当然如果你老爸是这个公司的founder那就不同了，呵呵。如果我的假设是对的，那么一个伟大的公司和一个普通公司的区别就是所谓的企业文化了。企业文化可以认为是一个企业的DNA。好的企业文化可以让员工觉得自己的DNA和公司的DNA有一致的地方，在员工追求自身利益最大化的时候能同时保证公司的利益是增加的。相反，不好的企业文化会让员工在追求自身利益最大化的时候，损害到公司的利益。贪污腐败就是个典型的例子。真正为公司着想的只有一个公司的创始人们。因为公司就是他们的孩子，有着和他们非常像的DNA，呵呵。

The art of the start

Mon, 11 Dec 2006 11:10:01 GMT

I’m reading the book《The art of the start》written by Guy Kawasaki. The following section contains a list of recommendations for internal entrepreneurs. Hope it helpful for youJ

1. Put the company first: The internal entrepreneur’s primary, if not sole, motivation should remain the betterment of the company. Internal entrepreneurship isn’t about grabbing attention, building an empire, or setting up a way to catapult out of the company. When you have a good idea for a product or service, it will attract a large number of employees, from the bottom up. They will support you if you’re doing it for the company, but not if it’s for your personal gain. If you can attract a large number of rank-and-file supporters, you might not be totally dependent on what the “vice presidents” say.

2. Kill the cash cows: Don’t announce this widely, but your charter is often to create the product or service that would put an end to existing products or services. Still, it’s better that it’s you who’s killing your company’s cash cows than a competitor or two guys in a garage. Macintosh killed Apple II. Would it have been better for Apple if a competitor had created Macintosh? No way. This recommendation is another reason why it’s so important that you’ve put the company first: What you’re doing is bound to be controversial. But if you don’t kill the cash cows, someone external will.

3. Stay under the radar: Two guys in a garage should try to get as much attention as they can. Awareness of their efforts makes it easier to raise money, establish partnerships, close sales, and recruit employees. However, the opposite holds true for internal entrepreneurs. You want to be left alone until either your project is too far along to ignore or the rest of the company realizes that it’s needed. The higher you go trying to do. This is because the higher you go, the more people want to maintain the status quo and protect their positions.

4. Find a godfather: In many companies, there are godfather figures. These are people who have paid their dues and are safe from everyday petty politics. They are relatively untouchable and usually have the attention and respect of top management. Internal entrepreneurs should find a godfather to support their projects by providing advice, technical and marketing insights, and protection---if it comes to the point where you need protection.

5. Get a separate building: An internal entrepreneur, sitting in the main flow of a big company, will die by a thousand cuts as each department manager explains why this new project is a bad idea. “The new always looks so puny---so unpromising---next to the reality of the massive, ongoing business.” The Macintosh Division started in a building that was far enough away from the rest of Apple that it stayed out of the daily grind, but was close enough to obtain corporate resources. A separate building will keep your efforts under the radar and foster esprit de corps among your merry band of pirates. The ideal distance from the corporate pukes is between one-quarter mile and two miles---that is, close enough to get to, but far enough to discourage overly frequent visits.

6. Give hope to the hopeful: Inside every corporate cynic who thinks that “this company is too big to innovate” is an idealist who would like to see it happen. Good people in big companies are tired of being ignored, forgotten, humiliated, and forced into submission. They may be trampled, but they are not dead. When you show them that you’re driving a stake in the heart of the status quo, you will attract support and resources. Then your goal is to advance these people from wanting to see innovation happen to helping you make it happen.

7. Anticipate, then jump on, tectonic shifts: Structural deformations in a company are a good thing for internal entrepreneurs. Whether caused by external factors such as changes in the marketplace or internal factors such as a new CEO, tectonic shifts signal changes and may create an opportunity for your efforts. Effective internal entrepreneurs anticipate these shifts and are ready to unveil new products or services when they occur: “Look what we’re been working on.” By contrast, corporate pukes say, “Now I see the shift. If you give me permission, six months, and a team of analysts, I can come up with a new product strategy.”

8. Build on what exists: The downside of trying to innovate within a big company is clear and well documented, but there are also benefits to doing so. Don’t hesitate to utilize the existing infrastructure to make innovation easier—start by stealing, if you have to. You’ll not only garner resources, but also make friends as other employees begin to feel as if they are part of your team. If you try to roll your own solutions (as an extreme example, building your own factory), you’ll only make enemies. The last thing a startup inside a big company needs is internal enemies—there will be enough enemies in the marketplace.

9. Collect and share data: The day will inevitably arrive when a bean counter or lawyer is suddenly going to take notice of you and question the reasons for your project’s existence. If you’re lucky, this will happen later rather than sooner, but it will happen. Prepare for that day by (1) collecting data about how much you’ve spent and how much you’ve accomplished and (2) then sharing it openly. In big companies, data suppresses antibodies, but it might be too late to get the data once the antibodies appear.

10. Let the vice presidents come to you: Quick question: Do you think that your first step should be to get your vice president to sign off on your project? It shouldn’t be. This is one of the last steps. A vice president will “own” your idea and support it more if he “discovers” it and then approaches you about sponsoring it. You may have to ensure that a vice president “accidentally” makes that discovery when the time is right, but this is not the same as seeking permission to get started.

11. Dismantle when done: The beauty of an internal entrepreneurial group is that it can rapidly develop new products and services. Unfortunately, the very cohesiveness that makes it so effective can lead to its downfall later if it remains separate (and usually aloof) from the rest of the organization. Its effectiveness declines further as its members come to believe that only they “know” what to do, and the entrepreneurial group creates its own, new bureaucracy. If the product or service is successful, consider dismantling the group and integrating it into the larger organization. Then create a new group to jump ahead again.

12. Reboot your brain: Many internal entrepreneurs will find that the rest of this book prescribes actions that are contrary to what they’ve experienced, learned, and maybe even taught in big companies. The reality is that starting something within an existing company requires adopting new patterns or behavior—essentially, rebooting your brain.