Innovate or Perish: Lessons from History
Published: 01:07 PM,Jul 09,2024 | EDITED : 05:07 PM,Jul 09,2024
A Finnish cellphone giant dominated mobile telecommunications with the advent of cellphone technology, but later failed to innovate. Then, a startup from innovative America, focused on transforming the cellphone into a smartphone, quickly overtook the Finnish giant. Its critical mistake was failing to continue innovating.
The recent news of the little-known chip maker Nvidia reaching a $3.3 trillion market cap, surpassing Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon, caught my attention. What I found astonished me. An American chip giant, whose chips powered almost all digital devices and computers since their inception, failed to learn from the Finnish cellphone giant's downfall. Although they were aware of the need for innovation, they chose to outsource it to a Dutch chip manufacturing equipment maker. The Dutch company was ready to deliver a revolutionary EUV technology-based machine that could have helped them lead in producing next-generation nanochips. However, the American chip giant refused to embrace this innovation, unlike other sponsors of the same research project. Now, the innovation train has left the station, and this once-dominant chipmaker is scrambling to catch up.
Lessons from history Inspired by Marco Polo's journals describing the riches of Asia, Italian explorer Christopher Columbus sought a sea route to Asia but instead discovered a Caribbean island in the Americas in 1493 AD, sponsored by the King and Queen of Spain. Following Columbus, Hernan Cortes landed on the shores of present-day Mexico in 1519 AD with approximately 600 conquistadors to defeat the Aztec Empire. The Aztecs, with their 200,000 warriors armed with stone-edged spears, arrows, and wooden armor, fought Cortes and his men, who were equipped with steel swords, armor, muskets, cannons, and horses. The Aztecs stood no chance, and their historic capital, Tenochtitlan, was set on fire on April 22, 1522. Their pride, land, identity, language, culture, and future were crushed under Spanish steel and buried in history.
This massive Aztec empire made the same fatal mistake that caused other ancient empires to be wiped from history. They failed to innovate and embrace new methods and technologies with changing times. The price they paid was similar to what the Greeks paid in 480 BC when their capital, Athens, was burned by Persians under King Xerxes. The Persians later paid a similar price when their splendid capital city, Persepolis, was destroyed in 330 BC by 40,000 Greek fighters carrying innovative long spears and shields, led by Alexander the Great, who decimated an army of over 200,000 elite Persian warriors.
Management lessons Communities, societies, countries, continents, and businesses must understand that history can cruelly repeat itself if we do not learn from it. Innovation or the lack thereof has its own wonders and catastrophes. Christopher Columbus would have loved to conduct his expedition for the Venetians, any other Italian city-state, Portugal, where he lived for a long time, or the English King, to whom he petitioned for funding. However, his talent was recognized by the Spanish. Had it not been, the Venetians might have forged an empire in the New World much bigger than the collapsed Western Roman Empire.
Businesses can derive crucial management lessons from world history. There must be talent-based elevation of people rather than promotions based on flattery, loyalties, appeasement, and politics, which often lead to inefficiency. People who dare to challenge traditional ways of doing things, far beyond the organization’s psychological boundaries, must be respected and encouraged. Innovation can prevent your organization from becoming a relic in the history museum of your industry.
The recent news of the little-known chip maker Nvidia reaching a $3.3 trillion market cap, surpassing Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon, caught my attention. What I found astonished me. An American chip giant, whose chips powered almost all digital devices and computers since their inception, failed to learn from the Finnish cellphone giant's downfall. Although they were aware of the need for innovation, they chose to outsource it to a Dutch chip manufacturing equipment maker. The Dutch company was ready to deliver a revolutionary EUV technology-based machine that could have helped them lead in producing next-generation nanochips. However, the American chip giant refused to embrace this innovation, unlike other sponsors of the same research project. Now, the innovation train has left the station, and this once-dominant chipmaker is scrambling to catch up.
Lessons from history Inspired by Marco Polo's journals describing the riches of Asia, Italian explorer Christopher Columbus sought a sea route to Asia but instead discovered a Caribbean island in the Americas in 1493 AD, sponsored by the King and Queen of Spain. Following Columbus, Hernan Cortes landed on the shores of present-day Mexico in 1519 AD with approximately 600 conquistadors to defeat the Aztec Empire. The Aztecs, with their 200,000 warriors armed with stone-edged spears, arrows, and wooden armor, fought Cortes and his men, who were equipped with steel swords, armor, muskets, cannons, and horses. The Aztecs stood no chance, and their historic capital, Tenochtitlan, was set on fire on April 22, 1522. Their pride, land, identity, language, culture, and future were crushed under Spanish steel and buried in history.
This massive Aztec empire made the same fatal mistake that caused other ancient empires to be wiped from history. They failed to innovate and embrace new methods and technologies with changing times. The price they paid was similar to what the Greeks paid in 480 BC when their capital, Athens, was burned by Persians under King Xerxes. The Persians later paid a similar price when their splendid capital city, Persepolis, was destroyed in 330 BC by 40,000 Greek fighters carrying innovative long spears and shields, led by Alexander the Great, who decimated an army of over 200,000 elite Persian warriors.
Management lessons Communities, societies, countries, continents, and businesses must understand that history can cruelly repeat itself if we do not learn from it. Innovation or the lack thereof has its own wonders and catastrophes. Christopher Columbus would have loved to conduct his expedition for the Venetians, any other Italian city-state, Portugal, where he lived for a long time, or the English King, to whom he petitioned for funding. However, his talent was recognized by the Spanish. Had it not been, the Venetians might have forged an empire in the New World much bigger than the collapsed Western Roman Empire.
Businesses can derive crucial management lessons from world history. There must be talent-based elevation of people rather than promotions based on flattery, loyalties, appeasement, and politics, which often lead to inefficiency. People who dare to challenge traditional ways of doing things, far beyond the organization’s psychological boundaries, must be respected and encouraged. Innovation can prevent your organization from becoming a relic in the history museum of your industry.