Looky Looky at that! Two bunnies!
One of the perks of working for our "Sales & Service" innovation unit at Deutsche Telekom is a feeling that almost every day is Christmas. If you then happen to focus laser-sharp on anything related to AI things start to become increasingly tough. Why? Shouldn’t I be happy to test out the latest gadgets?
Oh, yes, I am! Then again this takes time and a keen look into the details. It takes fading out all the extra-noise, the heaven-screaming hype, the snake oil vendors, the free rides and freeloaders, the doomsday callers and Utopians, consultants. Entire swarms while you try to get a grip on what you’re looking at right now. Here. In that moment. Everyone wants a piece of the pie. So, sometimes, this means becoming a lone wolf, because being a pioneer can be lonely at times – the mainstream didn’t catch up yet and to them you seem like a lunatic (running around with an untethered telephone, talking into thin air, wearing silly googles….etc.).
Why am I saying this while proudly showing off two rabbit inc. R1 devices? Well, maybe because it takes a little bit of making a fool of yourself to later proof the fool in everyone else for laughing at you in the first place. Then again, some things don’t age well. That risk is on you, little tech pioneer.
But honestly, I don’t worry.
I am used to make the first steps while others stay hidden in safe distance, not risking their money, face, status or how they might look in front of their superiors. It’s not that I don’t care – read again above, I wrote that I do not "worry". I DO care but I also know that working in innovative fields is always risky and should be the status quo for us "folks". It’s because we are pioneers, that we dare checking out new pathways into a probable future in the first place. Best case: we prepare the circumference for the road others might build into the future. If making a fool of yourself is all it takes, you can damn well count on me.
Maybe that’s why this quote from the movie Interstellar resonates so much with me:
"We’ve always defined ourselves by the ability to overcome the impossible.
And we count these moments, these moments when we dared to aim higher, to break barriers, to reach for the stars, to make the unknown known.
We count these moments as our proudest achievements. But we lost all that. Perhaps we’ve just forgotten that we are still pioneers and we’ve barely begun. And that are greatest accomplishments cannot be behind us, as our destiny lies above us."
…oh and, yes, I will test-run these two little orange buggers now and tell you my impression (from a telco "Sales & Service" point of view).
Hope you found something in that post that resonated with you.
It turned out as something I didn’t expect – ramblings about innovation and its role, about making a fool of yourself to help others go onward. Or, as they say in the movies: "You keep going, I’ll try to hold them off."
Enjoy your day.