Apple does the impossible again… can Pakistan?
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What really fascinates me about Apple computers is their ability to consistently meet and surpass people’s expectations — for miles!
Think about this as a challenge — even before you ever announce a product, the entire world speculates that you’re making something. Your customers even come up wtih concept shots, guesses, speculations and ventures about what it is.
The hype curve goes to spectacular heights, because people are pretty much imagining the impossible.
And then you, the CEO of Apple, Inc, walk on stage, SURPASS those expectations, and get a standing ovation from those same people with impossibly high expectations of quality.
Unbelievable, and a moment that will probably go down in history, is MacWorld 2007 when Apple announces the iPhone, and completely changes the way people use their mobile phones.
I would not be surprised if EVERY SINGLE HUMAN BEING buys the iPhone. It is just beyond words of praise.
Check out the live keynote speech on www.engadget.com
What about Pakistan? Can we completely change the way people live (for the better)?
In a nutshell, NEVER. There is just one reason why too : We severely lack the belief to do that. The problem doesn’t lie with CEOs, its with the workforce.
You could hire engineers and try to sell them on a vision but they will doubt THEIR OWN SELVES, and then the company, and then the vision, and then the market.
You can hire marketing folk, but they will never really even care about promoting something new. They would be too wrapped up in the formalities of ‘business planning’ and ‘metric evalution’ and ‘Mr.blah’s theory of cognitive spaces..’ when all they need to think about it how to evangelize your vision.
We want to live in nicely wrapped cucoons that describe our comfort space. We want our social respect to be based on amiability and adaptability to the general mass, and changing the world requires the confidence to be leading examples of a certain vision, about moving away from the pack even if you are the only people doing it.
Can Pakistan change the world? Never. You can have visionary leaders and CEOs trying to, but they will never be able to setup a team to do that. All of the IT / engineering / marketing professionals lack the belief to try.
There, I said it.
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7:57 pm
I tend to disagree with the comments stating that situation or people thinking in Pakistan cannot be changed. Here are my reason(s): First of all comment that was made that people tend to live in comfort zone etc. This holds true every where whether it’s Pakistan or US etc. Using myself as an example I have been working in US for past 11 years and I remember having same fears/mindset but given the environment that I have been working in I had to change my approach. And given economic improvement in Pakistan is a recent phenomena, it will take time to change people mindset. But in order to that CEO/visionary leaders must keep doing there part i.e. creating right environment to encourage and facilitate new ideas.
9:46 pm
I was referring to the belief that people can have that they are capable of creating something new.
Without quoting specifics, I can say with confidence that you can see a LOT of self-doubt in PK that you will not find in the US.
You will also find a lot of people here whose chosen work ethics are to “copy someone else’s code” …. so even in interviews they will want to be taught how to do somethign once so they can do it over and over again.
Now that said, the smart people here are VERY smart as well, and fairly they probably make up 30% or more of the workforce.
Still, it is sad to be faced with hopelessness even in the people who come in for interviews.
7:53 pm
Just to address the point that was mentioned regarding “self-doubt”, one of the potential cause of is the education system. I know people have heard this point over and over again, but in my opnion it is a contributing factor. Now to bring about change in people attitude is not going to happen over night, hence 30% of the smart people have to encourage, provide guidance or help to create enviornment.
11:41 am
Well its not just education. There are a number of factors that contribute to the “self doubt”. One of the striking factors is lack of independance. In our country, children are never allowed to grow independantly. They remain dependant on their parents for a life time. They are not even allowed to take their own decissions. Every minor decission of an individual is influenced by an elder. Whether it is the decission of choosing a career, or getting settled in life.