Posts tagged as:

World

What is your passion?

by Erik on January 17, 2010

in Business Logic, IBM, Information, Interesting, New Tech, ROI, Sustainability, passion

Lately, I’ve been thinking about “passion,” what drives people and what leads them to be successful. Everyone says that you must do something that you care deeply about, otherwise there’s no chance in being happy. Does that translate to success? I think there’s more to that equation, and it typically involves hard work, perseverance, and attention to results. The last of which I find to be the most important piece.

Lightbulb.

This past weekend I was in DC for work and leisure, and I had the pleasure of meeting a director of a local DC organization whom I found to be incredibly driven and passionate about public health and policy. When he spoke of his passion, it was evident that this man will do wonders to change the world. He has a vision, purpose, and a dozen letters that come after his name. But, regardless of that, his vision drives him to get down and dirty and work hard at achieving his goals.

It’s awe inspiring when I have the privilege to talk to people about their passions. I know that when individuals follow their hearts, and when I hear that they back that up with pure unadulterated hard work and dedication to driving results AND holding themselves accountable to their mission, that they ultimately achieve their goals.

Technology.

What I also gained from this conversation was that I tend to think of things in terms of problem solving. When a system is broken, whether the way patient care is managed, how that information is stored, how that leads to policy issues, late and inaccurate data reporting, and healthcare overload.

Thinking about how technology can be used is innate within me. The way patient care is accomplished, and how a broken system can be restored has to happen with technology. Patients are really clients and clients are managed with CRM software–but how well do hospitals understand CRM? Which interactions do they log? How do they follow up and track progress?

I was excited that my training and background can someday enable me to help out in an area that my new friend was so passionate about.  I will someday be working on engagements that will allow me to influence these very real, and serious issues affecting the private and public sector, and that is exhilarating to me.

My major lesson learned was that having a vision, having a purpose, and being results oriented will allow one person to change the world.

My passion.

Deep down, I know what I am passionate about. I know what I am interested in, but I don’t think I’ve ever fully written down, in list form, what drives me. What is it that I want to accomplish? And how do I plan to get there? What in my professional life makes me happy, and how can I use this passion to accomplish great things for the companies I want to consult with?

  1. I am driven by technology. More specifically, I am driven by “Green Tech” because that is the future of business.
  2. I am driven by innovation, through process or machine.
  3. I am driven by sustainability. Investing now, will save time and money for cities, states, nations, and global enterprises.
  4. I am driven by ingenuity and problem solving. I thrive in fast paced environments that are dynamic and challenging.
  5. I am driven by delivering on results, and setting and exceeding ambitious goals.
  6. And I am ultimately passionate about people. Diverse people with incredible ideas and stories. People that want to change the world.

And this means?

I believe that technology is an important strategic level goal that most companies need to invest in. I believe that even at a local DC health organization, technology plays a major role in quality of care, and these tenants are scalable from fortune 100 to start ups. Technology allows the management of information, and we are in an age where information is key to where we want to go next as a civilization. The future of this industry is in the proper implementation of systems that will support and drive enterprises to the next level.

Green tech and sustainability are key to the future of business. It makes sense to have tech policies in place that can ensure high rates of return, and cost reductions. An eWeek article recently stated “This may be a bit surprising to some corporate executives: IBM figures that for every dollar saved in energy drawn from the wall, a company saves $6 to $8 in operational costs as a result.”

How do you save energy? You implement technology that can modernize the lighting systems. You recover heat from huge data centers to help heat and cool entire complexes. You look to innovation to change business processes and ensure adequate focus is on future change. You solve complex problems, and tackle exceptional issues with smart people, and you hold yourself and your team accountable to delivering results.

The company today will not last in a marketplace of tomorrow. And the thought of being involved in solving those problems within the private sector, well, that drives me also.

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Calculating Consumer Happiness at Any Price

by Erik on December 13, 2009

in Economy, Interesting, Markets, Philosophy

If technology and systems didn’t come so naturally, I really believe that I would have become an economist. I just find it fascinating. The “business information systems” major was such a perfect fit for my abilities, that I didn’t really think twice about selecting it when I was choosing my major at Lehigh. But, as I continue to read up on the current economic climate, work in an industry where consumer confidence greatly matters to our offerings, and I uncover little gems like this article by John Tierney, I realize that my interests run far deeper than technology and design. I wonder if I should have studied more micro and macro economic principles than the 4 semesters I ended up with…

“Maybe, sometimes, old-fashioned economics is just about right,” Dr. Shayo says. “Maybe when it comes to food, people do have reasonably stable preferences. Some people like shrimp and some don’t, even if it’s worth a lot of money.” [via NY Times]

Check out the article. It’s a rather interesting read about consumer preferences and how price affects those preferences. Oh, how I fondly remember those indifference curves and plotting consumer preferences…

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Teenage Entrepreneurs, Building Their Own Job Engine

by Erik on July 6, 2009

in Economy, Entrepreneurship, Jobs, Recession, Unemployment

Unemployment for 16- to 19-year-olds is at its highest rate since 1992 — at 22.7 percent in May, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That is causing some teenagers to rethink their notion of work and to embrace entrepreneurship.

“This is a generation raised to believe they can do anything, and the first to grow up with entrepreneurial celebrities like Steve Jobs of Apple and Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Google,” said Donna Fenn, who interviewed 150 young entrepreneurs for her forthcoming book, “Upstarts: How Gen Y Entrepreneurs Are Rocking the World of Business and 8 Ways You Can Profit From Their Success.”

[via The New York Times]

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Clean Energy and the Future

by Erik on July 6, 2009

in Alternative Energy, Asia, Economy, Green Tech, IBM, Sustainability, Technology

Cornish Windpower_Z8198L
Creative Commons License photo credit: Ennor (computer problems)

Thomas Friedman is an interesting man. For one, his book on globalization: The World Is Flat was mandatory reading at Lehigh in an intro course to Information Systems, and caused a great deal of debate on the topic during many a class session. But, his current op-ed in the New York Times this weekend has a very real message for the west: follow the path to a cleaner, smarter planet, or face an inevitable decline in power and wealth.

Over the past decade, whenever I went to China and engaged Chinese on their pollution and energy problems, inevitably some young Chinese would say: “Hey, you Americans got to grow dirty for 150 years, using cheap coal and oil. Now it is our turn.”

It’s a hard argument to refute. Eventually, I decided that the only way to respond was with some variation of the following: “You’re right. It’s your turn. Grow as dirty as you want. Take your time. Because I think America just needs five years to invent all the clean-power technologies you Chinese are going to need as you choke to death on pollution. Then we’re going to come over here and sell them all to you, and we are going to clean your clock — how do you say ‘clean your clock’ in Chinese? — in the next great global industry: clean power technologies. So if you all want to give us a five-year lead, that would be great. I’d prefer 10. So take your time. Grow as dirty as you want.”

Whenever you frame it that way, Chinese are quizzical at first, and then they totally get it: Wow, this energy thing isn’t just about global warming! In a world that is adding one billion people every 15 years or so — more and more of whom will be able to live high-energy-consuming lifestyles — the demands for energy and natural resources are going to go through the roof. Therefore, E.T.— energy technologies that produce clean power and energy efficiency — is going to be the next great global industry, and China needs to be on board.

Well, China has gotten on board — big-time. Now I am worried that China will, dare I say, “clean our clock” in E.T.

Few companies have had the foresight to grow a green business model, and I believe that Mr. Friedman is right on this point. If the United States wants to continue to develop and lead the world in “global citizenship,” then we must do what’s best for the planet, and in the end, our future. E.T. is going to be the next big thing and we must get on board. And like I’ve said before, it makes good business sense, just ask IBM what they think.

{ Comments on this entry are closed }