I was writing a bit of my mémoire today and I was focusing on how the Internet changes the way we view information. Through the internet, we have access to an infinite amount of knowledge, and it's amazing to think of how much information we touch everyday just by signing into Facebook and looking at people's links, reading blogs or browsing on Google News.
I was reading Anil Dash's blog and saw that he wrote a post on "vision" and how it should be essential in reviewing how people run their businesses. As a marketing student getting ready to go out in the world, I couldn't help but be a little inspired by what he had to say. Here's a quote :
"And the truth is, Amazon, Google and Apple all make billions of dollars — that doesn't happen by accident. They should
have clear goals about how to make money as part of their efforts. But
since all of these companies also traffic in commerce derived from the
artistic and expressive works that shape our culture, it makes sense
for us to evaluate their efforts based on how well they articulate a
desire to give back to our culture. They should make
something meaningful for the world while making their money, at least
as a happy byproduct if not as an intentional output. It's a lot easier
for me to believe that employees at Amazon are doing something that's
meaningful to the world at large than to feel that way about Apple's
similar efforts."
And it's true, we need companies out there that have a vision of what they want to do in the world. I want to work for a company that has a vision of something bigger than only making money, and while I don't see anything wrong with focusing on profitability, I find that it is more important to me to feel like I am participating in something bigger.
At Six Apart, I would get excited about the fact that people were able to publish their thoughts, passions and ideas on our blogging platforms. At Firstgiving, I couldn't help but be inspired by the millions of people raising money to cure cancer, supply hospital programs, and help others just for the sake of helping others. These are two companies that really make it easy for people to do things that they might not have had the technical prowess to do themselves, and not only are they helping them doi it, but they are helping them do it more efficiently. At the end of the day, Firstgiving and Six Apart can say that they were a part of something bigger just by making it easier for people to do what they do. I can't deny it, but that sounds pretty visionary to me. :-)
Anil ends his post like this:
And just as importantly, we can use this criteria of vision, of
responsibility for culture, as a way of analyzing announcements and
releases in the technology world. So, last night, Amazon released their
Kindle software for Apple's iPhone. Most of the reviews understandably
focused on the readability of the text, or how well the synchronization
features work. But I'm hoping that at least one or two lines of future
reviews will spare a moment to think "is it a good thing for the world
if this thing takes off?" My sense is that we're more likely to get
positive answers to that question if the teams that are making these
products are led by an appropriately ambitious vision.
