The Myth of Technology

Very often in business or our daily transactions and dealings we often hear or see a supposedly inspiring/convenient/novel idea the possibilities of which seem to excite us and unleash a chain of expectations and hopes of how the ideas may impact our own lives or our business.

Unfortunately, more often than not, most of us immediately adopt the idea, without giving it a second thought. Even without understanding how it really works!

Robin Speculand, through the following anecdote, has very explicitly articulated the 'herd' mentality and the tendency of most people to plunge into an idea without analysing it to the fullest, understanding its mechanisms and testing it:

Two men were passing through Customs at an airport. The first, a Japanese, had two large suitcases and the other, a Texan, was helping him move them towards the Customs officer, when the Japanese man's wristwatch started to beep. He listened to the message and talked into a miniature telephone on his wristwatch. The Texan was amazed and offered the man $5000 for his watch. But the Japanese was not selling.
The Texan continued to help the Japanese man push his heavy bags forward and a few seconds later the watch beeped again. This time the man opened the watch to receive an e-mail on a small screen and used the tiny computer keyboard on the watch to reply to the message. The Texa watched in awe and offered him $25,000 for the watch. Again, he was told the watch was not for sale. And again, the Texan helped push the enormous bags forward.
The watch beeped a third time and out came a fax. The Texan, now determined to have the watch, upped the bid to $300,000. The Japanese asked if he had the money and the Texan wrote a check on the spot. The Japanese man processed the check on his watch and transferred the money to his Swiss bank account. He took off the watch, handed it to the Texan and walked away.

"Wait," the Texan shouted. "You've forgotten your luggage!"
"Those aren't my bags," the Japanese man shouted back, "Those are the batteries for your watch!"
(Adapted from Turning it On by Robin Speculand)

During the Internet boom, CEOs who did not immediately transform their companies into the e-world were considered old-fashioned, stubborn and even a threat to their companies' survival. Only three years later, the same CEOs were being regarded as strategic thinkers, leaders, visionaries and even genuises for waiting to understand the Internet better.