Sucky & Bucky

‘You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.’

— Richard Buckminster Fuller

I think two of the most interesting inventors are James Dyson and Bucky Fuller (there is an interview with Dyson in the latest edition of Idealog Magazine.

Fuller's ideas were well ahead of his time. He had the insight to ask the question "Does humanity have a chance to survive lastingly and successfully on planet Earth, and if so, how?" His first priority wasn't his own wealth, but the wellbeing of mankind and the planet.

Many of his ideas were never successfully implemented, but there are some people who are catalysts, rather than the mechanical implementers of ideas. That is something that I think is often ignored - conception happens on a high plane and implementation at the lowest. Ask Henry Ford.

Dyson I admire for his fortitude. He had the courage to challenge the accepted way that things were done and gave the world the Dyson cyclone (I'd argue that, if he hadn't, the world would be much the same as it was before…Fuller didn't get things done that should have been, others have made things that they shouldn't have).

Dyson also had the courage to move manufacturing from the UK to Malaysia in the face of militant criticism from people who didn't understand where the true value of the business lay.

Don't misinterpret my comments about Dyson that seem critical - we like clean houses and nice design. Both Dyson and Bucky are significant for their influence on others.

I also like the Dyson motto: Making Everyday Work Better - The importance of the word 'work' is worth thinking about.

Comments

Johnny Bunko competiton

The Great Johnny Bunko Challenge from DHP on Vimeo . There's a young chap in Indiana, one Alec Quig , who has written to me about creating a career based on a polymathic degree, from which he has recently graduated. He's an interesting young man and his concerns about going forward in life are the anxieties we all face at crossroads in our lives when we are forced to make choices. Dan Pink's latest book The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You'll Ever Need might help: "From a New York Times, BusinessWeek, and Washington Post bestselling author comes a first-of-its- kind career guide for a new generation of job seekers.There's never been a career guide like it.the fully illustrated story (ingeniously told in Manga form) of a young Everyman just out of college who lands his first job. Johnny Bunko is new to parachute company Boggs Corp., and he stumbles through his early days as a working stiff until a crisis prompts him to find a new job. St

Ze Frank thinks so you don't have to

Ze Frank appeared on my radar when I saw his presentation among the excellent TED Talks videos . This morning I was reading Russell Davies planning blog in which he referred to a clip by Ze Frank - Where do ideas come from. Here's the transcript: "...Hungry Hippo licks Aunt JEmima [sic] writes, "Are you ever gonna break into song again? Are you running out of ideas?" Hungry Hippo licks Aunt JEmima, that's a good question. I run out of ideas every day! Each day I live in mortal fear that I've used up the last idea that'll ever come to me. If you don't wanna run out of ideas the best thing to do is not to execute them. You can tell yourself that you don't have the time or resources to do 'em right. Then they stay around in your head like brain crack. No matter how bad things get, at least you have those good ideas that you'll get to later. Some people get addicted to that brain crack. And the longer they wait, the more they convince themse

Why billboards must go.

The problem with billboards and advertising in public places is they are an invasion of privacy. Unlike magazine, tv, radio (etc) advertising you cannot choose to turn it off or avoid it. Nor does it offer anything in return. It is a medium that offers no benefit or advantage to the person it is inflicted on. At least television ads subsidise the programming. Without doubt some billboards are entertaining - I thought the anti GE poster for short lived MADGE activist group was particularly good. But most are rubbish. Literally. Badly executed. Nothing important to say. The debate has led to a great deal of hysteria - mostly from people with a vested interest in perpetuating the deployment of hoardings. Perhaps the idea that the issue at stake is 'property rights' is the creepiest. If you own a building you have every right to plaster anything you like on its external surfaces. Is that an antisocial point of view? I think so. In the UK you could have an ASBO slapped on you for si

ThoughtSpurs

Search This Blog

Sucky & Bucky

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Johnny Bunko competiton

Ze Frank thinks so you don't have to

Why billboards must go.