Dreaming of Becoming a Company of Wizards? Change to Dreaming and Realizing (D&R)

Dreaming of Becoming a Company of Wizards? Change to Dreaming and Realizing (D&R) OR Creating for Revenue (C&R) from Research and Development (R&D)

Why this play of words with such a serious issue? It's not just a play of words, but the first step in getting scientists and engineers excited to take India to the top of the ranking of scientific nations. The words research and development connote some very complex and high-level intellectual processes in which only a few thousand 'geniuses' work, while millions of science, engineering and technology graduates and professionals are rarely involved. They remain uninformed about what happens behind the doors of those 'hallowed' buildings, often with unwelcoming boards that say ‘Entry Restricted'.     

What are the achievements of the activities of the select few 'geniuses' in R&D? Not very inspiring and nor highly commendable. What is the basis for such a negative picture? Jealousy? Ignorance? Not at all. It is based on overwhelming evidence.

• In spite of India having the distinction of the world’s highest number of engineers graduating each year, the country has only recently entered the top 50 in the ranking of the 'Most Innovative Nations'.

• India is not in the list of the top 10 countries in the list of the 'Most Scientific Nations'.

• India has only one company in the top 50 companies in the list of the 'Most Innovative Companies' of the world.

• India had only 50,055 patent applications in 2018 against China's 1,542,002. China also topped the list of Intellectual Property Indicators.

• India's R&D budget as a percentage of GDP in 2018 was 0.6499; for the USA it was 2.8; China 2.1 and Korea was 4.2.

• All Indian (born) scientists, who won the Nobel Prizes for the Sciences in the recent past, are American citizens.

• You can check for yourself how many of the R&D  executives (active and retired) who you know, have secured top patents and created market-dominating new products. 

How can this picture be brightened by switching from R and D to D and R or C&R? 

Simply by changing the mindset and attitude of managements, and  Scientists, Technologists, Engineers, and Mathematicians (STEM). The present system of the job description and department-wise focus of work keeps most lesser STEM souls almost 'unconcerned' about what happens in the hallowed buildings of research and development. The reasons for such an attitude are secrecy and a feeling that 'I am not that bright, otherwise the company would have placed me in R&D to begin with’. 

So how can you say that by Dreaming and Realising or Creating for Revenue that everyone becomes eligible to give it a try? Because everyone can and does dream and create. Moreover, most human beings are born with creative capabilities and are dreamers/creators. According to a report, up to 7 years of age, 100% of us are creative and do create things that surprise parents and others. But by 10 years of age, that percentage falls to 10 and among adults, it is just 2% on average. Why the precipitous fall in such a noble and cherished virtue? Experts say it is a result of the insistence on conforming to traditions and staying in the mainstream.

Imagine that a company plans a novel product and asks for ideas from all employees. The dreaming/creating faculty will be roused and suggestions will pour in. A few of these may even improve the original idea manifold!

Is this simply crazy imagination on our part? Not at all. Here is concrete evidence and that too from the renowned Ford Motor Company.

According to the great management thinker and eminent author, Robert H Waterman,  after Henry Ford II sacked Lee Iacocca, he nominated Donald Petersen to be the CEO and Chairman. Petersen was not an external hire, but had been an employee of the Ford Motor Company for about 30 years. No one expected him to win the US automotive industry race.

But, with his rich experience in the company, Petersen dreamed of an ingenious idea. He decided to create a dream car for Americans, a car that would beat all other auto giants and become the number one in the competitive auto industry. He realised that the new car development system followed the secretive R&D process which kept a lot of talented employees out of the project. According to an account in Waterman's book, Petersen took the great risk of reversing this process, damned the secrecy and announced the basic idea of the new car to all employees. Petersen called for suggestions from all of them and many poured in, some of which were very valuable ones. Encouraged by the response, he took an unprecedented and  "apparently stupid way by industry norms" to display the Taurus car drawings on the walls for everyone to see and give suggestions. 

And when Ford Taurus was launched, it received an overwhelming response from customers and went on to be selected as the 'Car of the Year 1986'! This helped Ford Motor Company to “outearn" General Motors in 1986, for the first time since 1924. And Petersen also earned four times what  Henry Ford II had ever earned in a year. Ford's stock saw an 11-fold rise in 1981. Petersen was truly a wizard!!

Equally, if not more dramatic, are the stories of 3M. We refer to the story of 'paid free time' for all employees to imagine, experiment and help create new products even if this was not in an employee’s job description. 3M has 5500 fast selling products. Many including the famous 'post-it notes' were results of ‘free time’ initiatives of employees. 3M is a $32 billion company and has 22,000 patents, many of them secured by the free timers. The world-famous thinker and management expert, Robert Brands, has explained the free time concept in his book, "Robert's 10 Rules of Innovation". His message is straight from the shoulder, "Innovate or Die".

Google is another giant practising the 'paid free time' idea and is proud of the innovative ideas of the free timers which include Google News, Google Alerts, Google Maps and many more. 

The free time concept is also creating wonders in Hewlett- Packard.

The lesson from all these stories is that all employees can dream,  create and contribute to the bottom line and reputation of a company. Employees will not only be satisfied but prouder and richer. What bigger reason to change R&D to D&R or C&R. Open the gates of the dammed up talents, let suggestions and creations flow for a bumper harvest of profits, prizes, awards and all-round happiness

[Note: Reposting our blog of 26 September 2020 as India, even today, ranks only 40th among innovative nations. There is an urgent need for all-round vigorous campaigns for innovation.]