could the next steve jobs be asian
DESCRIPTION
My TEDx talk updated for Singapore on 2012.02What is Asia? What is a Steve Jobs? This might change your views on both!TRANSCRIPT
Could the next Steve Jobs be Asian?
@benjaminjoffe
• This is a newer, richer version of my TEDx talk “Could the next Steve Jobs be Brazilian”.
– It is not about STEVE JOBS (just a bit)
– Its purpose is to change YOUR views on cultures, Asia and innovaMon.
• Comments welcome at [email protected]
DISCLAIMER"
Quiz"
Third-Culture Kid?!
Do you know what a third-culture kid is?
Third Culture or Trans-Culture"
“A Third Culture Kid (TCK) is a person who has spent a significant part of
their developmental years outside the parents' culture.
Third Culture or Trans-Culture"
“A Third Culture Kid (TCK) is a person who has spent a significant part of
their developmental years outside the parents' culture.
The TCK frequently builds relaMonships to all of the cultures, while not having
full ownership in any.”
I spent most of my working life (11 years) overseas, especially in Japan, China, South Korea and USA. My cultural DNA has become rather complex.
12 years abroad – my cultural DNA"
Living in 8 countries and 4 civilizations, my cultural DNA got enriched
I spent most of my working life (11 years) overseas, especially in Japan, China, South Korea and USA. My cultural DNA has become rather complex.
Trans-Religion"
I have also been exposed to several religions
I spent most of my working life (11 years) overseas, especially in Japan, China, South Korea and USA. My cultural DNA has become rather complex.
Trans-Class"
Working Class Bourgeois
And my social background makes me a sort of “Trans-Class”
Digital Innovation from Asia"
My consulting work is about “trans-market” innovation (or “arbitrage”)
Advisor to Startup Incubators"
I also advise startups in 5 incubators in 3 continents
Investor in Global Startups in Asia"
Since 2011"
DayDeed.com
“One good Deed a Day”
(or “Facebook without the crap”)!
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My Plan
A talk has to have a target!
CHANGE your ideas on Asia
Nationality & Innovation
FOREVER not “Obama-style”"Mine is to change your views fundamentally on a few things
THE WEST! THE REST!
This was my view of the world when I grew up.
30% of Earth’s land"60% pop (4 Bln)"
Turns out Asia was a bit more complex than it sounded.
China!Japan!Indonesia!Iran!Israel!North Korea!Philippines!Turkey!Singapore!Russia!
…!
(48 states)"
A state must have a permanent populaMon, a defined territory, a government, and the capacity to enter into relaMons with other states (Montevideo ConvenMon, 1933)
Russia? Turkey? Iran? This is Asia too! Actually, another definition is looking at “Eurasia” as a whole – it only depends on your model
Wikipedia
Asia – a toponym dating back to classical antiquity – is more a “cultural concept" incorporating diverse regions and peoples than a homogeneous physical entity"
Wikipedia says Asia is a “cultural concept”
Wikipedia
Asia – a toponym dating back to classical antiquity – is more a “cultural concept" incorporating diverse regions and peoples than a homogeneous physical entity"
Asia differs very widely among and within its regions with regard to ethnic groups, cultures, environments, economics, historical Mes and government systems. WTF?!?
But then it says it is a mish mash of cultures varying widely
Culture
Event the “Culture” part only lists a very Western-centric view: Nobels!
Wikipedia
Asia was originally a concept of Western civiliza<on.
It down to this: an outdated Western concept.
What fascinates me"
The Life of Ideas!
My hobby is looking at how ideas migrate
One useful example: the movable type!
Europe!Gutenberg (1450)"
Korea!Metal (1230)"
China!Bi Sheng (1040)"
Invented in Europe? Not quite: 400 years earlier in China!
What you know can be"wrong!
#0"
First lesson is: millions of people agree on mistaken things
Ideas don’t have a"nationality!
#1"
Is the printing press Chinese? Lucky they did not patent it!
Things can be invented"more than once!
#2"
Gutenberg apparently did not know about the Chinese or Korean types
Time gap can be"bridged!
#3"
What would the world look like if the Chinese type had come to Europe?
Foreign stones!can polish !your jade!
它 山 之 石 ， 可 以 攻 玉
#4"
With less characters, the type is more usable in Europe than China!
Other examples!
Magnificent Seven (1960)
Seven Samurai (1954)
Hollywood has no problem lifting ideas from other places
How about this one?
The Matrix (1999)
Ghost in the Shell (1989/1995)
Visual style (and more) copied from a Japanese manga and movie
Kimba the White Lion (1965)
The Lion King (1994)
“Even our lawyers are not that good” – a Disney animator (rumor)
Hollywood loves Japan it seems
Pi (1998)
This movie made Darren Aronofsky famous
Tetsuo (1989)
…its visual style is heavily inspired by this Japanese indie movie
InnovaMon goes back and forth!
• Nike (USA) and Asics (Japan)
• Feiyue (China) popular in Europe!
Nike used to import Onitsuka Tigers (Asics) before starting its own
(now served in Japan too)
California Rolls!
Japan now eats California rolls too :-)
Mobile Augmented Reality (AR)
This is a mobile AR company I consulted for
Where did the idea come from?
What could inspire those Dutch guys?
(Hugo Award, 2006)
Science fiction (and very recent!)
Denno Coil / Computer Coil (NHK, 2007)
And a Japanese anime series
Denno Coil / Computer Coil (NHK, 2007)
This dog does not exist in the physical world
AR Glasses
Dutch guys inspired by Japanese anime and US science fiction
Ideas don’t have a"nationality!
#1"
Is mobile AR Dutch? Japanese? US? Does the question make sense?
Alibaba | China’s #1 e-‐Commerce Planorm
• 1999 Alibaba by Jack Ma + 17 others – Mission: “To make doing business easy”
• 2001 Savio Kwan hired as COO – 17 years GE Medical Systems – Target: “Sustainable long-‐term cash flow”
• 2010 More GE than GE? – “The GE spirit is alive and well at Alibaba”
David Wei, CEO of Alibaba.com
Ideas are not just “products” but can also be management style.
Western Framing of InnovaMon
The “West” hijacked the idea of “innovation”
Western Culture?
• Ancient Greece / Rome
• Chris<aniza<on (Jesus from Nazareth, in today’s Israel)
• Renaissance
• European empires
• Experiments with enlightenment, naturalism, romanMcism, science, democracy, and socialism
And what is “The West” anyway?
Summary
• Ideas are everywhere!
• Asia contributes too
• Stereotypes get in the way
Unlearning is the hardest part
Western!Latin American!African!Orthodox!Indian!Muslim!
Japanese!Chinese!
Civilizations"
The way I see the world today: civilizations & ecosystems
Emergence of"Digital Civilizations!
And the emergence of “digital civilizations”
Foreign vs. Natives"
Google"Facebook"Amazon"
eBay"Priceline"Yahoo!"
Salesforce"Zynga"
Liberty Interactive"LinkedIn"
Baidu"Alibaba"Tencent"Netease"
Sina"
Softbank"Rakuten"DeNA"Gree"
NHN"Nexon"
Yandex"Mail.ru"
Foreign vs. Natives"
The majority of the largest 23 Internet companies in the world are not US and don’t care about US!
Rebranding of Innovation"
SIMILAR?!
DISMISS!
YES"COPYCAT!!
IT’S AMERICAN!!YES"SUCCEED IN
USA?!
NO"
Anything not successful in US is dismissed, or rebranded if successful
Made in > select country <!
Nationality is a BRAND"
Yep. “Designed in Cupertino” by people from everywhere!
No Direct Equivalent!
The reality is that even “copycats” are always different: brand, marketing strategy, payment system, design, etc.
Local Champions"
Which gives a chance to local champions to beat “global” ones
. Cultural fit". Market knowledge"
Advantage: Locals"
They have 2 key advantages
5C’s of Innovation™"
1. Copy"2. Competition"3. Constraints"4. Combination"5. Context"
And can innovate due to ecosystem factors
Learning from the Game Industry"
The gaming industry is pretty dynamic and interesting to look at
Tencent’s QQ | Made for China"
Tencent is a great example of “5C’s” at play: IM with virtual goods and prepaid cards
Leapfrogging"
Differences in ecosystems allow leapfrogging
MODERN is not WESTERN
And modernization does not equate Westernization
Micro-Multinationals"
Another opportunity is for tiny companies to be global from anywhere
Skype made in Estonia, Spotify from Sweden, Angry Birds from Finland
UberStrike by Cmune | Made from China"
Top 3D Game on Facebook and Mac OS!"
BoomZap | No offices!"
50 staff making casual “point-and-click adventure games”. No office.
One (million) more thing(s)!!
Mass Customization"
Beyond the web, there is tremendous opportunity in new products
. Design". Financing". Production". Distribution"
Product Innovation"
Crowdsourcing, Kickstarter, online stores are changing the way things are invented, made and sold
Asia do it for the kids.
Being in a emerging market has the enormous advantage of optimism
Advantages?!
What’s left in the West? We often hear about education…
I think it’s largely over-rated
But the “cheering culture” of the US is a very strong advantage
Whereas in France we like to criticize, and in Germany even make fun!
Pop Quiz!!
Yeah!
Who is this?
Freddie Mercury Born Farrokh Bulsara (GujaraM: ફારોખ બ'સારા) in Zanzibar
The Queen frontman grew up in India. He brought Bollywood style before we had a name for it!
How about this guy? Looks somewhat middle-eastern, eh?
Steve Jobs Son of Joanne Carole Schieble & Syrian born Abdulfatah "John" Jandali (Arabic: جندلي عبدالفتاح �)
Well, he’s half-Syrian by DNA
“China searches for the next Steve Jobs”
“Why the next Steve Jobs will be Asian”
If you read it, it’s for you."
I picked a couple of articles talking about Asia and Steve Jobs
China searches for the next Steve Jobs?"
= “China is coming and it scares us”"= “At least we are still more innovative”"
What is “China”?"What means “us” and “we”?"What is “innovative”?"
The FT one is mostly reinforcing US scares of China, and delusions of “owning” innovation
The United States is losing its near-monopoly on entrepreneurship by forcing its educated Indian and Chinese immigrants to return home.
Why the next Steve Jobs will be Asian"
= The next “Steve Jobs” is going to be US-educated"= Country of origin does not matter"
The Inc. one is mildly better, as it recognizes immigrants as a key source of US innovation
– “Steve Jobs lectured Obama on how much easier it was to stat a business in China than in the United States.”
– “The U.S. near-‐monopoly on entrepreneurship is over. The next entrepreneur to lecture a President may well do it in Mandarin or Hindi.”
Why the next Steve Jobs will be Asian"
= Importance of ease of starting a company!= Still stuck in the “national” mindset and numbers!
But it is still stuck in a weird mindset: US-educated foreign entrepreneurs will speak perfect English on top of Chinese, Hindi or whatever else is their country of origin.
4 Unusual Things I Noted"About Steve Jobs!
I found 4 things I believe were very formative for Steve Jobs
Calligraphy (incl. “Asian”) formed his esthe<cs
“If I had never dropped in on that single calligraphy course in college, the Mac would have never had mulIple typefaces or proporIonally spaced fonts.”
#1 Calligraphy"
Exposure to non-tech stuff, and esthetics
He went on a long trip in a special place
Jobs lew India awer staying for seven months and returned with his head shaved and wearing tradiMonal Indian clothing.
#2 Trip to India"
A long special trip that helped open his eyes and expand his views
He experimented with new percep<ons
"Doing LSD was one of the two or three most important things I have done in my life.”
“Bill Gates would be a broader guy if he had dropped acid once.”
#3 LSD"
If you don’t “drop acid”, try drawing or playing music by ear :-)
He meditated a lot
Jobs also was a serious prac<<oner of Zen Buddhism, engaged in lengthy meditaMon retreats at the oldest Sōtō Zen monastery in the US and maintained a lifelong appreciaMon for Zen.
#4 Meditation"
He took time to let his ideas calm down and stronger ones emerge
. Curiosity". Unusual experiences"
. Opportunistic". Minimalist comfort"
. Do!"
How to be a Steve Jobs (draft)"
I believe those are key elements to become a Steve Jobs
“Let a thousand Steve Jobs bloom!”!史蒂夫运动"
I actually think there will be not one but 1,000 Steve Jobs soon. Will we recognize them for what they are?
DayDeed.com will bring you love!"
[email protected]!or @benjaminjoffe!
Thanks!"
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