Steve Jobs has been portrayed as one of America's quintessential innovators. Back in the early '80s, my third "personal" computer was an Apple II. That sturdy little computer performed a lot of tasks that helped us manage a $10 million company. Innovation aside, why is it that Apple never made it to the top of the computer industry? Carleen Hawn, writing in the January 2004 Fast Company, "If He's So Smart...", places the blame on a sort of ADD (attention deficit disorder) that Jobs has institutionalized at Apple. That is, the company fails to execute marketing plans to actually sell its innovations. Immediately that a new product is launched, they are on to the next big thing.
I think that there are some correlations in the automation industry. There are companies with excellent products and services to go along with bright people, but they just can't seem to find a way to market their products and grow the companies.
What is marketing except determining what users need and/or want, aligning products and services to satisfy those needs/wants, and finding a way to get sellers and buyers together? There has been a lot of product and service innovation during 2003, but where is the buzz? The automation industry could certainly use the charisma of some people like Jobs, but many of the companies need the marketing savvy and aggressiveness of a Microsoft.
6:20:03 AM 
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