New Technology Elite

VINNIE MIRCHANDANI has been called "The King of Wow" for his keen eye for technology-enabled innovation. His blog, New Florence. New Renaissance, has cataloged 2,500 posts of innovative products, projects, and people in work, life, and play. His last book, The New Polymath (Wiley), was widely praised as an "innovation firehose." He is President of Deal Architect, a technology advisory firm. In prior roles, he was an analyst at Gartner, Inc., a leading technology research firm, and a global consultant at PwC, the advisory firm. He has keynoted at many business and technology conferences and has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Businessweek, Financial Times, and other executive and technology publications.

• Preface ixAcknowledgments xxiPart I The Convergence of Technology Production and ConsumptionChapter 1 The New Monday Morning Quarterback 3Case Study: UPS—That’s Technology “Amore” 15Chapter 2 The “Industrialization” of Technology 25Case Study: HP—The Quest for a “10 Out of 10” Supply Chain 32Chapter 3 From Amazon to Zipcar: No Industry Untouched 39Case Study: Roosevelt—Innovation Island 49Chapter 4 Australia to Zanzibar: No Country for Old Products 57Case Study: Estonia’s “Tiigrihüpe”—Tiger Leap 66Chapter 5 Convergence, Crossover, and Beyond 71Guest Columns: Crossover Executive Perspectives 84Perspective 1: Tony Scott (CIO, Microsoft) 84Perspective 2: Vijay Ravindran (Chief Digital Officer, The Washington Post Co.) 86Part II Key Attributes for the New Technology Elite: Three Es, Three Ms, Three Ps, and Three SsChapter 6 Elegant: In a World of Flashing 12s 93Case Study: Virgin America—Redefining Elegance in Flying 103Chapter 7 Exponential: Leveraging Ecosystems 111Case Study: RIM’s Evolving Ecosystem 119Chapter 8 Efficient: Amid Massive Technology Waste 123Case Study: Facebook’s Hyperefficient Data Center 133Chapter 9 Mobile: If It’s Tuesday, It Must Be Xiamen 139Case Study: The Boeing 787 and HCL Technologies 149Chapter 10 Maverick: No Rules. Just Right. 155Case Study: Apple—A Thousand “Nos” and Ten Gutsy “Yeses” 163Chapter 11 Malleable: Business Model Innovation 173Case Study: Valence Health 186Chapter 12 Physical: Why Test Driving is Still Important Even in a Digital World 193Case Study: Taubman Shopping Centers 205Chapter 13 Paranoid: But Not Paralyzed 211Case Study: Wireless Aerial Surveillance Platform 220Chapter 14 Pragmatic: When Attorneys Influence Technology Even More than Engineers 225Guest Column: Legal Considerations in Technology Product Launches—Benjamin Kern 233Chapter 15 Speedy: In a New Era of Perishability 241Case Study: Corning—The Gorilla® Glass Rocket Ride 248Chapter 16 Social: Amid Chatty Humans and Things 255Case Study: Lexmark Genesis—A Printer for Our Social Times 265Chapter 17 Sustainable: Mining the Green Gold 271Case Study: Google’s Green Initiatives 282Part III Outside Influences on the Technology EliteChapter 18 Making Regulators More Tech-Elite 291Case Study: 3M’s “Periodic Table” 299Chapter 19 Society’s Changing View of Technology 305Guest Column: Smart Products Consumers Can Trust—Professor Mary Cronin 313Chapter 20 Market Analysts Morphing 317Case Study: Amazon 2010 Shareholder Letter 323Endgame: “Welcome to the NFL” 327Notes 333About the Author 367Index 369