Reflections on Building a Global Technology Platform

Abstract

Building and maintaining a robust technology platform requires planning and an ability to make the most of serendipity.As a research scientist with 30 years of industrial experience, I've seen my share of failed technology and market predictions. I've also spent my share of sleepless nights questioning chosen strategies for increasing the breadth and rate of innovation . . . and debating with myself (usually to an uneasy draw) whether a new platform would ultimately arrive in a land of feast or one of famine. I have helped to create, lead, and sustain several successful technology platforms at Procter & Gamble (PG if they are usefully granular, they'll most often be wrong. Rather than perfecting the art of prediction, I choose to aggressively embrace changes that can grow the pie of future opportunities. So rather than focus on protecting current platform values and plans, I aggressively and proactively look for how change, whether the door appears to be opening or slamming shut, could lead to new, unforeseen opportunities to create value.Meticulous SerendipityIt's easy to look back on any career and recall the decisions that went right, the plans that worked out, and the hard work that led to professional success. But then there is the startling and humbling reality: The most crucial forks in the road, the decision points that dramatically changed the course of my professional interests and successes were often unconscious and uncontrolled.I would never have chosen to study physics and engineering if I hadn't fallen under the spell of a wizard-Mr. Wizard, the late Don Herbert, whom I watched (in black and white) on Saturday mornings. Those half-hour television shows ignited a lifelong thirst to understand how things worked. The bubbling chemical reactions were neat and the clever mechanical contraptions fascinating. …