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Jump the Curve: 50 Essential Strategies to Help Your Company Stay Ahead of Emerging Technologies
Technology and the economy are changing fast today-so fast it's almost impossible to keep up with them. And businesses that don't keep up are in danger of being left far behind. Author Jack Uldrich shows that not only is technology growing today-it's growing exponentially . Advances in computers, bandwidth, nanotechnology, and other fields show explosive change that offers great opportunities, as well as great risks. To succeed, businesspeople need to become Exponential Executives, willing and able to recognize opportunities and take their businesses into a bold new world. Jack Uldrich takes you on an amazing journey through eight emerging technologies transforming our
- GenresBusiness
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
4 people are currently reading
37 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 17, 2012
Ugh. Painfully generic advice which has little to do with staying ahead of technology.
Ulrich starts the book out with a brief discourse on exponential growth which is basic, and then continues with 50 tips on adapting mixed in with anecdotes that are often mildly based on technology at all. This isn't a serious discussion about increasing technological change and the perils and profits of adapting to it. It's really just banal advice with a techie spin to it: things like studying history, moving forwards to step back, observe the ants, crowdsource, and other things really could be said in any context, and the tech anecdotes don't add to it.
It's annoying, honestly. A lot of it is dated: Nintendo for example released the Wii, and actually has stumbled because the blue ocean strategy didn't hook people who bought games, while the Xbox360 and PS3 ignored his advice, kept doing what they were good at, and prospered. No one seriously looks at Second Life with a business eye, or will pull a Sweden and set up there: it's as dead as VRML and chat rooms. A lot of it doesn't even make sense, like the concept of being an exponential executive. Embracing new technology simply won't give you that kind of growth, and all the tips at best are more about developing an agile, adaptive mind.
Honestly, it's bad. A lot of name-dropping trendy techie things from five years ago or more, and very little thoughtful analysis. Using new technologies can hamper as well as help. Look at Netflix, who in their attempt to embrace streaming over physical inventories shot themselves in the foot by depending on content companies willingness to keep forking over movie libraries on the cheap. If there had been serious, balanced analysis of even a single case and less buzzwords, there might be a good book. Pass on this.
Ulrich starts the book out with a brief discourse on exponential growth which is basic, and then continues with 50 tips on adapting mixed in with anecdotes that are often mildly based on technology at all. This isn't a serious discussion about increasing technological change and the perils and profits of adapting to it. It's really just banal advice with a techie spin to it: things like studying history, moving forwards to step back, observe the ants, crowdsource, and other things really could be said in any context, and the tech anecdotes don't add to it.
It's annoying, honestly. A lot of it is dated: Nintendo for example released the Wii, and actually has stumbled because the blue ocean strategy didn't hook people who bought games, while the Xbox360 and PS3 ignored his advice, kept doing what they were good at, and prospered. No one seriously looks at Second Life with a business eye, or will pull a Sweden and set up there: it's as dead as VRML and chat rooms. A lot of it doesn't even make sense, like the concept of being an exponential executive. Embracing new technology simply won't give you that kind of growth, and all the tips at best are more about developing an agile, adaptive mind.
Honestly, it's bad. A lot of name-dropping trendy techie things from five years ago or more, and very little thoughtful analysis. Using new technologies can hamper as well as help. Look at Netflix, who in their attempt to embrace streaming over physical inventories shot themselves in the foot by depending on content companies willingness to keep forking over movie libraries on the cheap. If there had been serious, balanced analysis of even a single case and less buzzwords, there might be a good book. Pass on this.
January 30, 2014
It’s been a while since I’ve seen a word that’s actually been around for a long time, but that I’d never heard before (or read it, in this case): zenzizenzizenzic, a number to the eighth power. I read about this word and its meaning in Jump the Curve: 50 Essential Strategies to Help Your Company Stay Ahead of Emerging Technologies by Jack Uldrich. I read this book for a report I’m writing for my MBA coursework and I’ve found it to be thought-provoking and entertaining–which is always more fun than a dry textbook! The author uses the example: 256 is the zenzizenzizenzic of 2^8.
The author talks about using zenzizenzizenzic to think ahead to emerging technologies–to not only read about the developments in nanotechnology, robotics, genetic algorithms, and biotechnology, but to stay ahead of the information, we must anticipate the myriad applications that could be made possible by these developments–creations that these technologies weren’t necessarily created for and maybe haven’t even been thought of before!
I googled ‘zenzizenzizenzic’ and found that, unfortunately, it has fallen out of favor in the world of mathematics (from whence it came), but I’m glad to have found such a fun word before it disappeared from our society altogether.
I highly recommend this book–it was quite enjoyable!
The author talks about using zenzizenzizenzic to think ahead to emerging technologies–to not only read about the developments in nanotechnology, robotics, genetic algorithms, and biotechnology, but to stay ahead of the information, we must anticipate the myriad applications that could be made possible by these developments–creations that these technologies weren’t necessarily created for and maybe haven’t even been thought of before!
I googled ‘zenzizenzizenzic’ and found that, unfortunately, it has fallen out of favor in the world of mathematics (from whence it came), but I’m glad to have found such a fun word before it disappeared from our society altogether.
I highly recommend this book–it was quite enjoyable!
April 13, 2008
Overall and eye opening read, a vital read for any type of business leaders. More importantly students that want to contribute to the future.
September 2, 2012
Pretty good book, but way too many grammatical errors!
Want to read
November 2, 2008I will be hearing Jack Uldrich speak this week - can't wait!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews