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Let’s Rock this World!

What do the iPod, the Tesla, Amazon, and SpaceX all have in common? That’s easy. They rocked their world. All of them were game-changers. All of them changed the way we do things, from the way we buy and listen to music to the way we build rockets and privately launch satellites into space. 

They also have something else in common. The people behind these innovations were all mocked, ridiculed, and laughed at by people who stood watching on the sidelines, people who said that what these innovators were trying to do could not be done.

Tesla transformed the electric car from a humble nerdmobile that nobody wanted to a high-performance luxury car that everyone with a spare hundred grand absolutely has to have. Amazon has made buying things so quick, easy, and economical that we are buying just about everything from them: not just books, but vitamins, cosmetics, clothes, and just about anything you can. And with Prime, there are no shipping charges.

And SpaceX changes everything. This private company can build rockets 100 times faster than NASA ever could, and at a fraction of the price. Keep your eye on this company because they are about to change everything, from the way we do business to commercial satellites to the way we defend this country. We all know about wind power which comes from those giant wind turbines, right? Well, wait until you see those wind turbines that will be launched into space wirelessly, sending power back to earth. Stay tuned for that, my friends!

So now, let’s get back to earth and talk about our little printed circuit board community, our $60 billion dollar industry. Where are our Jobs, Musk, and Bezos? Where are our innovators? Where are those game-changers who are going rock our world?

Where are those forward thinkers who are going to change the way we do things? Where are our geniuses who are going to come up with the next best thing? The best new way to manage and grow our industry?

There are a few promising signs. With printed electronics and wearable electronics, we are getting closer to another giant step, another quantum leap. But still we are not quite there yet. We still haven’t seen anything coming up the road that shows any indication of what our next big step is. Now, here is a challenge for you. If I’m wrong, if you feel that I am incorrect and that I am overlooking something, please let me know. I honestly would love to hear about it.

But in the meantime, I can’t help thinking that it isn’t going to come from one of us old guys. We feel we have seen everything and done everything. Been there, done that is not exactly a great pedigree for new innovation.

No, I think our game-changers are going to come from a young person who joins our industry one day. This kid will check out the way we have been doing things for the past 60 or 70 years and ask the right questions, and when he doesn’t hear the right answers, he’ll come up with them himself, or better yet, herself. Now won’t that be something?

As I have said before in this column, it’s time for the kids. It’s time for some fresh new blood to enter our ranks. It’s time for fresh minds filled with new ideas to come into this staid old industry and change everything.

I warn you: Be prepared. You’re probably not going to like it when it happens. This person is going to look at our world in a whole new and different way, and it’s going to shake everything we’ve ever believed in up to now.

But I urge you to open up your minds when it inevitably happens. Don’t be one of those people jeering from the sidelines; instead, look towards the future with an open mind and welcome this new generation of PCB innovators with open arms.

I can tell you this. The time is very near and the need is great. It is our responsibility to be looking for those smart young people, to find them, teach them about our industry, and then help them make it a better industry and a better world.

Let’s invite them to rock our world! It’s only common sense.