A Computer with a Rebel Heart - Bennis

A product with a rebel heart is the product of great groups"

Here in lies the history of the personal computer. In 1945 coordinator for scientific research during WWII, Vannevar Bush set out his vision of a new technology for managing information, the Memorex. He wrote about a device in which people could store books, records and communications. He envisioned that this device would be mechanical and able to retrieve information fast. He saw it as a supplement to the human memory.

Nineteen years later, while writing his dissertation, Douglas C. Englebart came across Bush’s vision during his research. Inspire by the concept, Englebart accepted a grant from NASA setting out to make Bush’s vision a reality. With the funds from NASA Englebart was able to develop both the mouse and windows. While these new technologies impressed many, Englebart was unable to develop the first PC as NASA pulled funding from his project. Instead, a brach of the Xerox Corporation known as the Palto Alto Research Center, PARC, went on to develop the first user-friendly computer.

In 1970, Xerox hired Alan Kay, a computer wizard. Kay too had a vision to create an interactive computer that would be easy to use. Kay himself attributed much of the success of PARC to Bob Taylor. Taylor was the head of the Computer Science Laboratory. It was Taylor, while working at NASA, who had funded the work of Englebart which lead to the development of the mouse. Taylor believed strongly in the recruitment process. In Collins words, he made sure he got the right people on the bus. He said “You can’t pile together enough good people to make one great one.” Taylor looked for people who could work collaboratively. He believed that god science was done from the bottom up. You hired great people and turned them loose on projects they would excel in managing te system not the people. Under Taylor’s leadership, Kay developed a compuer language know as “Smalltalk”. The computer that was evolving at PARC was to be easy enough for a child to use. Kay envisioned what he called the Dynabook, a computer that would be small enough to carry in a saddlebag. When Xerox decided not to develop this idea PARC went on to complete its development of the Alto, the first successful personal PC. However, Xerox was never to sell the Alto commercially, instead a small company named Apple would.

Xerox decided not to follow through with the Alto. The executives lacked the same vision the PARC group had. Rather, they invited a young man named Steven Jobs to come in and see a demonstration of the Alto in return for a good price on Apple stock. What Jobs saw was an opportunity. He could not believe that Xerox was dropping the ball on this one. But, their loss was his gain. Jobs brought to Apple all that he had seen. Apple ran with PARC’s ideas scrapping their own concepts and focusing on finding the right people to complete the project. He brought on board people with unwavering focus and dedication who believed that they would “build a machine that would put a dent in the world.” Jobs had employees keep their project a secret believing that working under an heir of secrecy would bind the company closer together.
Although jobs had a great vision, he had a very immature leadership style. He would vigorously critique the work of his team on occasion telling them that their work sucked. He created a high level of stress within the group and slowed the pace at which people could be productive. In spite of the rash behavior of their leader, In 1984 the first Macintoshes were shipped. Unfortunately after acquiring success in their mission, the members of the MAC team developed a sort of depression. They had made so many personal sacrifices for the company and many people on the team left. Jobs too left the company selling off his stock, leaving with no money at all. Later, after growing up a bit, he became head of PIXAR and reclaimed his fortune once again.