Author Archives: Diego Rodriguez

Climbing Mountains and Wells

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Innovating upon something already in existence requires change.  The road to that change can be faster or slower, but there's always a journey to be had.  If you're lucky, it may be an easy path you take, but it's much more likely to be one with lots of obstacles, dips, and dead ends along the way. 

When I look back upon the things I've embarked upon to create change in the world, one thing stands out: the journey always took much longer than projected.  If that journey was something akin to climbing a big mountain, I spent more time navigating the approach to the base of the mountain than summiting the peak, if you will.  I rarely if ever planned for this "flat" part of the trip.  The mountain peak is so seductive, so sexy — it's where you want to end up, so you focus on what it will take to scale the verticals.  But as it turns out, it's the long walk to the base of the mountain that's the hardest part.  It's about perseverance more than strength.

Innovating something, be it a stand alone product or a massively interconnected system, involves many more days of getting to the peak than it does scaling the peak.  This is because there are so many pitfalls along the way — so it always feels like you're climbing something.  Climbing a mountain face or a well, it feels the same: steep, slippery, and difficult. As it turns out, a lot of that climbing happens because you've stumbled into a crevasse or a well, and you have to find your way out before you can get back to your mission of walking to the mountain.  It can't be helped; if you're innovating, by definition you're venturing out through the dark unknown, so of course you'll stumble and fall and have to pick yourself up.

While there were lots of hard points, in any difficult project I've done there was also more joy and camaraderie to be had along the way than I ever dared hope for.  This is key.  Whether it's Orville and Wilbur figuring out how to make man fly, or it's you tweaking the messaging on a web site in the middle of the night, you need the help of friends and colleagues.  Not only can they help pull you out of a crevasse, but they can help you see that you weren't yet on the mountain.  And that you need to keep walking. 

Understanding the difference between a mountain and a well?  Priceless.

Big Bang Theory

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The essay I wrote for RACER magazine is now available online.

You can find it here on pp. 34-35.  The topic is Game Changers.  At the risk of tooting my own horn, I think it's one of the better things I've written on the subject of innovating.  Here's an excerpt:

How to spot one?  Beware of self-proclaimed game changers; most are just marketing hype.  Real game changers trigger resistance from competitors and rule makers.  Or, like Jim Hall's fan car, they violate unspoken taboos…

I hope you like it!  Thanks.

Email stinks

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I’ve lost count of the number of misunderstandings, missed opportunities, and attenuated outcomes I’ve brought into being via the tips of my fingers.  No, I’m not talking about mediocre blog posts, I’m speaking to the thousands of emails I send each year. 

When it comes to the pursuit of creative outcomes, email stinks.  I wrote a few weeks ago about the debilitating effect of sarcasm in a creative workplace.  In that same context, email has its problems, too.  With email, not only is it difficult to discern whether sarcasm is at play, but it’s also hard to confidently parse out things like humor, fear, anger, defensiveness, kindness, curiosity… you get the picture.  And the give and take of a healthy in-person conversation becomes at best a somewhat disjointed verbal volley, at worst a damaging pissing match.

The solution?  Whenever possible, talk.  By phone, Skype, or even in person.  Talk.  Listen.  Talk some more.  Digest. 

It’s so much better to talk in person.  It is truly an imperative for teams and organizations pursuing any kind of creative outcome.  Email simply can’t deliver the critical nuances which help shepherd a process along to greatness.  And as critical as it is to talk directly with people within your own organization, it’s even more critical to do so with folks who sit beyond the confines of your four walls.  While it’s even harder to find ways to talk face-to-face with “outsiders”, you have to try, because you can’t rely on things like a shared culture or mission to provide the mutual trust which bridge the inherent deficits of email conversation.

Of course, for messages which need a scale of delivery, email is still one of the only tools at our disposal, but hopefully that will change soon.  Myself, I receive something over 300 emails a day, and I send something like 50. 

Emailing is a necessary evil, but if you commit to talking more and emailing less, then I will, too.

RACER 3.0

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RACER 3.0 Delta Wing May 2012 cover metacool

In 1992 I received a direct mailing talking about a new magazine called RACER.  The mission of RACER, to provide a window into the world of racing, was tremendously exciting to me.  As a mechanical engineering student who wanted to become an engineer with Penske Racing or McLaren,  it was very difficult to find reputable sources of information about what was going in the world of racing and racecars.  I didn’t own a TV, the internet at that time was about very bare text message boards, and the few European racing magazines were too expensive for me to contemplate subscribing to. I would read as much as I could for free when I had the time to hang out at a local café and bookstand (which was not very often), so as a result I barely knew anything.  Case in point, when I applied for a job at Rahal Racing, tracking down their address in Ohio required an entire afternoon of card catalog searching at Stanford’s Green Library.  I kid you not.  Things have changed in the past 20 years.

I became a charter subscriber.  RACER went on to blow my mind as it expanded my horizons.  To feed my design engineering curiosity, it featured achingly gorgeous monthly photographic profiles of important race cars.  It helped me understand the complex strategies – sporting, business and organizational – which drive successful racing teams.  From a people perspective, RACER gave me insights into the thought and behavioral patterns of legendary design innovators such as Dan Gurney, Adrian Newey, Gordon Murray, and many more. 

Above all, RACER’s crisp editorial point of view helped me crystallize a deep belief in the power of acting over just talking, the value of making decisions, and the stark reality that in order to win a race, you have to first show up and start.  It made a big impact on this impressionable college kid.  For those of you who don’t know much about racing (or perhaps don’t care – which is fine, just keep reading metacool!), being a racer is a lot like being an entrepreneur (and most racers are entrepreneurs): it means making the most of what you’ve got, and putting everything you’ve got into what you’re doing.  It’s about being remarkable.  It’s a world where, in the words of racer Roger Penske, effort does indeed equal results.

RACER celebrated its 20th anniversary this past weekend with a big party (it was a good one, I must say!) at the Long Beach Grand Prix.  And as part of this big milestone, it is being relaunched as RACER 3.0, with a new aesthetic approach and a big new attitude – with a bunch of future innovations in the works.  The extremely gnarly relaunch cover of the May 2012 issue is pictured above, and it features my favorite new race car, the Delta Wing.  Does that look killer, or what?  The theme of the issue is “Game Changers”, and I’m deeply honored to have written its introductory essay.  Thank you, RACER.

If you happen to already subscribe to RACER, I hope you like what I wrote.  If you don't subscribe, please do!  Here's a link to an online version of the article.

For now, let’s all get back to making a dent in the universe!  WFO, people, WFO.  Be a racer!

Director’s Commentary: Jeep Mighty FC

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Here's a great look at the Jeep Mighty FC concept car, as told by its designers.  Though this director's commentary doesn't illuminate much of the actual design process which led to the creation of the Might FC, it does a wonderful job of showing us the importance of identifying and holding a strong point of view as you make your way through that process. 

In particular, I like this quote from Mark Allen, the lead designer:

Although we work for a very, very  large corporation, and you'd think there would be board meetings and all this stuff, really it's a few guys just saying, "I want to build this because it's cool."  To have that kind of flexibility in our corporation is great.  I've got great support to do this, and the vehicles come out very, very pure in thought.  They're not watered down through a bunch of meetings and decisions.  There's really never any regrets when we get it done.

Not only is it critical to establish a solid point of view, it is essential to trust the people who hold that vision to do the right thing.  A team of talented designers can create a compelling concept car like the Mighty FC.  An extremelky well-structured and led product development organization like Apple can take the vision of talented designers all the way to market.

I love this design.  I hope they find a way to make it — it would be such a boon to the Jeep marque.