The New Polymath: Profiles in Compound-Technology Innovations (Wiley Professional Advisory Services) [Hardcover]

Vinnie Mirchandani (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 28, 2010 | Series: Wiley Professional Advisory Services (Book 2)

Praise for The New Polymath

"Bravo! In a work that's fresh and inviting, Mirchandani shares with us his case studies in innovation and creativity. It's no small irony that the 'IT revolution' has created a technology industry that all too easily falls back on bromides and received wisdom. Mirchandani inspires us to return to IT's roots, with the transformative power that comes from putting technology innovation in service to business and society."
--Benjamin Fried, CIO, Google, Inc.
"At DeVry Education, we are focused on the next-generation workforce that will build the Polymath enterprises of tomorrow. So, it's good to see the book touch on such a wide range of technologies--from cloud computing to emerging medicine--that are shaping our curriculum. We are always looking for innovation, including online classes and instructional labs, and this book has got us thinking in new directions."
--Daniel Hamburger, President and CEO, DeVry Inc.
"In this fascinating book, Mirchandani, himself an example of the new breed of Polymaths that he defines, brings into a sharp focus exactly what has been achieved by those who have the remarkable ability to combine and mix technology elements. An excellent read on multiple levels: to learn from; to be entertained by; and most of all, to leave you wondering what you could personally achieve."
--Andy Mulholland, Global Chief Technology Officer, Capgemini
"A brilliant read. In order for individuals and companies to fully maximize new century opportunities--and stay abreast of a constantly morphing technological frontier--Mirchandani not only gives examples of the Polymath framework, but concrete evidence for successful leveraging. Thanks to technology, we can all be Polymaths if we open our minds to the possibilities. Consider this book your guide--I think da Vinci would be proud."
--Linda Avey, cofounder, 23andMe

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

A Polymath—the Greek word for Renaissance Man—is one who excels in many disciplines. From Leonardo da Vinci to Benjamin Franklin, we have relied on Polymaths to innovate and find creative solutions to the problems of the day. How would these Renaissance men and women manage our current technology bounty? Which disciplines would they choose to focus on? Would they work on the architecture of next-generation green cities, or focus on nanotechnology?

As our challenges have grown exponentially we need to bring together da Vinci, Franklin, and many more. The New Polymath is an enterprise that excels in multiple technologies—infotech, cleantech, healthtech, and other tech—and leverages multiple talent pools to create new medicine, new energy, and new algorithms.

Author Vinnie Mirchandani shares his varied experience as a technology adviser and market watcher to explain in business language the diversity of today's technology palette and to profile a wide range of innovations at:

• Large multinationals such as GE and BP

• Fast-growing, midsized companies like Cognizant and salesforce.com

• The cleantech industry in China, farms in Ireland, and the back roads of Rwanda

This book categorizes eleven "building blocks" for the New Polymath to leverage in its R-E-N-A-I-S-S-A-N-C-E framework, including next-generation analytics, cloud computing, sustainability, and social networks. The author profiles over a hundred innovators and demonstrates how they use these building blocks to solve both their individual day-to-day issues and the "Grand Challenges" the world faces.

Brimming with examples from a variety of industries, countries, and business processes, the book will inspire you to groom your own New Polymath tools, processes, and ecosystem of innovation ideas.

From the Back Cover

More about The New Polymath
"Mirchandani describes a future of possibilities  - "fortunate accidents of innovation" - enabled by the convergence of technologies with a dose of ideas from "left field". As the founder of Rural Sourcing, we believed in the untapped potential of our young people in Rural America. The possibilities are limitless when there are no geographic boundaries to our workforce and we can truly move the work to the worker rather than the worker to the work."
--Kathy Brittain-White, Former EVP and CIO, Cardinal Health; Founder, Rural Sourcing, Inc.
"Every 10-15 years the technology industry reinvents itself, taking all the achievements and knowledge from the prior generation and turning them into a platform for new innovation.  That regular cycle of rebirth has transformed the way we work, live and play - around the world. Mirchandani has done a fabulous job shining a light on examples of people and organizations that take what exists around us and turn  it into what is possible.  These are the innovators that inspire us."
--Dave Duffield, co-CEO and Chief Customer Advocate, Workday; former Chairman and CEO, PeopleSoft, Inc.
"Mirchandani is one of the few technology analysts to realize that technology doesn't come in neat bundles anymore, if it ever did. His stories and lessons cut across infotech, biotech, greentech, and mathtech. If you want to be a Polymath innovator, this is your bible!"
--Thomas H. Davenport, President's Distinguished Professor of IT and Management, Babson College; coauthor of Analytics at Work: Smarter Decisions, Better Results
"In today's world, innovation distinguishes great companies from good ones.Mirchandani highlights the importance of technology in such innovation and, specific to IT, counsels about being a full partner of the business and being open to the best ideas from other industries and geographies.?The book is full of examples on how to accomplish this and should be required reading for all IT professionals and students."
--Caroline Watteeuw, Global CTO and SVP, Business Information Solutions, PepsiCo, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (June 28, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470618302
• ISBN-13: 978-0470618301
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 1.2 x 9.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #846,329 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Vinnie Mirchandani has been called "The King of Wow" for his keen eye for technology-enabled innovation. His blog, New Florence. New Renaissance. has cataloged 2,500 posts of innovative products, projects, and people in work, life, and play. His last 2 books, The New Technology Elite and The New Polymath, have been widely praised as an "innovation firehoses" His books draw on the breadth of his blogs, extensive research and a global perspective from his travels to over 50 countries.

He is President of Deal Architect Inc, a technology advisory firm. The firm helps clients take advantage of disruptive trends like cloud computing and business process outsourcing (BPO) before they go mainstream. Between this firm and previous role at the technology research firm, Gartner he has helped clients evaluate and negotiate over $10 billion in technology contracts.

He spent his early career at Price Waterhouse, first as an accountant, then as a technology consultant (that division is now part of IBM). He has been quoted in most major technology and business publications, and he has presented at a wide range of industry events.

Read more about the author, advance praise for book and excerpts from chapters at the book websites thenewtechnologyelite.com and thenewpolymath.com

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Ten Rules of Success of The New PolyMath June 16, 2010

By M. Lamoureux

Format:Hardcover

Having read an advance copy of Vinnie Mirchandani's The New Polymath, I have to say that it is a riveting read. It's SuperFreakonomics for us technophiles. Because, for better or worse, The New Polymath (who can be thought of as a modern Leonardo da Vinci) must also be an IT guru ... as it is information technology that is paving the way for a new generation of polymaths that have access to unprecedented levels of information across disciplines.

Rather than tell you that this fresh and inviting (Benjamin Fried, CIO Google) book is filled with incredible examples of passionate entrepreneurs (Marc Benioff, CEO [...]), that I am inspired by this book (Maynard Webb, CEO LiveOps), or that Mirchandani is one of the few technology analysts to realize that technology doesn't come in neat bundles anymore (Thomas H. Davenport, President's Chair Babson College), I'm going to talk about The New Polymath's ten rules for success which pop out at you if you read between the lines.

Why? One of the Polymath's chronicled in Vinnie's masterful manuscript is Brian Sommer, technology consultant extraordinaire of TechVentive and renowned ZDNet blogger, who asks "where are the 10 commandments for technology" as he struggles with the challenges of cyberethics that few dare to address. It's a good question, and one that I believe we are not yet ready to answer. Which leads me to ask, "how do we get there"? Well, the first step is to obviously become learned, and successful, polymaths well equipped to ask, and debate, the question. To this end, we need a guide ... a guide that, if you dig deep, is found within Vinnie's terrific tome. To get you on your way, and to inspire you to (pre) order your own copy of The New Polymath, I give you:

The New Polymath's Ten Starting Rules for Success
(because, in reality, there are more than ten ... but these are the biggies).

(01) 1-1-1
Adopt [...] 1-1-1 model: 1 percent employee's time; 1 percent equity; 1 percent product donation. A true Polymath operates in his community, not out of it, and makes a difference.

(02) 80 for 20
Aim for solutions that deliver 80% of the value of previous solutions for only 20% of the price. A new Polymath is about true innovation, not overstated renovation.

(03) Invisible UI
If your product requires a manual, it's not a product at all. A true Polymath produces solutions with UIs so seamless and so obvious that no manual is needed.

(04) Traceability
Every component can be traced back to the source ... even if it's software. (And if it is software, every data element can be traced back to the source.)

(05) Keep Score
Polymaths are responsible and drive for sustainability ... to the point where they keep track of how well they are doing and how much better their inventions are compared with predecessor technology. If it's not more environmentally friendly (and more cost effective, because true green keeps more green in your wallet), it's not revolutionary.

(06) Semantics
It's the age of "big data", and to make sense of it all, we need to find the data that is relevant to us.

(07) Decisions, Not Data
Because, in the end, the entire point of finding the semantically relevant data is to enable us to make better decisions than we could before.

(08) Adopt the "Shamrock" It's Lucky for a Reason
A "shamrock" organization, as envisioned by Charles Handy, is one that encompasses "core management, a long-term but contractual talent pool, and a transient, flexible workforce". We are in the age of networked person, who is used to working on the move, and tomorrow's polymath's will be flexible at the core.

(09) TiaS
Technology-is-a-Service. A Polymath moves beyond SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) and TaaS (Technology-as-a-Service) and embraces the concept that, like power and water, information technology must be delivered only as a service in the world of tomorrow. Just like the utilities deliver our power and water, tomorrow's technology enterprises will deliver our apps, data, and information on-demand as that is what is needed for businesses to truly reach the next level of operations, as technology is not the core competency of most businesses that make use of it today.

(10) The Turing Oath
Brian Sommer notes that we need a Hippocratic Oath for technology, and I agree. We all need to agree to respect and uphold the privacy of our users and their data to the utmost above all else. And I'm calling that the Turing Oath, after Alan Turing who gave us the first test to determine whether a machine had reached intelligence (and, would thus, need to be instilled with ethics from the get go ... and, hopefully, the the three laws of robotics.)

I strongly encourage you to read Vinnie's groundbreaking debut into the world of publishing (other than his prolific blogging over the years over on Deal Architect and New Florence. New Renaissance.) and do what it takes to become The New Polymath. The world of tomorrow needs you, and in fact, so does the world of today. If, like the polymaths chronicled in this book and Nathan Myhrvold (who was the cloth the new polymaths chronicled in the book were cut from), I encourage you to join the Humanitarian Technology Challenge. The world needs you!

This review was originally published on Sourcing innovation at:
[...]

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Interesting collection of blogs posts September 22, 2011

By Michael A. Foreman

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I was very interested in the topic and about polymaths in history and some that I have known, so it was with great anticipation that I bought the book. The book seems to be a collection of blog posts by the author, which leads to a book that is hard to track. He has a thesis, but the book is not organized in a way that it flows to support the thesis. It is agony to read. I read a few pages of interesting factoids, then pause to think, why is he saying that or what is the point. The general flow is: fact, unrelated tidbit, something innovative, implying that the subject, usually a company, is a polymath. Rinse and repeat. He overuses the word polymath so much that its grating. I disagree with the concept that a company can be a polymath just because they can be good a several things.

There are lots of quite interesting factoids and blogs in the book, lots of descriptions of companies that are innovative (with no point), but it seriously needs a real editor to try to make it readable.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Making Us Think Differently About Innovation June 17, 2010

By Jon Reed

Format:Hardcover

I first ran into Vinnie Mirchandani's work in his "Deal Architect" blog, where he has developed a reputation for jolting enterprise software vendors with his skepticism over vendor hype and searing critiques of lazy business models. "Where is the innovation?" is one of his most common refrains. What I did not realize until recently was that Vinnie has taken it one step further, and thoroughly documented the kinds of innovations he is pressing vendors for. This is the heart of his "New Polymath" book - documenting innovations across industries, specific examples from more than 40 countries.

But if this book was just an encyclopedia of innovation, it would wind up on a shelf somewhere. It is more. Vinnie has put these innovations into a compelling narrative, a story of "grand ideas." To Vinnie, innovation is not a buzzword for spit-polishing a business model, it's a much higher stakes game. Vinnie seeks out and documents game-changing corporate initiatives - those that are rooted in community sensibility and sustainability - not simply in the ecological sense but in the broader sense of creating a better society while achieving significantly better business value. No simple task, right? Thus Vinnie's argument for the "New Polymath," the ability to "compound technologies" from eleven building blocks he details in this book - technologies that when smartly combined, enable this kind of business transformation.

This is not a pie-in-the-sky book, but a collection of case studies and specific examples. The sum of that is to challenge all of us to think bigger and pursue a more radical business purpose - not because it might happen someday, but because it's happening now. There is a roadmap in The New Polymath for us to follow, and many of the technical tools needed are readily available. No excuses. This is one book that spurred me less into reading other books and more into taking action. I would like to see more discussion of how individuals can become the "New Polymaths" the world needs more of - perhaps that will be Vinnie's next book.