Time to invest in people

Famed American psychologist B.F. Skinner once noted, “The real problem is not whether machines think, but whether men do.”

While recently celebrating the 100^th anniversary of IBM”™s founding, I found great irony in marking such a historic moment at precisely the same time Congressman Anthony Weiner was resigning from his office ”“ 2 p.m. on June 16, 2011. One clearly lifted on the wings of technology, the other crushed by it.

Social media could not exist without IBM, as evidenced by the sheer magnitude of computational advances brought to life by a century”™s worth of thoughtful and provocative geniuses who literally changed the world. However, the cutting-edge of technology slices both ways, as we see private individuals and public companies felled by sharpened digital blades.

The blogosphere stinks of slaughtered reputations, ruined careers and eroded stockholder value. Do we blame the weapon or the one who wields it? “Men have become the tools of their tools,” said Henry David Thoreau. This brings me back to IBM and the total sum of its accomplishments. Listening to the company”™s centennial celebration unfold, the undertone was humble yet bold, as if to quietly say, “Did you expect anything less from us?”

What I admire most about IBM is that rather than defining success by the size of its assets or offerings, it measures client achievements and highlights employee accomplishments. Google, Facebook and even Apple are more about the sanctity of their core products and platforms rather than stressing individual performance. IBM is the “IBMer.”

That is an incredibly unique selling proposition for a technology company because its financial victories are not based upon single products or platforms. The chips, wires, widgets and gadgets are just notes on a page until the right composer weaves them into a symphony.

For Houdini, it was the culmination of thousands of hours of practice, not sorcery. For Jordan, floating on air was about sweat equity, not the result of a radioactive spider bite. For IBM, it remains uncovering the possible over years, not inventing the impossible overnight.

As a nation, we are losing the value of sweat and time because technology dominates the discussion and delivers it at the speed of light. Why send a handwritten card expressing your love to a boyfriend when a quick tweet will do? Why construct a building for two years when a virtual corporate headquarters is instantly sufficient? Why commit to signing a five-year lease for a storefront on Main Street, when Amazon will sustain one for you month-to-month?

We want fast answers and quick solutions because instant celebrities are born every minute on YouTube. Unfortunately, the economic calamity of a lifetime may need a lifetime to fix.

That leaves us right where we are now with a federally over-stimulated, but underperforming economy. Until we start making smarter long-term nationwide investments in people ”“ such as New York City Mayor Bloomberg”™s proposed engineering school ”“ we will be a Kardashian Economy, which is driven by quick fame rather than lasting fortitude.

Laurence P. Gottlieb is director of economic development for Westchester County”™s. Reach him at lgottlieb@thinkingWestchester.com, on the web at www.thinkingwestchester.com or OED”™s Facebook page, Thinking Westchester.