Last week at Intel, we held a panel of distinguished guests solely for the purpose of sharing new insight and perspectives with our employees. The panel was part of the Corporate Speaker Series “Beyond the Cube” and featured a set of extremely talented and knowledgeable guests. The group included John Hendricks (the Founder and Chairman of Discovery Communications), Erik Huggers (The VP of Intel’s Digital Home Group), and Genevieve Bell (an Intel Fellow and Director of Intel Labs). The panel was moderated by Deborah Conrad (Intel’s CMO). The room was at capacity and we had to turn people away. It’s great to see people turn out for something for the sake of interest and not because it’s another mandated work event.
We met Mr. Hendricks as a result of our budding relationship with The Discovery Network. They launched a new program this year called “Curiosity”. It is a multi-screen concept which includes both a television series and a web site dedicated to the topic of curiosity. While the TV portion is limited, with 16 episodes airing in season one, the web page is dynamic, constantly updating with new information, tapping into a wide variety of expert sources. If you have a moment, check out the site at www.curiosity.com. I suggest you also visit the Curiosity in the Classroom, a site designed specifically for teachers to provide them with in-classroom materials to foster students curiosity. The site can be found at http://curiosityintheclassroom.com/. As a sponsor of the program, we’re particularly proud of the educational aspect and hope to continue to work with Discovery to expand this area. Stimulating curiosity in the classroom and helping kids reach beyond their four walls is rewarding, and something Intel is known for from our support of teachers to science fair competitions, etc. Back to the panel…There was an interesting discussion around passion and curiosity. It’s something we can all relate to in our own lives. When we care about something, we’re much more likely to get involved and take our passion to the next level — whether it’s becoming an expert on a subject, memorizing a favorite football team’s stats or working with a non-profit group to make a difference in your community. Tapping into these passion points or areas of curiosity are the bulls’ eye for a marketer. Doing it in a way that makes sense for your company/product/brand is critical. We increasingly use the word “authentic” here. Your audience can tell the difference between actions that come from a place of the truth versus just another marketing or advertising gimmick. A wonderful nugget came from Mr. Hendricks at one point in the discussion in which he advised the audience to think carefully about how you define your business. It’s important to define early in the development of a company and not to limit your potential growth and expansion by a narrowly defined descriptor. At Discovery, they say “we’re in the business of satisfying curiosity across any channel”. This perspective has allowed them to move beyond a single station/topic cable company to a network of global properties including Discovery Channel, Science Channel, Animal Planet, and TLC to name a few. Think about what type of company you work for and how others describe it. At Intel, we are a micro processor manufacturer. That’s an easy description but it is really limited. We are so much more than silicon. We are software. We are innovation. We are passion. We are caring. We are curious. In fact, Moore’s Law is all about curiosity and our continuous search to create a better future.↧