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What Lessons Can Your Company Take From Qualcomm? Everybody is looking for the next Qualcomm, and a significant contingent of young companies operating today want to be the next Qualcomm. Yet, the means by which a team of brilliant engineers in San Diego overcame significant handicaps to revolutionize the mobile communications industry remains a mystery to many. The enigmatic company and entrepreneurs who founded it hold many qualities that everyone from CEOs to entry level engineers can learn from. If your company is aspiring to emulate the qualities of a world-class organization, consider a few of the key aspects that were integral to Qualcomm's success: 1) Look for areas of big change When selecting market segments to pursue, Qualcomm passed over areas of incremental innovation - they looked for sectors where their core competencies and intellectual talent could revolutionize a market. While somewhat routine projects were certainly taken to pay the rent and the salaries, the key visionaries in the company remained unburdened by more mundane efforts to keep them free to skirt the bleeding edge. Let your big hitters swing for the fences. 2) Apply unconventional thinking Irwin Jacobs is noted for being a non-conformist when it comes to problem solving - the academic environment in Qualcomm encouraged free thinking and problems were continually revisited. A common fallacy is the belief that PhDs and eccentric thinkers tackle massive problems with highly sophisticated and intricate solutions. A significant element of Qualcomm's success is in the elegance and simplicity of many of their solutions to complex problems. Ask lots of questions, even when you've already been given answers. 3) There's more to IP than patents If you want to run a licensing business, intellectual property goes far beyond a patent. Qualcomm was already locking in some of their most lucrative licensing agreements when scarcely a single related patent was even issued to the company. Qualcomm licensed their know-how and ability to do what no one else could - they didn't just demand payment for use of their ideas. Companies aspiring to develop a long-term revenue source from their intellectual property should do so from a value-add standpoint, where you offer more than just the idea on paper. Your IP has to make your licensee a winner too. 4) Relish the role of the underdog Qualcomm was dismissed upon their entry in the cellular industry. In fact, the company is still dismissed by many today. A team of innovators that worked primarily in military and space applications were out of place in the cellular market. The fact that few took them seriously gave Qualcomm an enormous advantage in sewing up a huge lead by the time customers began buying. Many young companies are not settled with being insignificant and rush their way into the limelight. Use this critical time to cement leverage for the future - be patient. 5) Inspiration beats paid labor any day The vast majority of Qualcomm's early employees worked at the company because they had a passion for the work and the people - not the paycheck. Many took reduced pay and gave up more stable jobs just to stay involved with visionaries such as Irwin Jacobs and Andy Viterbi. When it really counted, an emboldened employee core could be counted on to give 200% - not just overtime. Every company has an employee base mixed with those that just show up and those that drive the company. Make sure the key, core base of employees share a common passion to guarantee the company will succeed - with or without all the rest. There are certainly many other aspects of Qualcomm's business that make the company so successful, and no single trait or behavior can be extracted and enacted with expectations for a similar result. But entrepreneurs and all levels of business leaders can glean powerful insight from the atypical approach that Qualcomm took to rising above the crowd in many aspects of their business.  |
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