Getting Better in 5G—with a Little Help from Your Friends

What does the collaborative power of Lennon & McCartney have to do with 5G communications? Perhaps not much—but I believe their days together yielded far more genius-level work than did their respective solo efforts.

From my early days at Hewlett-Packard and across five generations of wireless evolution, I have witnessed the highest levels of business success when we collaborated closely with industry leaders early in the development of the next generation of, well, anything.

The history of science and engineering is full of famous teams: Louis and Marie Pasteur, Pierre and Marie Curie, the Wright Brothers, and the aforementioned Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard. Even seemingly self-made individuals who changed the course of our collective river—Newton, Leonardo, or Pascal—collaborated with others to exert their own special influence on humanity.

Why collaborate? Why put yourself into a situation that forces you to find common ground, adopt another’s pace, and perhaps share the glory? First of all, nobody has all of the answers. Wilbur needed Orville, and Bill’s technical insight needed Dave’s business acumen.

More important is the multiplicative benefit of teamwork: call it “synergy” or “gestalt.” With leadership and talent, the whole is always greater than the sum of its parts. In addition, by engaging in early collaborations, you build expertise and insight into a market while creating prototype solutions and thereby earning long-term credibility with top players. 

Read the full article, including a simple recipe for success, here.