PUCRS' Business School has invited MBA guest professors for a talk show
Photo: Bruno Todeschini
Silicon Valley icon and Apple co-founder, Steve Wozniak, took the stage of PUCRS’ Event Center on Jun 6 to the sound of Queen’s We Will Rock You and jokingly criticized human behavior these days. “When we started Apple we wanted to make the disadvantage people, like the blind people, be equivalent to those who have sight. Looking back after all these decades, we succeed because everywhere you go people are blind to the world.” Maybe because of the increasingly popular virtual relations, maybe because of the lack of empathy and rampant individualism we are engulfed in these days. Anyway, during his lecture Mr Woz refrained from making his predictions about the next big technological revolution but discussed virtual and augmented reality, autonomous cars and went on to say that it will take years for a computer to be able to think, feel and solve problems like humans do.
Wozniak has been invited to teach in the MBA in Management, Entrepreneurship and Marketing (GEM), of PUCRS’ Business School, in partnership with Uol Edtech. As for his motivation to create Apple, he mentioned his willingness to design a computer, hardware and software by himself. “Being passionate is the most important thing. When I was 10 years old I’ve decided computing would be my passion, even though there were no books or magazines on the topic, no way of learning about it”, says he. A passionate lover of technology and gadgets, Wozniak says he buys different makes of cell phones, iPhones and what he calls “aPhones” (Android gadgets) to make comparisons and check out interesting ideas that are being developed.
Photo: Bruno Todeschini
After a brief introduction, Wozniak answered some questions which were screened by his advisors and asked by presenter Marcos Piangers. When asked about the potential for Brazil to produce innovative and visionary leaders, Wozniak claims that no matter where leaders can be, knowledge will be available online, in books and in the way people think and solve problems anywhere in the world. “Now, a great deal of what affects our lives is accountable to software, which makes it a lot easier to start a company anywhere on the planet”, asserts he.
Wozniak claimed intellectual freedom to be a fundamental factors to create major things capable of changing people’s lives and went on to say that going back to school and earning his diploma was the proudest moment of his life. “You can always go back to school. Education is present in every moment of life, but you need to be open to intellectual freedom.” He mentions three important things as secrets to success: motivation and passion; marketing expertise, the ability to judge people’s aspirations and evaluate things; the ability to build technology, as he addressed the importance of engineers.
On the future, Wozniak urged for the need to think about the unknown, the things that are not yet a reality but which are possible due to digital technology. He discussed ongoing technologies and those that have not been fully employed, such as virtual and augmented realities to change the future. He also commended the human ability to organize and find ways to solve problems. “The brain is very unique. We have not been able to understand human mind and we do not know how to design a machine like that”, says he.
Photo: Lidiane Amorim
In his opinion, computers will eventually be able to process as much information as the brain does. “With that in mind, will they be able to develop their conscience, learn human feelings, look at someone and understand what they think? When it comes to that, they will be able to learn singularity and we can’t predict anything but that” complements he. After the event, Wozniak attended a cocktail party for guests, in the presence of the President of PUCRS, Brother Evilázio Teixeira, and the Vice President Jaderson Costa.
Neil Patel, co-founder of CrazyEgg, Hello Bar and KISSmetrics, and guest professor of the MBA GEM, delivered a lecture at the event, too. He talked about the importance of websites and blogs presenting relevant and high-quality content, including topics of interest to their audiences. He gave suggestions on how to use infographs as visual information, emails as a communication and engagement tools, translation into several languages, which must not be mechanical but done by a fluent professional instead.
Photo: Bruno Todeschini
When he answered the audience’s questions, he discussed the importance of responsive and friendly websites for mobile navigation, the use of photos and videos to cater for business needs and the competitive potential of Brazil in terms of marketing. “Recession is the best moment to start a business. Don’t be afraid of the economy, you’ll get away stronger”, ascertains he. Patel claims that his goal is not to make more money but to learn more and more. He admits he has been very successful but has made many mistakes and has learned from them. “The opportunities to learn turned me into what I am today.”
Steve Wozniak, Apple’s co-founder, helped shape the computing industry with his top notch Apple design and made Macintosh popular. In 1976, Wozniak and Steve Jobs founded Apple Computer Inc. as they released personal computer Apple I. In 2014 Wozniak joined the School of Engineering and Information Technology of the University of Technology Sydney, in Australia, as an adjunct professor.
Neil Patel, co-founder of Crazy Egg, Hello Bar and KISSmetrics, helped giant companies such as Amazon, NBC, GM, HP and Viacom to substantially increase their revenues. The Wall Street Journal considers him to be the internet’s greatest influencer. Forbes Magazine ranks him one of the 10 best digital marketing professionals today. Entrepreneur Magazine says he has created on the 100th brightest companies all over the world. He has been recognized as one of the 100th most important entrepreneurs under the age of 30 by then-US president Barack Obama.
