Tim Richardson, quotable quotes

Prof. W. Tim G. Richardson

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Quotable Quotes

The following "quotable quotes" are originally created by Prof. Richardson and have been used by WTGR in speeches, articles and various course curriculum. While some other business consultants and academics might have coined and used similarly meaning phrases, as far as we know, the wording below is original to WTGR and comes from his own experiences in business and teaching.

CHALLENGES

"In solving problems, your only limit is your imagination" T.R. coined this phrase and has been using it in speeches, and in his college lectures, since 1994.
No matter how difficult something might be, and no matter how constrained your resources - if you think really hard and use your imagination, in many cases, you can indeed come up with a reasonable solution. TEACHERS & the Internet

"Teachers will not be replaced by the Internet, they will be replaced by Teachers using the Internet"
"Professors will not be replaced by web pages, they will be replaced by Professors who know how to effectively use web pages"
- TR coined this phrase after hearing a similar one used by Dr. Selia Karsten - "Teachers will not be replaced by computers, they will be replaced by teachers using computers" - Dr. Karsten noted that Clara Yu, vice president for languages and director of the language schools at Middlebury College, Vermont is credited with saying "The human teacher will not be replaced by technology, but the human teacher may be replaced by the human teacher who knows how to use technology"

"Professors will not be replaced by web pages .." was used by T.R. at the Ryerson University conference "Teaching, Learning and Technology" November 2003 - it was a pleasure to have Dr. Tim Pychl, of the University of Ottawa, use this quote "Professors will not be replaced by web pages..." in a series of powerpoints he used when giving a speech to several conferences in the first half of 2004
The whole point about teachers being replaced is...
"Technology does not replace people - it enables people; it only replaces people when they do not know how to wield it"
Witiger January 2004

It was my pleasure to have Mrs Tan Ching Yee, Chief Executive Officer, Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore use this quote when she was introducing the president of software giant Oracle, Mr. Charles Phillips, at the IDA Distinguished Infocomm Speaker Series, 21 July 2004.
See the bottom of the screen capture to the left to see the quote.

NETWORKING

"Capability is not as important as connectivity"
Maybe I'm not the first person to come up with something like this phrase, but I have specifically created this particular word arrangement and used it on a number of occasions - not within an IT context, but within a "developing new business" context. Making efforts to know a lot of people is not as fruitful as taking actions which cause a lot of people to know you ... don't spend a lot of time trying to write down notes about contacts you make, instead, concentrate on making sure that when you meet people, you give them a reason to remember you.

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS "Interest equals Understanding,
Understanding leads to Tolerance,
and Tolerance develops into Harmony.

To create international harmony, we first must create interest in other cultures. "

T.R. developed this equation for use in his International Business Concepts lectures www.sob.cencol.on.ca/faculty/trichard/INTL220/Chpt6/sld001.htm.
The key to this equation is capturing some spark of interest. A Jewish person, for example, might not know anything about Islamic culture, but if that person was an engineer, they might be interested in the historical contribution of Islam to science, mathematics and engineering - which might then be the "portal" leading to more understandings of the culture. Its a short distance between understanding and tolerance - tolerance doesn't mean you like the thing, it just means you deal with it, without being in a circumstance of hostility. The opposite of hostility is harmony. MOTIVATION "Interest leads to Want
Want equals How
How creates Action"

To successfully motivate someone, you first have to clearly identify specifically what they want. If they don't know what they want, you can help them by providing information on the choices / opportunities available, which they might not know"

Although most people are motivated to some degree, the question is not simple. The challenge lies in assisting them to take the motivation through a series of steps that lead to action which leads to the accomplishment of what they wanted. Essentially the equation begins with Interest leading to the identification of a specific want. Once you specifically know what you Want, then comes the step of figuring out How you will take action. Once you have some idea of the Action you will take, then the Motivation seems realistic since it is no longer just an idea, but in fact a plan which has a consequence. T.R. developed this equation for use in his Introduction to Business Classes www.sob.cencol.on.ca/faculty/trichard/GNED119/Chpt11/sld018.htm. LIFE

"I ride my motorcycle way too fast to worry about cholesterol"

Being cautious in life (especially for Canadians) is a wise thing, but if one is too cautious you end up doing nothing exciting because you are too fearful. (This quote is under consideration for changing due to Prof. Richardson's near fatal motorcycle accident Oct 23rd 2002 !!!!)

INFORMATION

"The possession of information is often considered a critical part of corporate competitiveness. Information itself is not so valuable - what is valuable is the tools to aggregate the information, manipulate it, synthesize it so you can draw conclusions which can assist in decisions" One time in Tokyo in 1984, Tim was speaking to an executive of a Japanese steel company. The executive was showing important acquisitions in the company library and was fawning over an encyclopedia of German steel making. When TR asked the Japanese executive if anybody in the head office at the company spoke German he said no. When Tim asked why do they have the books, when nobody can read them, the answer was "there are only a few copies, and we have one" The point being that they were satisfied with simple possession of the information, even if they had no utility of it. INFORMATION and COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY "Humans developing communications technology, continually strive to replicate, as close as possible, the real human experience" That's why we invented colour TV instead of just being content with black and white. Humans see in colour!!
That's why we invented "talkies" because the silent films did not represent that Humans see and hear simultaneously.
That's why we invented cell phones, because we like to talk whenever and wherever we are, without being limited by distance, topography, or geology. So I predict that its not a matter of someone "inventing" virtual reality web sites and holographic TV in the future, it is a matter of discovering the way to apply, and refine existing technologies in a commercially viable circumstance. It will happen, the pull is too strong. INFORMATION and COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY

"Technology helps communication??? It has been splendid at getting the message out, but communication is two way - people have been using communication technology for talking (sending out the message), and not listening and communication cannot happen unless people listen"

There is too much emphasis on using technology to "broadcast" the message in increasingly sophisticated ways - people are overwhelmed with the "message driven" society - but few people sending out the message are listening. Listening will help the mesage senders be more effective cause they will understand what messages are being understood and what messages are being ignored.

other quotes created by other, that I liked

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