Craig McCaw Interview (page: 6 / 6) Pioneer of Telecommunications	Print Interview

How do you achieve your own balance?

Craig McCaw: For me, balance is time; time doing something other than directly working on projects. That is not to say I won't take the opportunity to think about something. But your best ideas always come when you're not focused on work at that exact instant.

I believe in using the time I win with technology for things that I want to do. I love to fly airplanes and that's a great pursuit. If I have to go somewhere, I might as well fly myself, or participate in that process. I love mechanical things in general, boats or the like. Above all, I believe you should take solace in yourself and time on your own, time doing the things you choose to do, because you've figured out how to do it using technology.

If you use technology simply to put in more hours, then you're cheating yourself and I think you're cheating your contribution. As you're getting started you have to do that, and you work as long as you can, as hard as you can. But over time, if that's the balance, then the price was too high. If you didn't get the time for family and friends and the things you love to do, then you shouldn't have made that trade-off. Then it would have been a lot more fun to live in abject poverty in Guatemala or in Kazakhstan, rather than participate in the material world, which is shallow.

There is no happiness from material things. They can help you do things, or make more of your time, but they don't have substance. That's one thing I'm sure of.

Is there an American Dream today?

Craig McCaw: To me, the meaning of the American Dream is what happens if you give people freedom and accountability. Anything is possible if you allow people the rope with which to do things, either hang themselves, or climb higher.

If we as a country have a fault, it is that we are too free. If we have a benefit, it is that we are too free. It's a difficult balance. The line between chaos and greatness is very fine. The story of Lord of the Flies applies here. We are capable of extraordinary evil, if there are no limits whatsoever.

The American Dream is all about what people will do if you allow them the open opportunity. And that's why an extraordinary number of people come from other countries and achieve greatness here. It's because they have the desire, the toughness, the willingness to work, and the education, and then they do something with it, and it is extraordinary to see. Other countries are beginning to determine the fact that they can't succeed against us if they don't provide more freedom. And that's why we see a growing global revolution in decontrolling telecommunications. Because without that, their societies can't compete with ours. Because ideas, and the nurturing of those ideas is what is making America great.
[ Video ] Low High    [ Audio ] Quicktime	[ Key to Success ] The American Dream

Do you think kids today see the promise the world of telecommunications holds for them, and their own futures?

Craig McCaw: I think kids recognize intuitively the power of the computer, and what the free flow of information can mean. But our society guides us to think that we have to find our place in the world very quickly, and I always sense a certain amount of desperation to find that place. My only guidance is you'll find it in your heart.

You don't think people need to have one particular skill to get into that world?

Craig McCaw: Opportunity today isn't related to how well you do something mechanical. It's ideas, and nurturing those ideas, that builds value. Technology has opened us to valuing those things above all else. That can be artistic, it can be anything.

The free flow of information makes possible opportunities we never dreamed of. Those who recognize that, and who are open to it, will join this great rush of opportunity in building a whole new world around the free flow of information.

The idea of browsers for the Internet, to make it easy to find information, has been critical to the process. Of course, an extraordinary opportunity came to Netscape, for being the first one to do it well.

When you see that gap between what is and what should be, that's an opportunity. "Why is there that gap? It doesn't seem right." And then the question is, "How do we close the gap?" Then, figure out if it's worth the cost of doing it today. It may be doable in two years. In two years you may be doing other things, but if you're open to it, you'll come back to it, when there's a possibility.

Is there a course of study you could recommend to students who are interested in your field?

Craig McCaw: I have a degree in history. I never thought it was important to study a particular business. I think you have to study life and understand that to be open to opportunity. So I have no particular recommendation, except that you understand the past, because if you understand the past, you understand the future. Change occurs because there is a gap between what is and what should be. The change can be catastrophic, or the opportunities can be extraordinary, because you've seen a gap.

I think people who understand both science and philosophy, anthropology, whatever, really are going to be benefited the most. And I've always been rather negative about studying the specific aspects of business in school. I always have felt that business schools, which are too disciplined, create wonderful bureaucrats. And bureaucrats are important, but if you really want to make a contribution I think you need to be open to the possibilities.
[ Video ] Low High    [ Audio ] Quicktime	[ Key to Success ] Preparation

Artistically speaking, in understanding life, you understand business.

Thank you very much. It's been fascinating.

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