In the early 1990s I visited computer companies and told them I wanted to find a way to use computers to capture, store, track and retrieve job applications: I wanted to be done with all those paper forms. Nobody had ever suggested something like that and they said it couldn’t be done. One of those tech guys called me back and said maybe it could: that became the first applicant tracking system. And when I asked our PeopleSoft reps in 2003 for ways to use their software to create a paperless HR office they said it couldn’t be done: I hired two of their programmers and they made it happen. I’m certainly not the smartest guy in any room but I thought I could see the future and went and created it with the help of people who really were smart. Opportunities to be creative are everywhere, in every aspect of where we live and work: the next time somebody tells you they have a good idea, listen and be supportive. That’s how the future starts to get created today.
Alan Kay (b. 1940): American computer scientist
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