As a retired entrepreneur I was recently reflecting how I had always felt that our company needed to out innovate our competitors. In fact I spent countless hours considering how to be more efficient and use our machinery to make more money in less time and give us the edge over the competition.

You know, I cannot even tell you how many things I have designed in my life. My entire company and all our proprietary equipment was designed by me, no degree, no engineering background, just common sense and trial and error and you know what? We built the best equipment the industry had ever known.

The other day I was talking with someone who said he consulted with a professional engineer who said his project would never work. I laughed, but it was not at him, it was at my knowledge of reality and experience in actual observation, so this professional engineering stuff. Not buying it.

In many cases you would be much safer when you go into the unknown to follow your gut when there is no trail and don't step in anything that smells, that is to say make obvious mistakes, which are known. But you have to push the envelope, other wise you will not win. What happen when you dont?

Instead you run redline with all the other engineers in the same race, around the same damn track and at the same speeds. Then you rely on the balls of a driver to win? What is the difference if they are driving the same cars built using the same plans. Scrap the rules; war follows no rules, racing uses the whole track, winners win on instinct and industries are won by innovators; so consider all this in 2006.