We had a guest speaker in recently. Peter Sheehan came to talk to us about the industry we are involved in, about the trials and tribulations everyone faces out in the harsher, wider world. From his presentation I found him to be a very peculiar man. First impressions were not great, I will admit. I found him to be self-loathing and slightly pretentious ( his profile picture being the most off-putting element of his display). However, by the end he had convinced me otherwise. His values are what stood out for me, particularly his follow-through, his inventiveness, the readiness at which he can manufacture a design, his ‘no-holds-barred’ attitude to design conformity and idea of building a brand.
'Ominous' by Peter Sheehan
Okay, where to start? Initial impressions aside I could see that Peter was building a brand. He wasn’t so much pretentious, but more a character that needs to be in your face if a company is to launch. And I began to understand that. He had broken away from Logitech previously because he felt his abilities were underappreciated and his vision for his design path did not match up with theirs. So he broke off, and I really admire that. The ability to say ‘ hang on a second, I’ll do things my own way if you won’t let me’. And promoting himself is a key aspect of getting the business off the ground. I can see he is much happier at this place, where he can control his own path.
Peter's Logitech Design
Logitech Trackball Mouse
What I also admired about the man was that he encouraged us to travel. Quickly I am beginning to change my mind about Peter. Traveling, he feels and I feel, is such an integral part of who we are and what we need to experience. We need to get out and see the world. As I alluded to in my previous blog post, our little benign country is not the centre of the universe, nor will it ever be. Already I have been to most of Europe (Spain, France, Denmark, Italy, Turkey, Austria and Greece) and this summer I intend on traveling to Belgium, taking in Luxembourg, Germany and the Netherlands on the way. From these trips I’ve learned a lot about different cultures and societies, different expectations and life values. I travelled to Colorado to meet a friend a few years ago and we drove to the west coast and back. And it is these experience that teach us about life more-so than anything else. I feel that I have more places to go, but hopefully these experiences will help me to understand a wider, more populus demographic.
Get Out and See The World
So by now he has me completely hooked. I am paying attention (despite the heat) and taking in all of his little bits of advice. What clinched the deal for me was his views that we have to do it all for ourselves and sometimes we have to be able to say ‘no’. I really got into what Sheehan said about college, and prescribed courses, expectations and criteria. It’s a load of BS. We shouldnt have to be coaxed into writing these blogs, we shouldn’t have to reach a specific number of conceptual ideas. We certainly shouldnt have to reach a 2.0 QCA to be told we have ‘passed’ and we definitely shouldnt have to butter up the lecturers to achieve a decent grade. Hell, we shouldn’t have to be graded! At some stage, like Peter has done, we are going to have to stand up, say no and do things our own way.
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