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Today, companies have to radically revolutionize themselves every few years just to stay relevant. That's because technology and the Internet have transformed the business landscape forever. The fast-paced digital age has accelerated the need for companies to become agile.
Nolan Bushnell -
If you don't hire at least one or two people that are smarter than you are, then you're a terrible manager and I don't need you.
Nolan Bushnell
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I always try to do something nobody else has done.
Nolan Bushnell -
Women were very, very good at 'Pong'. It was part of the dating scene. The number of people who told me they met their wife or husband playing 'Pong' was huge. They were shoulder to shoulder, talking and playing. It was body contact and verbal contact.
Nolan Bushnell -
I've been in navigation systems, robotics, restaurants, communications systems, touch screens, and now I'm back in games. I like to say I have five-year A.D.D.
Nolan Bushnell -
If you really want you people to innovate, buy a science fiction book, tear off the covers, and tell them it's history.
Nolan Bushnell -
In 1989, SimCity introduced an entirely new brand of game play.
Nolan Bushnell -
Sometimes when you hire people who have to pass a Mr. Congeniality test, you end up losing some of the non-conformists who will give you different views and perspectives.
Nolan Bushnell
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One of the big concerns I have is that most of the HR departments in a lot of companies are hiring away from creativity and they don't know it. For instance, they are requiring everybody to have a college degree. The most creative people I know couldn't deal with college.
Nolan Bushnell -
I guess I'd like to be known for being an innovator, fostering creativity, thinking outside the box. You know, keeping people playful.
Nolan Bushnell -
Innovation is hard. It really is. Because most people don't get it. Remember, the automobile, the airplane, the telephone, these were all considered toys at their introduction because they had no constituency. They were too new.
Nolan Bushnell -
Atari showed that young people could start big companies. Without that example it would have been harder for Jobs and Bill Gates, and people who came after them, to do what they did.
Nolan Bushnell -
I'm a big believer in the Wii. I love the physicality of the Wii controller, and how you can get the feeling of throwing a bowling ball or swinging a golf club. Those are the kinds of games I really like.
Nolan Bushnell -
Selling Atari when I did - I think that's my biggest regret. And I probably should have gotten back heavily into the games business in the late Eighties. But I was operating under this theory at the time that the way to have an interesting life was to reinvent yourself every five or six years.
Nolan Bushnell
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Everybody copied Atari products. So we started messing with them and it was fun. We bought enough chips that we could get them mislabeled. So we bankrupted at least two companies which copied our boards, and bought all the parts but they were the wrong parts, so they're sitting on all this inventory they can't sell because the games don't work.
Nolan Bushnell -
Any business that does not innovate will fail over time.
Nolan Bushnell -
We had some really powerful technology - Atari always was a technology-driven company, and we were very keen on keeping the technological edge on everything. There's a whole bunch of things that we innovated. We made the first computer that did stamps or sprites, we did screen-mapping for the very first time, and a lot of stuff like that.
Nolan Bushnell -
A good interviewer is able to ferret out what the applicant is really passionate about. Ask them what they do for fun, what they're reading, try and find out if they have a life outside of work.
Nolan Bushnell -
The subtle generational cues that make one thing cool and another uncool aren't always obvious to a parent. My children are my dinner-table sounding board. I've come up with some wonderful ideas that they universally dismissed as 'lame.'
Nolan Bushnell -
When I was running Atari, violence against humanoid figures was not allowed. We'd let you shoot at a tank... but we drew the line at shooting at people, with blood splattering everywhere.
Nolan Bushnell
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I'd love to design a school.
Nolan Bushnell -
I've always thought legal addictions are a great way to create a business. Starbucks is a wonderful example.
Nolan Bushnell -
There are a lot of things about having money that are perceived to be cool but that aren't. Maybe if you're a CEO jerk who likes going coast to coast by himself in a G4, then that's fine. But that's not me. And it never will be.
Nolan Bushnell -
I'm the only one who was predicting the Nintendo Wii would beat Sony's PlayStation 3.
Nolan Bushnell