What Designing a Shampoo Bottle Taught Me About Business

You want to be in control of that shampoo bottle, not the other way around. 

During the brief period between graduating from business school and the start of my first real job, I felt on top of the world. I knew the theories. I’d read the case studies. I’d generated brilliant solutions and business plans for hypothetical companies. I had a brand-new briefcase and some sharp professional clothes. I was so ready to impress.

My First Day

And then that first day came, and I started my job as a marketing manager at Proctor & Gamble. I got my desk, my phone, a tour… and an assignment: “We’re developing a new shampoo product. We need you to figure out how big the hole in the bottle should be.”

Like many a newly minted hotshot before me, I thought, “You have got to be kidding me. I’m an MBA, not a designer! Don’t people who spend their careers designing shampoo containers already know the answer? Isn’t there a chart somewhere? Besides, what difference could it possibly make if the hole is four millimeters or six millimeters?”

Of course, I did not say any of that.

My next thought was, “Wait a minute. Maybe this is just a logic test. The answer is simple: Make the hole bigger so the customer will use more shampoo and then have to buy more.”

But as I started to research this issue, I realized it’s not a design decision. Forget the countless business-school case studies I’d read — this was my first real-world lesson in marketing.

Determined to do well on my first assignment, I used the consumer research tactics that were the heart and soul of P&G: I read stacks of existing research; talked to consumers in focus groups and one-on-one interviews; and shadowed customers as they shopped. Like a sponge, I soaked in their needs, desires, and pet peeves. I listened intently to their stories about the way our products made them feel.

A Real-World Education

I had just learned my first and arguably most important lesson in consumer marketing. You do not know what you do not know. Don’t forget to listen to the people who have a stake in whatever you are about to do.

Here’s the thing: Consumers are very particular about shampoo because the shower is a very personal, sometimes vulnerable place. It’s never feels good to be duped by some corporation’s plan to increase sales, but especially not when you have soap in your eyes and no clothes on. You want to be in control of that shampoo bottle, not the other way around. So, after hearing from our customers, we designed a bottle with a hole that provided just the right amount of shampoo — not too much, or too little.

Active listening is a vital skill for any leader. It builds and strengthens relationships between customers and brands, or managers and employees. It helps leaders appreciate that everyone has something to contribute to the business, the brand, the reputation.

Why It Matters Today

I’ve carried this philosophy with me throughout my career. Now, as CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, I listen carefully to our customers, partners, and employees as they navigate today’s ever-changing technology landscape. Hearing about their challenges — their unique journey to the cloud, or how they’re trying to make sense of big data, or protect themselves from cyber threats, or provide digital experiences anytime, anywhere and on any device — demonstrates what issues are most important to them, and ultimately helps me make better business decisions.

It doesn’t matter whether your product is a server or a shampoo bottle. Taking the time to recognize, understand, and appreciate what the people around you have to say will mean the difference between success and failure.

This article was first published on February 29, 2016 by Meg Whitman on her LinkedIn Page. 

Copyright © 2017 LinkedIn Corporation.

You Can't Fake Personality, Passion or Purpose

We’re known for our culture, and our culture is solely determined by our people.  

Each week, our jobs mailboxes are loaded with people wanting to become part of the Virgin story – but unfortunately not everyone can join the team. To help us find the best people for the roles on offer, we are guided by a few very-Virgin values. Here are the four principles that we feel make a successful professional.

The first thing we look for when hiring new staff is personality. In my eyes, personality always wins over book smarts. Company knowledge and job-specific skills can be learned, but you can’t train a personality. We look for people who are friendly and considerate, and who like working with others. From our airlines to our call centres, and our office buildings to our gym floors, you will always see smiling people working together to get the job done. These personalities make our staff successful, and, in turn, our businesses successful – they also keep our company culture vibrant.

We also place more importance on experience rather than qualifications. The person with the top grades and most credentials isn’t always the best person for the role. Time and time again I’ve seen people with a background of broad-ranging employment and skills hired for a job where they don’t necessarily tick the specialist criteria boxes, but become incredibly successful by offering a new level of understanding to the role. With this in mind, we focus on hiring people with transferable skills — team players who can pitch in and help others in all sorts of situations. It’s important never to underestimate the power of versatility. Somebody who thinks a little differently can help a business see problems as opportunities and inspire creativity.

Spanx's CEO Sara Blakely once said to me: "The smartest thing I ever did in the early days was to hire my weaknesses." I couldn’t agree more. I can attribute a lot of my success in business to hiring people who had the skills I lacked. For a business to grow there needs to be a healthy level of delegation. When my friends and I started Virgin, none of us were any good with numbers. Rather than try to act as accountants and do the job badly, we found Jack Clayton. Jack shared our passion, and had a knack for numbers that helped us become successful and grow.

If you’re the one hiring, evaluate where your company could improve, and seek out qualities in people that will help you make those improvements. If you’re applying for a role, look for ways in which you can add to, and improve, the business.

Nowadays, it’s rare that people work nine to five. We’re more connected than ever before, so many of us are working longer hours and with more commitment. With this is mind, it’s important to find and hire passionate people, who genuinely care about the business and its purpose. Purpose is no longer a buzzword. It’s a must-have. Passion and purpose will keep people focused on the job at hand, and ultimately separate the successful from the unsuccessful.

At Virgin, we’re known for our culture, and our culture is solely determined by our people. Our people are our greatest asset and the lifeblood of the brand, and are therefore crucial to the success of our businesses. They are what keep us relevant and ahead of the game. To make sure we continue to deliver a standout company culture, we make hiring our number one priority. While it may seem like a desperate rush to get somebody through the door to help carry the load, it is worth being patient to find the right person, rather than unbalancing the team. 


This article was first published on April 31, 2015 by Richard Branson on his LinkedIn Page. Copyright © 2017 LinkedIn Corporation.

Never Be Afraid To Leap Into The Unknown; Priyanka Chopra

Follow your instincts, believe in your uniqueness and never be afraid to leap into the unknown.

It was September 27, 2015, the date of Quantico’s worldwide premiere. I was sitting by the pool in LA drinking a Bellini, watching the first episode live on television and live-tweeting at the same time.

My hands were cold, and I was thinking, "God I don't know if India, first of all, is ready to see me act in English. Just be a different character, play an American girl. Is America ready to see an Indian girl being a lead of a show?" Probably the scariest moment in my life.

Looking back, I realize that that moment has been repeating itself in my life over and over again. And it always begins when I ask myself: What do YOU want?

It’s the single most important question that has allowed me to do the things I have over the past 16 years of my professional life.

At every stage of my career, the answer to this question helped solidify my objectives and allowed me the mental freedom to chase the impossible dreams I had and turned them into a reality.

This is not some find yourself, inner peace, control your destiny utopian concept… it’s a ‘cut the BS, get real and get down to business’ talk with yourself so you prepare for the journey ahead.

We all make plans for our lives but most often are too scared or embarrassed about our ambitions to go after it wholeheartedly. And that’s where it all falls apart. 

My Miss World journey began when my mom enrolled me in the Miss India contest as a lark, without my knowledge. Having just returned from the US, I was planning to take a year off school and travel. When I got the call, we sat down as a family to discuss and I was asked by my parents “What do you want”? I wanted to give it a shot… it was a new experience (I’m all for new experiences) and something no one in my academic family had ever done (I’m also all for going where no one has gone before) and it seemed like a fun thing to do. I was clear about my objectives… give this a shot with all that I have and if it doesn’t work I go back to the old plan and if it did… I’d see where life took me.

The same rule applied when I started getting film offers; when I started getting interesting characters and films to be a part of; when I launched my music career international and now when I chose to make my acting foray globally with an American TV show. Once I answered the question at each stage, it allowed me to draw up my game plan to ensure I gave the opportunity everything I had. The rest I left to god and the audience.

It may sound simplistic and somewhat naive but in reality once you’ve won the battle with yourself every other hurdle you face seems easy to overcome because you will approach it with the courage of conviction that this is exactly what you want.

It again was an important question to answer when I began my journey as an entrepreneur. Yes, I wanted to tell stories but what did I really want? So it got me to start thinking, consolidating my thoughts and ideas and crystalizing plans for what I really wanted to achieve with my production house. It helped me understand that I wanted to tell stories irrespective of the language, genre or medium. I wanted to give new talent the right kind of opportunities.  And so Purple Pebble Pictures was born and we started with co-producing a digital series followed by a move into regional cinema. We’re now telling interesting stories, giving talent an opportunity to shine and our ambitions and dreams are growing with every passing day. We just released our second regional film in India and also across the world last Friday (Nov 4th). Ventilator is PPP’s first Marathi film and I couldn’t be more happy or proud of the amazing theaters.

So what did I learn from this journey?

• Every successful career, in any field, will definitely, definitely have evolution. Complacency sets in if you don't try and evolve.
• I’d like something that is my path, paved by me. Something that is my own legacy rather than being one of the many successful people in the world.   SO I work towards that
• At some point in your career (you will know when), you will have to leap into the unknown… you have to try in order to achieve. You might have to do it a couple of times…
• Follow your instincts.
• Retain your own identity
• Own your uniqueness
• Be honest with yourself about what you want to achieve. Don’t be shy to dream
• When you try something new… be open to understand and accept the fact that you won’t know everything and people won’t know everything about you. It’s a process of education and you have to be open to learning at all times.
• Always give back… in any way that you can.

So… here I am and I’m looking forward to what comes next including the opportunity to exchange thoughts and ideas with this vibrant community.

Let’s do this!

This article was first published on November 7, 2016 by Priyanka Chopra on her LinkedIn Page. Copyright © 2017 LinkedIn Corporation.

My Second Innings; Sachin Tendulkar

My first innings was about chasing my dreams, the second one is about satisfaction. I want to give back the game to society and to the less fortunate.

It was October 2013 during one of the Champions League games in Delhi. My mornings would start with a gym workout, a routine I had been following for 24 years. But that morning in October, something had changed.

I realized that I had to force myself to wake up and go about my day. I knew that the gym training was a critical part of my cricket – something that had been my life for 24 years. Yet, there was reluctance. Why?  Were these signs...signs that I should stop? Signs that the game that has been so dear to me, would no longer be a part of my daily routine?

Sunil Gavaskar, one of my heroes and a former cricketer, once said that he made up his mind to quit the game when he found himself checking the clock, to see how much time there was left for the lunch and tea intervals. Suddenly I knew exactly what he meant. My mind and my body were telling me the same thing. Maybe, it’s time to hang up my boots.

I also remembered the words of Billy Jean King, at Wimbledon a few years ago - you will know for sure when to go, it will come from inside you, don’t let the world decide when you have to retire. But what will a sportsman do if he’s not a sportsman anymore? How do you prepare for a day when something that consumed each day of the 24 years of your life, isn’t the focus anymore?

The energizing chant of “Sachin, Sachin” that the crowds cheered each time I walked onto the field, was an indescribable feeling and rush. This probably won’t be heard anymore. Was I ready for that?

These thoughts and a discussion with my family and closest friends helped make up my mind. My innings was indeed coming to an end.

The years flashed before my eyes. The victories, the losses, the celebrations, the challenges and the silences…the journey. India’s win at the World Cup in 2011 was a dream come true as was the team’s generous gesture of dedicating the cup to me. But, that chapter of my life was ending. What now, I wondered.

So what has changed? The biggest change is that I have the freedom to choose what I want to do. In my playing days it was always the game of cricket that came first. But that isn’t the case anymore.

My first innings was about chasing my dreams, the second one is about satisfaction. I want to give back to the game, that has made me what I am, to society and to the less fortunate. The scope has changed but the objective and drive of doing my best, remains. I’m still learning, still discovering new things, meeting new people, and contributing in my own way, to make things better.

One of the highlights of my post-cricket years has been the adoption of Puttamraju Kandriga, a village in Andhra Pradesh. Seeing the village don a new look after two years of intensive infrastructural development, had a joy that can’t be put into words.

A project called ‘Spreading Happiness’, that I am involved in, provides electricity to deprived areas. Arrangements to tap solar energy have been made in over 73 villages and nearly 25,000 people have been impacted by the same. The mission to ‘light up’ homes across the length and breadth of the country will continue.

Joining hands with Shri Narendra Modi, our honorable Prime Minister, for the ‘Swacch Bharat’ (Clean India) campaign was another step in this direction. It was also in tune with my role as the UNICEF Ambassador for Hygiene and Sanitation. The campaign’s success makes me confident that India will adopt the cause and adapt to it as well.

Having played sports all my life, there was no way I could stay away from it. The first avatar of ‘Cricket All Stars’ in the USA, was an attempt to give back to the game and engage with fans who had supported us all the years. This also gave the chance to all fans who had not got the opportunity to witness these great players, the retired superstars of cricket, in action – live!

Taking cricket to new geographies and seeing it get accepted and loved is inspirational to say the least. These days, I’m thinking beyond cricket. ‘Kerala Blasters’, the football team I co-own in the Indian Super League has given me many proud moments. The sea of yellow jerseys filling up the stadium, the deafening sound of around 60,000 fans cheering for KBFC is an overwhelming feeling in itself.

In October 2016, SRT Sports Management Company was launched, a firm that will seek to achieve new ground in the field of sports management in India and beyond.

Lastly, but probably the most important, are the changes in my personal life. I now have more time to give to my family, to travel, to pursue my passions and to focus on things that are close to my heart, ones that I can now explore. The love and affection from fans has remained unchanged, the chants still resonate and appear wherever I travel, which is amazing and something for which I am eternally grateful.

So, what does a sportsperson do when they are not playing their sport anymore? Quite a lot, I have found out…

This article was originally published on March 1, 2017 by Sachin Tendulkar on his LinkedIn Page. Copyright © 2017 LinkedIn Corporation.

You're Not The Only Unhappy Person On Facebook; Lifeline CEO

Indeed, in the 21st century, we have probably become the most connected group of people that has ever existed.

Fifteen years ago, you would likely be reading this on a dead tree rather than on the screen you are using right now. That puts you among your fellow Australian adults who now own an average of three digital devices -- typically a laptop, a smartphone and a tablet.

Studies suggest we're spending some 24 hours per week online, up to half of which could be spent on social media. Facebook status updates, Tweets, Instagram posts, LinkedIn profiles, and endless emails have become personal habits like coffee in the morning.

Again, 15 years ago, few foresaw the liberation many feel on setting up the "Out-of-Office" auto-reply for leave days. Indeed, in the 21st century, we have probably become the most connected group of people that has ever existed. At the same time, without care, we risk being the most disconnected and possibly discontent.

Recently appointed as CEO of Lifeline Australia, the community-based crisis support service founded some 50 years ago as telephones became ubiquitous in our homes, I've been thinking about what our increasingly technological lives may be doing to our emotional lives.

For Lifeline, technology has been and is a huge enabler of help for our fellow everyday Australians, including the 900,000-plus calls (and growing) this year from help seekers. The phone has been a beacon of hope for many. And, we've been expanding our web-based crisis support.

But as we confront a national emergency in suicide, with some seven preventable deaths every day and suicide fatalities far exceeding road fatalities, we need to ask ourselves what role new technology is playing -- is it helping or harming?

Some argue that when looked at from a simple time-management perspective there must be emotional implications: more time spent with devices is less time spent with humans. As suggested elsewhere, URL may be replacing IRL ("in real life"). The argument goes that human contact is instinctive and irreplaceable, and it's a hard one to refute when we look at the importance of close relationships and families to our well-being.

On the other hand, the Internet gives many people the opportunity to connect and be in relationships that time and place limit. Many of us now belong to virtual communities based on our needs and interests rather than our locations. However, perhaps as a part result, many no longer know our neighbors, and it's hard to see neighborhoods thrive when that is the case.

Equally, there's the phenomenon some call "digital amnesia", whereby some among us at least partly confect or curate an online persona, or one that appeals or compares well. Or, as one single mum said to me, am I the only unhappy person on Facebook?

Of course she's not, but her comment highlights the isolation and self doubt many experience in the digital domain, and that can fuel poor wellbeing. I've heard shocking stories of young women who ask their Instagram followers to vote on different possible outfits for school mufti days; I've seen data showing hospitalization of young women for self-harming up by 50 percent in the past 15 years.

Then, there's the matter of Internet content itself, ranging from cesspool to Sistine Chapel. We see new technology-enabled addictions arising, such as online gambling or pornography, at the same time that there's never been as many sites and apps providing information and services about emotional and mental health and well-being.

Watch a group of young blokes at a pub on a Friday night and you'll sadly see someone losing that week's paycheck on punts on their smartphone. At the same time, service providers know from site visit data that young people in particular look to the Internet for guidance when they need it.

Moreover, Internet information about emotional and mental health is clearly part of it being increasingly okay to talk about one's own issues, and okay to get help. At the same time, there's a tendency in some pop-generated content to wrongly mythologize permanent happiness while not acknowledging the inevitable realities of anxiousness, sadness, grief and other not-so-comfortable emotions. That's just somebody in the self-help industry making themselves happy and wealthy at the expense of those ultimately seeking compassion and listening.

Worryingly, research studies about online content regarding the topic of suicide indicate that negative, destructive and explicit suicide-related content dominates content that offers help, hope and prevention of suicide.

So then, what to make of this two-edge digital sword? For mine, technology is neutral, but we shouldn't be. We should harness the digital world for the good of our emotional world. We need to have "care-ware" to match software and hardware -- or a greater mindfulness about our usage of the Internet and our devices.

Technology expert Alex Pang calls it "contemplative computing" and it can look like: checking in on how much time we and our loved ones spend online; examining if what we're consuming online is about our hopes or our hatreds; testing ourselves to lead daily life without needing daily digital shares; having at least one or two good friends to personally talk to rather than thousands of Facebook friends to play with, or; taking a weekly "digital Sabbath". And, if we are in crisis, seeking out the services and sites of organisations who have been and would be helping even if the Internet was somehow unplugged.

And, because online won't go offline anytime soon, we also need public policy that recognizes the role of technology, including that of compassionate crisis tele-web lines, in promoting well-being.

So, by now you've probably scrolled to the bottom of the screen, and there's no worries with that. There's no rolling the digital clock back on the 21st century. But maybe have a good chat with your barista -- or your spouse, your kid, or your workmate -- too.

It could do you both some good.

This article is copyright © 2016 The Huffington Post Australia Pty Ltd.

Content is King; Bill Gates

Content is where I expect much of the real money will be made on the Internet, just as it was in broadcasting. 

The television revolution that began half a century ago spawned a number of industries, including the manufacturing of TV sets, but the long-term winners were those who used the medium to deliver information and entertainment.

When it comes to an interactive network such as the Internet, the definition of “content” becomes very wide. For example, computer software is a form of content-an extremely important one, and the one that for Microsoft will remain by far the most important. But the broad opportunities for most companies involve supplying information or entertainment. No company is too small to participate.

One of the exciting things about the Internet is that anyone with a PC and a modem can publish whatever content they can create. In a sense, the Internet is the multimedia equivalent of the photocopier. It allows material to be duplicated at low cost, no matter the size of the audience.

The Internet also allows information to be distributed worldwide at basically zero marginal cost to the publisher. Opportunities are remarkable, and many companies are laying plans to create content for the Internet.

For example, the television network NBC and Microsoft recently agreed to enter the interactive news business together. Our companies will jointly own a cable news network, MSNBC, and an interactive news service on the Internet. NBC will maintain editorial control over the joint venture.

I expect societies will see intense competition-and ample failure as well as success-in all categories of popular content-not just software and news, but also games, entertainment, sports programming, directories, classified advertising, and on-line communities devoted to major interests. Printed magazines have readerships that share common interests. It’s easy to imagine these communities being served by electronic online editions.

But to be successful online, a magazine can’t just take what it has in print and move it to the electronic realm. There isn’t enough depth or interactivity in print content to overcome the drawbacks of the online medium.

If people are to be expected to put up with turning on a computer to read a screen, they must be rewarded with deep and extremely up-to-date information that they can explore at will. They need to have audio, and possibly video. They need an opportunity for personal involvement that goes far beyond that offered through the letters-to-the-editor pages of print magazines.

A question on many minds is how often the same company that serves an interest group in print will succeed in serving it online. Even the very future of certain printed magazines is called into question by the Internet.

For example, the Internet is already revolutionizing the exchange of specialized scientific information. Printed scientific journals tend to have small circulations, making them high-priced. University libraries are a big part of the market. It’s been an awkward, slow, expensive way to distribute information to a specialized audience, but there hasn’t been an alternative.

Now some researchers are beginning to use the Internet to publish scientific findings. The practice challenges the future of some venerable printed journals. Over time, the breadth of information on the Internet will be enormous, which will make it compelling. Although the gold rush atmosphere today is primarily confined to the United States, I expect it to sweep the world as communications costs come down and a critical mass of localized content becomes available in different countries.

For the Internet to thrive, content providers must be paid for their work. The long-term prospects are good, but I expect a lot of disappointment in the short-term as content companies struggle to make money through advertising or subscriptions. It isn’t working yet, and it may not for some time.

So far, at least, most of the money and effort put into interactive publishing is little more than a labor of love, or an effort to help promote products sold in the non-electronic world. Often these efforts are based on the belief that over time someone will figure out how to get revenue.

In the long run, advertising is promising. An advantage of interactive advertising is that an initial message needs only to attract attention rather than convey much information. A user can click on the ad to get additional information-and an advertiser can measure whether people are doing so.

But today the amount of subscription revenue or advertising revenue realized on the Internet is near zero-maybe $20 million or $30 million in total. Advertisers are always a little reluctant about a new medium, and the Internet is certainly new and different.

Some reluctance on the part of advertisers may be justified, because many Internet users are less-than-thrilled about seeing advertising. One reason is that many advertisers use big images that take a long time to download across a telephone dial-up connection. A magazine ad takes up space too, but a reader can flip a printed page rapidly.

As connections to the Internet get faster, the annoyance of waiting for an advertisement to load will diminish and then disappear. But that’s a few years off. Some content companies are experimenting with subscriptions, often with the lure of some free content. It’s tricky, though, because as soon as an electronic community charges a subscription, the number of people who visit the site drops dramatically, reducing the value proposition to advertisers.

A major reason paying for content doesn’t work very well yet is that it’s not practical to charge small amounts. The cost and hassle of electronic transactions makes it impractical to charge less than a fairly high subscription rate.

But within a year the mechanisms will be in place that allow content providers to charge just a cent or a few cents for information. If you decide to visit a page that costs a nickel, you won’t be writing a check or getting a bill in the mail for a nickel. You’ll just click on what you want, knowing you’ll be charged a nickel on an aggregated basis.

This technology will liberate publishers to charge small amounts of money, in the hope of attracting wide audiences. Those who succeed will propel the Internet forward as a marketplace of ideas, experiences, and products-a marketplace of content.

This essay is copyright © 2001 Microsoft Corporation. 

Mark Zuckerberg on a Future Where the Internet Is Available to All

The Facebook Chief Writes That Connecting Everyone on the Planet to the Web Can Create Opportunity and Reduce Poverty. 

There have been moments in history where the invention of new technology has completely rewired the way our society lives and works. The printing press, radio, television, mobile phones and the Internet are among these. In the coming decades, we will see the greatest revolution yet, as billions of people connect to the Internet for the first time.

Today, only a little more than one-third of the world is connected—about 2.7 billion people. It's easy to take the Internet for granted and assume most people will soon have the access and opportunity we have, but that just isn't the case. Connecting everyone is one of the fundamental challenges of our generation.

The Wall Street Journal published its first edition on July 8, 1889. Explore the history of the past 125 years through the Journal's headlines, see an interactive version of the first front page, and track the companies that have been in and out of the Dow.

When people have access, they not only connect with their friends, families and communities, they also gain the opportunity to participate in the global economy. Research by McKinsey & Co. in 2011 shows that the Internet already accounts for a larger share of economic activity in many developed countries than agriculture and energy, and over the previous five years created 21% of GDP growth. Access to online tools lets people use information to do their jobs better and in turn create even more jobs, business and opportunities. The Internet is the foundation of this economy.

Connecting the World

Connecting everyone in the world does more than share these benefits with billions of more people. Bringing the other two-thirds of the world online will enable them to invent and create new things that benefit us, too. If we can connect everyone, all of our lives will improve dramatically.

But this isn't going to happen by itself.

Not only do the vast majority of people have no access to the Internet, but even more surprisingly, Internet adoption is growing by less than 9% each year. That's very slow considering how early we are in its development and that this rate is only slowing further.

A common belief is that as more people buy smartphones, they will have data access. But that isn't a given. In most countries, the cost of a data plan is much more expensive than the price of the smartphone itself. For example, an iPhone with a two-year data plan in the U.S. costs about $2,000, where $500 to $600 is for the phone and about $1,500 is for the data.

In turn, the vast majority of data costs go directly toward covering the tens of billions of dollars spent each year building global infrastructure to deliver the Internet. Unless this becomes more efficient, we cannot sustainably serve everyone at prices they can afford. And unless we change this, we will soon live in a world where the majority of people with smartphones use them offline and still don't have access to the Internet.

There is a lot of research into how to deliver the Internet in completely new ways. Some of this work involves satellites, planes, lasers and beaming Internet from the sky. This research will eventually be necessary to connect everyone since some people live in remote areas where there is just no infrastructure to connect them. But this isn't the problem most people have.

In fact, almost 90% of the world's population already lives within range of an existing cellular network. For everyone in those areas, we don't need to build completely new kinds of infrastructure to help them connect. We just need to show why it's valuable and make it affordable.

The challenge for our industry will be to develop models for Internet access that make data more affordable while enabling mobile operators to continue growing and investing in a sustainable way.

Efforts like Internet.org—a global partnership founded by Facebook and other technology leaders—are already under way to solve this by working with operators to provide free basic Internet services to people world-wide. Our society has already decided that certain basic services over the phone should be free. Anyone can call 911 to get medical attention or report a crime even if you haven't paid for a phone plan. In the future, everyone should have access to basic Internet services as well, even if they haven't paid for a data plan. And just as basic phone services encouraged more people to get phones, basic Internet services will encourage many more people to get a data plan.

If these efforts work, we can expect to connect billions of people within the next decade—and this will transform their lives and communities.

Human Progress

A recent study by Deloitte found that expanding Internet access in developing countries would create 140 million jobs and lift 160 million people out of poverty, and that this newfound opportunity would even meaningfully reduce child-mortality rates. Across sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America, the Internet will help drive human progress.

Perhaps the most important change might be a new global sense of community. Today we can only hear the voices and witness the imaginations of one-third of the world's people. We are all being robbed of the creativity and potential of the two-thirds of the world not yet online. Tomorrow, if we succeed, the Internet will truly represent everyone.

Nothing about this future is guaranteed. The coming years will be a battle to expand and defend the free and open Internet. Our success will determine how far this vision of a connected world can go. Connecting the world is within our reach, and if we work together, we can make this happen.


This article is copyright © 2014 Wall Street Journal.