Close your eyes and imagine a typical work day… you arrive at the office (late), grab a cup of coffee (hot), check voicemail (too many) and then… bing bang boom, you turn on your computer and log on. Now, imagine there was no internet and certainly no emails; your only means of communication with the “outside” world is through phone and snail mail.

How would we function?

We owe our connected existence to Bob Metcalfe, whose innovation and imagination changed our world forever.

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I was steeling myself for an evening of dense tech talk. Little did I know that the evening’s Q&A featuring Kathy Hills, SVP of Cisco’s Access Networking and Services Group, and Bob – “Father of the Internet” – Metcalfe, would be hugely entertaining and more than a little humbling.

After all, I was soon to learn that the man who conspired to put a computer on every desk is no mere nerd. Case in point, in the 8th grade, while others stumbled to create erupting volcanoes for the science fair, Metcalfe turned in a working computer made from spare parts. Not too shabby. For most, being acknowledged for the invention, standardization and commercialization of the internet would be more than enough for one lifetime, but not Bob; he pushes on, already identifying his next contribution to society-at-large: energy. Specifically, the pursuit of clean, cheap energy.

His VC firm, Polaris Ventures, is already investing in Enertech (energy technology) and, while he and other “internet tycoons” acknowledge that they aren’t being wholeheartedly welcomed into the energy field, they’re ready to take on the problem. Why energy? Metcalfe had numerous reasons, but mainly he’s concerned that the world is running out of natural resources, the threat of national security and “then there’s that climate thing.”

For most of us, it isn’t entirely obvious the connection between IT and energy but Metcalfe believes his internet experience will provide valuable guidance in the pursuit of a viable, sustaining energy solution. And, since the energy people haven’t solved it, his response is: “Get out of the way.”

His zest is contagious, his enthusiasm, palpable, but most importantly his optimism and belief in the many possibilities the future holds is intoxicating. We can all expect, and look forward to, hearing a lot more from Bob Metcalfe in the years to come.  Major kudos to the CHM for putting on such a memorable evening.

Notable Metcalfe quotes:

• “I’ve written books and I can tell you, you shouldn’t believe everything you read.”
• “The most successful people in the world don’t put money first, but they do put it on the list.”
• “I’ve attempted and failed retirement three times. I think retirement is an outmoded concept that doesn’t fit anyone I know. We have time in our lifetime to do five things instead of one, like my dad did.”
• “Pretty much everything you [Cisco] sell, we did.”
• “There are currently 700 Venture Capital firms in the US, there should only be 20.”
• “Efficiency is vastly more important than Conservation- which, in and of itself, is a non-starter.”
• “Blogs will replace newspapers. Maybe not in the form they’re in now…but eventually, they will”