Remember always in awards presentations to remind the recipients that they are "special," and that their contributions are vital to your organization's future. 

OverViews example speech was prepared for Lou Ross, Vice Chairman and Chief Technical Officer of Ford Motor Company. This is the keynote address for the highest technological achievements in this company. 

Laurels for Tech Laureates

As you can see by the attendees, this is a special night. 

Special because we are here to honor those who, through innovations and inventiveness, have made major contributions to Ford Motor Company's technological leadership. 

Tonight is special also because spouses are with us.  Here is your chance to prove that you really are as smart as you've been telling your mate you are. 

And here's an opportunity to explain all of those extra hours at work and in the den at home with a -- "See, I told you I wasn't goofing off." 

I've heard it said about innovative people that you never know if a truly creative person is coming up with something, or coming down with something. 

So, those of you who have endured the absent hours, and absent-minded presences, deserve to be honored, as well.  Congratulations. 

Some of you may know that this is a special night for another reason.  December 10th is Nobel Day -- the day Alfred Nobel died, the traditional day in which Nobel Prize Laureates are awarded their honors with much pomp and circumstance in Stockholm and 
Oslo. 

Alfred Nobel recognized the supreme importance of honoring and encouraging great accomplishments in science, in literature, in economics, and in peace. 

Yet Alfred Nobel made one massive oversight.  He did not designate a Nobel Prize for Technology. 

From his perspective a hundred years ago, Nobel couldn't comprehend the tremendous importance that technology would play in achieving genuine progress -- in creating industries, in increasing productivity, in improving on both the standard of living and quality of life of people everywhere. 

In the past few years, we at Ford have come to realize just how vitally important technological breakthroughs are in producing world class products, that not only meet customer's expectations for quality, durability, and price, but address major social issues of the environment, energy conservation, and safety. 

Look around you at Ford today. You'll see a high-tech company... a company that has invested more in new technologies in the past five years than in any period of our history... a company that will investing $ 30 billion in the next five years on new products, new productivity through leading edge technologies. 

For tonight's honorees, the implication is clear: your contributions are not just important -- they are vitally important to the competitive future of our company. 

Now, while I'm improving on Alfred Nobel's concept, I have to point out a couple of other oversights he made. 

First, the Nobel Prize recognizes only monumental inventions, not incremental improvements. 

I think that might be because Nobel, the creater of dynamite, subscribed to a "big bang" theory of invention -- that everything worthwhile must be a big bang event. 

Today, we know it doesn't work that way.  Our brain children, like our own children, do not come into this world fully formed and functional. 

Conceiving a grand idea is significant, but it is even more important to nurture, to improve, to refine -- and with my kids - - to civilize, before they can reach full potential and actually 
contribute to society. 

It's worth noting that Henry Ford himself did not create a single big-bang invention.  He did not invent the automobile, he did not invent the concept of interchangeable parts, nor was he the first to establish a moving assembly line.  Henry Ford -- the technician -- applied and perfected the ideas of others to create an industry and bring personal mobility to the world. 

Incremental improvements are as important, often far more important, than the original discovery.  My Nobel Prize for Technology would give as much recognition to incremental breakthroughs as to big bangs. 

A second flaw in Nobel's approach is that it tends to give  full credit for each achievement to a single individual, or two  individuals at most. 

That's simplistic thinking.  With only two exceptions, every award tonight goes to teams of two to five individuals who worked in concert. 

Team recognition does not, in any way, diminish individual achievement. In fact, it enhances the achievement. 

For it says that this individual was able to both innovate, and to share his innovation with others in ways that inspired something greater than the individual could have achieved alone. 

So we recognize our team achievements. And I'm certain that our two lone-wolf award recipients -- Jim Avouris and Dave Rochon -- would agree with the words of Sir Issac Newton when he said: 

"If I see further than others, it is because I stand on the shoulders of giants." 

To me, any Ford technology award also should be recognition for the many giants in our company and our technical communities who have helped us to see a little further than others. 

So tonight, we at Ford are correcting for Alfred Nobel's oversights.  We are elevating the Henry Ford Technology Award to our company's highest individual recognition for truly 
outstanding achievement. 

The Henry Ford Technology Award is our Nobel Prize, our Pulitzer Prize, our Academy Award Oscar, all rolled into one.  And each recipient is a Nobel Laureate in this company. 

Having said all that, I can just hear some cynical old engineer in the audience saying: 

"Wait a minute, Lou.  Nobel laureates receive multi-million dollar prizes... they get their awards handed to them by the King of Sweden... and they appear on the front page of every newspaper in the world!" 

O.K., so the Henry Ford Technology Award differs from the Nobel Prize in a few minor details. No analogy is perfect. 

Yet the Henry Award shouldn't differ from the Nobel Prize in the most important way. It should make you feel good about your accomplishment. 

Henry Ford often said, "There is no happiness except in the knowledge that we have accomplished something." 

Well, you should be awfully pleased with yourselves tonight. You've earned this company's highest recognition for technical accomplishment. 

I hope each of you feels as good about your achievements as I do about having you on the Ford technology team. 

And if you take only one thought away with you, it should be how special you are to Ford Motor Company... 

... how much we respect the contribution that brought you here tonight... 

... how much we are depending on the contributions you will make tomorrow. 

Thank you and congratulations.