Skip Header Navigation

Next Great Innovator > Blog

Blog

« Final tips for a GREAT proposal! | Main | The final deadline…. is tonight! »

Ted Rogers, Great Canadian Innovator

Tuesday Dec 2nd was a sad day for innovation and entertainment and media in Canada with the loss of Ted Rogers. Our Head of Applied Innovation, Avi Pollock has written a guest blog as a tribute to a real innovator in Canadian business.

From Avi:

“In Memory of Ted Rogers 1933-2008
It would be remiss of us in running a competition looking for the Next Great Innovator to not pay tribute to the passing earlier this week of a great Canadian innovator, Ted Rogers.

I'm not going to post a long list of his accomplishments which have been covered in great detail the past few days. I also don't have any personal stories to share as I never met the man. What I do want to share is my admiration for what he brought to Canada and how he stands as a role model for me as someone who strives to be an innovation leader.

At RBC, we talk about innovation as being more than having a great idea. I don't think anyone can argue that the implementation of his ideas haven't become core to how each and every one of us lives our lives - whether it's the radio stations he launched his empire with, the Canadian national magazines we read, the cable infrastructure that delivers us TV, phone service and Internet access, the sports teams we watch or the wireless network that has the changed the way we interact with each other.

It was suggested somewhere that an appropriate tribute might be to shut down the wireless networks for 2 minutes of silence. My guess is that he would likely want the complete opposite. The best tribute we could offer is by continuing to live in the services he helped develop. This is the hallmark of a true innovator.”

Our thoughts go out to the Rogers family.

Posted by Tim on December 4, 2008 10:10 AM

Post a comment






Submitted comments must relate to the RBC Next Great Innovator Challenge. All comments will be reviewed and only approved comments will be posted. HTML is not allowed. Comments that include personal attacks on RBC or RBC Employees or other participants in this forum, make obviously false or unsubstantiated allegations, or include vulgar or libelous language, will not be approved. Posted comments are the views of the individual author and not of Royal Bank of Canada. By submitting a comment, you agree to be bound by the Terms of the Innovator Blog.