To Great India and its Incredible People,

my motherland, which gave me

the inspiration and resourcefulness
to invent email, and much more.
--I love you with all my heart and may this book and the
journey of a 14-year-old son of India, free your mind,
oppressed by over 350 years of British colonialism, which
continues its abuse, through modern day leaders,
traitors of India, who oppress and abuse far worse than
colonialist masters, long gone.
Until victory always.

 2015. V.A. Shiva Ayyadurai, Ph.D.

Print and distribute freely

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 The Promise

Chapter 2 Inventing Email

23

Chapter 3 The 7 Secrets of Innovation

39

Chapter 1

The Promise
I was born on December 2, 1963, a dark-skinned, lowercaste Indian, in Bombay, India.
The face you see on the cover of this book is a 14-year-old
version of me from 1978. I was just a boy, and only seven
years had passed since I left my motherland India for the
United States. At the time, I was working in Newark, New
Jersey, one of the poorest cities in the United States, where
I invented email, the email we all experience today.
Like that face, each of our visages reflects our unique
journeys across multiple worlds, starting at home to
beyond and back to our self. The beauty of life perhaps lies
in our common struggle to find patterns of connection
across those worlds.

While the particular scenes and

6

characters of our journeys may differ, the search for

meaning to face our self with kindness, love and acceptance
remains unchanged.
This book conveys one such journey that begins in India,
and then America, where a 14-year-old Indian immigrant
boy invents email, and later contends with the unenviable
struggle to convey the true source of that innovation to the
world. From that struggle emerge universal and eternal
lessons, long hidden by experts, about the source and
nature of all human innovation.
In this book, I share those lessons as the 7 Secrets of
Innovation. The worlds I experienced on my journey were
ancient and modern, east and west, science and tradition.
Across those worlds, I sought connection between the
magical holism of the East with the scientific rigor of the
West. Those worlds allowed me to uncover these secrets,
which I hope will benefit your journey to innovate, create
and serve humankind.
7

A Land of Chaos: Bombay, India

My journey begins in India where I came to love chaos and
diversity. Many religions, classes, castes, cultures, races,
colors and languages melded into a sensory bazaar. The
view

from

our

apartment offered a
jolt to ones senses. I
saw

skyscrapers

and

modern

buildings made of
glass,

metal

and

steel that stood sideby-side huts made from twigs, grass, old tires, straw, mud
and wires.
Our neighbors were Jews, Christians, Hindus, Muslims,
Jains and Zoroastrians. Sadhus and yogis meditated along
the road. Transvestites, transsexuals, gays, straight men,
women, and children walked hand in hand. Being multi8

lingual was the rule, not the exception. At home, we spoke

Tamil; in school, English; on the streets, Hindi; with friends,
Marathi.
The streets were extreme. People walked. Others pulled
rickshaws. Bicycles and Mercedes rode side by side.
Beggars crawled. Boeing 747s roared. The smells of
roasting peanuts, scrumptious curries, exhausts from
diesel trucks, roadside pooris, and cow dung were all in the
air. The outdoor markets offered sugar cane juice, goat
brains, 24-karat jewelry, jackfruits, radios, malas, incense,
parrots, and fragrant spices. Women in colorful gold, blue
and red saris strode by women decked out in the latest
Italian fashion. Men wearing traditional Nehru jackets,
white dhotis, and hats conversed with businessmen in
Armani suits.
From Mumbai t
From Mumbai to Muhavur
In

the

summers,

these

scenes

changed.

Bombay

disappeared. A long two-day overnight journey, on an old

9

Wild West like caboose train took me to the remote village

of Muhavur, located in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
This was the land of my ancestors, ancient and serene. An
emerald landscape of rice and cotton fields, mango and
coconut groves, where streams and mountains gently
awoke and soothed the senses.
Clean air, fresh
water, small dirt
roads, a million
stars,

sunrises,

sunsets,

bright

smiling

faces,

huts of hand-made red bricks, palm leaf roofs, innocent

cows, calves and adorable temples were the backdrop.
Minimal electricity, no running water, and a few scattered
phone booths brought one to a different reality. This was
the village of my grandparents, hardworking farmers, who
tilled the fields, awoke at 4AM and slept at dusk. They lived
simply, devoted to land and God.
10

Their home was a small two-story building. Across it stood

a smaller white hut, with a thatched roof where several
cows, ducks and hens resided. From the middle of that hut,
a Moringa tree grew, up and through the roof. Each
morning, my grandmother before sunrise, would get up
and
beautiful

draw
kolams

on the entrance to
the home.
She used milled
white rice flour
that

flowed

through her hands, like sand passing through an hourglass,

to make abstract geometric and symmetric designs,
resembling mandalas. Sometimes I would wake up early
just to watch her drawing the kolam, a process, which was
indescribable, with visions emanating from her minds eye
transformed on the red brown earth leading to the home.
The designs were said to evoke the Gods and put the one
11

who

looked

upon

them

into

different

states

of

consciousness.
As one came home, one could not avoid the kolam, a
reminder one was entering a special place. Two solid teak
doors were the entrance into a small 10-foot by 12-foot
room, which served as the living room, dining room and
sleeping room. Ahead, one could see the kitchen, where
something was always cooking. The fragrance of cumin,
ginger, cardamom, red pepper, and freshly grated coconut
filled the air.
Heroes: Gods and Shamans
Heroes: Gods and Shamans
In the living room, near the edge of the ceiling, along all four
walls, hung pictures of great deities and heroes such as
Shiva, my namesake, who destroyed, created and
transformed; Rama, the virtuous and noble hero of the
Ramayana; Devi, the mother Goddess; Parvathi, wife and
consort of Shiva; Ganesha, the elephant headed one who
removed obstacles; Jesus, Gods avatar and the Savior of
12

mankind; Saraswati, the Goddess of knowledge; Lakshmi,

the Goddess of wealth, and many others. The smell of subtle
incense and Vibbuthi, holy ash, was always in the air.
My favorite was the deity Muruga, who graced the small
altar, and was known as the teacher of teachers or guru of
gurus, whose familiar
was the peacock and
above whose picture
hung
single

beautiful
peacock

feather.
My

grandmother,

Chinnathai, knew the ancient arts, could channel spirits,

was known to be clairvoyant, had knowledge of the great
herbs and medicines for nearly any ailment, and would do
rituals and mantras to heal those who requested her help.
She was the youngest of sixteen children, and the only
daughter. Her arms were marked with incredible and
13

ancient tattoos. She had a nose ring. Her hair was pitch
black, she chewed tobacco and betel leaf. Her face was like
the earth, dark and hues of red, with eyes that extended to
the beyond and lines that marked her journeys of many life
times.
Sick
Patterns of Health
Everyday someone would come to her, asking for help
concerning their health, and on weekends, long lines
extended from her door. I was amazed by her ability to
diagnose someones problem by simply observing his or
her face. She had learned powers of diagnosis from yogis,
monks and adepts including Siddhars, the practitioners of
Siddha, Indias oldest of traditional medicine, by simply
observing the face, an ancient practice known as Samudrika
Lakshanam.
She shared with me how the Siddhars believed that the
entire cosmos including the smallest particle to the largest
universe were connected by consciousness and energy.
14

The face was just a mirror of our entire body, and areas on
the face were connected to organs, emotions and mind. The
Siddhars connected the dots, based on centuries of
patiently observing patterns; similar connections that
modern

systems

biology now hopes to

develop

by

interconnecting
chains of molecular
interactions.
I remember how she
would

carefully

observe someones face, seeing things that I would

overlook. Her powers of observation, without any
instruments, were incredible. She saw colorings, marks,
moles, lines, locations and asymmetries. Her mind and
training then connected these features to areas of
imbalances in the body. After determining the issues, she
would then prescribe a treatment.
15

Sometimes it was taking an herb, other times she gave

certain sounds or mantras to repeat; and when necessary,
she performed a body manipulation. These treatments
were aimed to correct the imbalances that she diagnosed
from the face. The lines only grew outside her door. No one
was refused; no payment was ever required. This was not
her occupation; farming was her vocation, where she
worked the rice and cotton fields, sometimes putting in
sixteen-hour days to make ends meet.
I thought everyone had a grandmother like her. It intrigued
me how she could make such a fast diagnosis and provide
an immediate solution. She taught me many of the basics of
face reading.
It was easy to spot a person with distressed liver by
noticing the vertical line in between the forehead. I had
recalled a few years ago when my father was once admitted
to the hospital. Even after a week, following hundreds of
16

tests with expensive instrumentation, the doctors were not

able to make any conclusive diagnosis of what was going
on. I came to the hospital. By observing his face, I knew it
was his thyroid. I took him home and gave him a mixture of
herbs specifically suited to relieve the stress on that organ.
Within a few days, he was up and around.
The Warriors Duty to Heal
Warriors Duty to Heal
My grandmother had shared with me, that in order to heal,
one had to have the attitude of a warrior, with a desire to
serve and realize that being able to serve others was a gift
from God.
She was the last living one. Her fifteen other siblings had
passed on. She had adored her father, who she described
as Robin Hood. He would steal from the rich and give to the
poor, and was beloved by all. I enjoyed hearing these
stories, and the great epic stories of India, of Gods and
Demons, Good and Evil, how virtue and honor always
overcame deceit and control.
17

Gossip was never allowed in her home. At night, I would lay

in her lap, and she would tell me those ancient stories; and
after each one, I would ask her what the moral of the story
was, and what was their real meaning. She would counsel
me gently of the age-old truths of being true, kind,
courageous and standing up for those who were less
fortunate, reminding me that we are ultimately Spirit,
neither body nor mind, and the more we took right action,
with honor, Gods light would shine through our being,
preparing us to be a vehicle for great and noble deeds.
She would tell me stories of
the great Rama, who fought
the evil Ravana, who had
stolen Sita his beloved. Rama
was bold, defeated Ravana
and brought back his wife
home to safety. That great
epic of the Ramayana, the
valiant journey of Rama, and the bond between him and his
18

devoted brother Lakshman, who would do anything for

Rama, inspired in me a grand and uncompromising
idealism for making the world a better place, fighting for
justice, finding true love, and having devoted and loyal
friendships.
Initiation, Mission and Duty
Initiation, Mission and Duty
I recall upon returning to India to see my grandmother in
1975, only then did I realize the stark contrast in how they
lived compared to those in America. Their lives were
incredibly simple and one based on a fundamentally
spiritual foundation. Their material base, in comparison to
the United States was that of poverty.

19

Before I returned to America, from that 1975 trip, my

grandparents initiated me in mantra, meditation and
visualization. They shared with me the immense power of
these practices and made me promise that I would pursue
these ancient practices with the right intention. They spent
a great deal of time explaining
to me that intention was
everything.
Even the practices of yoga,
meditation, and diet had to be
pursued

with

the

singular

intention of purifying oneself to

become more transparent to Gods grace; otherwise, one
could easily head down the path of darkness.
She told me that just because I meditated or did yoga or ate
right, did not mean that I was a better person; in fact, one
could end up becoming the exact opposite and manifest all
the seven deadly sins.
20

Life made sense in Muhavur. There, I could walk barefoot,

bathe in streams, watch cows leave to graze each morning,
have fresh raw milk topped with cream, know that Nature
was at every corner, see where my food came from, and rely
on the barest of essentials. At night, it was a wonder to walk
through the narrow streets, with the smell of the most
amazing hot teas and coffee, people smiling, small wood
fires burning, and looking up and seeing a thousand stars.
And the food, made with such love and care, always
enlivening to the senses. Today, organic, non-GMO, and
biodynamic foods are still a struggle for the average
American to afford and access. But, those in Muhavur, in a
small and poor village, lived a totally organic and
sustainable life, one with nature, where that was the norm.
As I left India that time, I remember my grandparents
coming to the train station to wish me off. All of us were in
tears; and, in that moment, that 12-year-old grandson of
Chinnathai, made a promise to develop himself physically,
21

mentally and spiritually, to honor them, their lives, their

way of being, which was that of the land, pure and simple,
so that their values, could one day spread and heal the
world.
In my hand, I took with me that peacock feather that hung
above the great deity Muruga, a gift from my grandmother,
to remind me of that promise, to learn and excel, so one day,
I too could become a great healer like my grandmother,

22

Chapter 2

Inventing Email
On December 2, 1970, with $75.00 in his pocket, my father
moved his young wife and two small children to the United
States to pursue the American Dream.
My parents Meenakshi and Vellayappa Ayyadurai had
worked hard to get an education at a time when people of
our
were

background
treated

as

untouchables

in

Colonial India, and

both

had

realized

that there was a low

ceiling
advancement

for
in

India. In the 1970s,

America was in need of highly trained technical people.
23

Since my parents were engineers and mathematicians, we

were granted visas to enter America.
We moved initially to Paterson, New Jersey, one of the
poorest cities in the United States. My father worked as a
chemical engineer at Mennen in Morristown, and my
mother as a systems analyst and mathematician at the
University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey
(UMDNJ) in Newark. They worked endless hours to build a
life for my sister and me.
With each advancement they made in their careers, my
parents moved the family to a new neighborhood with a
better public school system. By the time I was 13, it had
become clear to both my parents and teachers that I
showed great intellectual promise, but was fast becoming
bored within the curriculum set for my peers.
The promise I made when I had visited India in 1975 had
affected me deeply, and had compelled me to achieve and
24

excel, far above my peers. By the 9th grade, I had finished

Calculus. My school had no more math courses to offer me.
So, a strategy to keep me academically challenged was
forged.
By a series of
fortuitous
events,
year,

that
a

unique
program

in

computer science at the Courant Institute of Mathematical

Sciences in New York University (NYU), was organized by a
visionary professor, Henry Mullish of NYU, who recognized
that America would one day need qualified software
programmers.

Professor

Mullish

established

an

opportunity for 40 students to take part in this program.

Through a competitive application process, I was one of the
students accepted into this program.

25

I was the only Indian in the class, and would travel from
New Jersey to New York each day. We were taught seven
programming languages including digital hardware theory.
I finished number one in the class, so other academic
challenges were needed to keep me engaged.
My mother, a feisty woman of 88 pounds, convinced Dr.
Leslie P. Michelson, an experimental high-energy physicist,
who became the Director of the Laboratory Computer
Network (LCN) at UMDNJ to provide me an opportunity to
use my skills in math and science amongst adult
professionals in the field.
Dr. Michelsons Lab was specializing in the use of
computers for medicine, and scientific and data processing.
At UMDNJ, as in the rest of the world, only technical people,
computer systems operators, scientists and engineers, at
that time, had access to and used the computer. Given my
interest in medicine, I thought Dr. Michelson would allow
me to use skills in programming to pursue a medical
26

research project.
But, he had a different challenge in mind. He asked me to
translate the paper-based interoffice mail and memo
system into an electronic communications format. The new
system needed to be practical and easy to use. Everyone
from secretaries to CEOs should be able to quickly and
reliably manage
and process the
interoffice
memorandum
in

digital

format.
Users must be
able to make a
seamless,

effortless

transition

from

old-fashioned

typewriters to computer terminals and keyboards.

(Although systems for communications among widely
dispersed computers did exist at that time, they were
27

primitive and their usage was largely confined to computer

scientists and specialists.
Dr. Michelson challenged me to recreate an electronic
version of the interoffice, inter-organizational paper mail
system in use at UMDNJ at the time. I began with an
evaluation of UMDNJ's paper-based mail system, the same
system that was used in offices and organizations around
the world. This challenge to digitize the paper based mail
system became my passion and mission. I worked in the
Lab nearly every day, and then in the evenings at home on
our kitchen table until 2am.
In the end, I wrote nearly 50,000 lines of code to design and
implement an electronic version of that mail system and
named it email, a term never before used in the English
language. This digital system corresponded with all aspects
of paper mail communications i.e. Inbox, Outbox, Drafts,
Folders, Memo, Attachments, Carbon Copies, Blind Carbon
Copies, Return Receipt, Address Book, Groups, Forward,
28

Compose, Edit, Reply, Delete, Archive, Sort, Bulk

Distribution, etc.; all the features we experience today in
every email system. The first version was deployed in 1978
and began to be used by office workers at UMDNJ.

Copy of original code of Email by V.A. Shiva Ayyadurai submitted for

issuance of US Government Copyright on August 30, 1982 and donated
to Smithsonian Institution on February 16, 2012.

In 1982, the United States Copyright Office issued me a

Certificate of Registration for the program EMAIL. I also
received a second Certificate of Registration for the
accompanying EMAIL Users Manual. This was at a time,

29

when Copyright was the only way to protect software

inventions, and when the U.S. Supreme Court didnt even
recognize software patents.

Official US Copyright Notice for Email Issued on August 30, 1982, now,
in the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of American History
(NMAH).

My dear mother, recognizing that what I had invented was

unique and innovative, saved all my papers, computer code,

30

tapes, and other documents in a blue Samsonite suitcase.

Thats what came into being in 1978 in Newark, New Jersey.
My invention was the first-of-its-kind end user software
application that made the digital revolution accessible to
anyone who had no experience with computer keyboards
or terminals.
Email: The First End-User Software Application
The accessibility of my application was its essential
attribute. It revolutionized the way an ordinary person
communicated. It wasnt a simple text messaging system
inspired to support battlefield communications for
soldiers, and usable only by highly trained technical
personnel, with cryptic codes and commands, but rather it
embodied the definition of email as the world defines the
word today.
Accessibility to the masses is the key innovation here. Like
Bill Gates, who placed a personal computer in every
American home and Steve Jobs who put a computer in a box
31

like any other consumer product, I made the computer a

gateway for electronic communications for the masses.
My invention created a practical, user-friendly electronic
communication system on the model of the interoffice mail
system that simply had never existed before, and one
which experts of the time had thought impossible.

So how can an invention, for which I received the first

United States Copyright, (recognizing me as the official
inventor of email) along with documents that provide clear
evidence of it (acquired by the Smithsonian Institutions
National Museum of American History), as well as being
awarded a Westinghouse Science Honors Award, and not to
mention a vivid example of the Great American immigrant
story, be so vehemently opposed by those loyal to the
golden triangle of the military-academic-industrial
complex?

32

How did my invention as a fourteen-year-old boy working

in Newark, New Jersey, so thoroughly outrage, threaten,
and terrify my accusers that it needed to be erased from the
history

of

innovation?
Could it be that a
dark-skinned boy in
New Jersey simply
does

not

fit

the

narrative that only

Whites within that
triangle can drive
innovation forward?
Isnt it curious, even suspect, that Walter Isaacsons new
book, Innovators, describes a slanted history whereby the
only contributors of The Digital Revolution, were Whites
(hippies are included) from within the for- profit,
academic and military worlds?

33

Isaacsons history is a glaring example of denial, written -under a populist guise of collaboration of those within
that triangle, which marginalizes or simply ignores
innovators outside of it. Furthermore, it exemplifies how
Americans must continue to be brainwashed into believing
that great innovations can only come out of the militaryacademic-industrial complex, which President Eisenhower
warned us about. After all, war protects us, weapons keep
us powerful, and this holy triangle makes our lives modern.
So, who would ever question such a force of positivity? (A
force, by the way, which keeps us funding wars to
dominate, maim, and kill our enemies, mainly poor,
people of color, and the disenfranchised.)
But the creation of email did occur outside of the bastions
of government, academia, and for-profit corporations.
Thats why it is not included in Isaacsons Innovators, which
begs the question: how many more besides me have been
excluded from the club?

34

Now, I am not the kind of person who has ever pulled the
race card in my career, for benefit or advancement. My
record speaks for itself. But this is such a glaring denial, that
it must be exposed. And, it must be exposed fully, not for
just correcting the facts about the invention of email, but to
expose something far more insidious.
The writers of American History have a pattern and
practice of denying that people of color and of lower socioeconomic status have contributed in a significant way to
the evolution and advancement of the scientific and
technological growth of this country. There are untold
African Americans and other inventors of color that were
ignored and unrecognized for decades.
It was no mere accident that those inventors were not
recognized, but it was done deliberately, as we are seeing
right now in the case of Isaacsons book, so as to not have
any mention in the history books that such people were
intelligent, innovative and creative. E
35

But, times have changed and I am a dark one, who is

standing firm for the record and in the spirit of inventors,
poor and dark, that came before me, that have been
systematically ignored, in a world still filled with caste and
colorism.
particularly

The truth absolutely must be disclosed,

since

such

narratives

continually

and

purposefully ignore key facts in order to deny innovations

true lineage. I know it wont be easy. It never has been.
Money, power, and all sorts of vested interests are opposed
to unlocking the gates. But the future of humanity depends
on innovative solutions to the unprecedented challenges
now facing us, and all attempts to control innovation must
be revealed, resisted, and overcome.
Asserting the truth not just about the invention of email,
but truth on a worldwide scale of who the real innovators
have been, and of who the next innovators can be if given
education, opportunity, and a fair chance, is something that
36

must be done. The cost of denying this truth is huge,

literally incalculable, and dangerous as well. But the
potential for positive change is also enormous.
The stakes are high for everyone, whether its people riding
third

class

trains in India
or

you

reading these
words

right

now.
This

issue,

however, isnt
about my wanting glory. On the contrary, its about not
wanting. Its about refusing to enact the script thats been
played out for much too long in the lives of people from my
background. I just cant be the long-suffering untouchable
in a rural village resigned to his karmic destiny.

37

The fact is email did emerge from collaboration, but not

the military- academic-industrial complex. Email emerged
from collaboration within a local ecosystem of ordinary
people in Newark, New Jersey, one of the poorest and
predominantly African American cities in America,
dedicated teachers in the public school system, loving
parents, and inspiring mentors, who I was lucky enough to
know. I am a living example of the American Dream.
I am the inventor of email.

38

Chapter 3

The 7 Secrets of Innovation

Seven key elements emerge from the journey of that 14year-old boy, which Ive called the 7 secrets of innovation.
These elements are secrets because, for far too long, these
foundational elements have been deliberately hidden by
experts, scholars, and historians, many of whom serve
the vested interests of a multi-trillion dollar innovation
industry that wishes to perpetuate propaganda that
innovation can only occur in the likes of MIT, Silicon Valley
and the military, (and even by dropouts, but from Ivy
League institutions).
These individuals, committed to a new caste system, seem
incapable of accepting the fact that a 14-year-old, lowercaste, Indian immigrant boy, working in Newark, New

39

Jersey, invented email.

For them, those facts do not

compute.
However, the 14-year-old boys journey reveals a
fundamental truth: innovation can occur anytime, anyplace
by anybody, and shatters false narratives and exposes their
brainwashing, which attempt to bind the source of great
innovations, such as email, within their golden triangle of
the military, big corporations, and large universities.

Secret #1: Know that innovation is in your DNA

The first secret is that every human being is born to
innovate. This is neither a philosophy nor a motivational
statement, but a biological fact. In your DNA, are the genes
for innovation. Your own denial of this fact is your road to
accepting that only a few can innovate and create. More
importantly, such denial leads to your own subjugation.
The truth is you have nothing to lose, but your chains, by
accepting the fact that innovation is your birthright.

40

All animals, to varying degrees, have the genetic coding for

innovation.

Humans, however, have this ability to a

significantly larger extent. It is this genetic capability that

gave us fire, irrigation, writing and email.

Had I not

invented email in 1978, someone else would have;

however, I was the first to do it. Had J.C. Bose not invented
radio, someone else would have; however, he was the first
to do it, before Marconi. Had Aryabhata, not discovered the
elliptical orbits of planets, someone would have (western
historians deliberately record Kepler as the discoverer),
but Aryabhata was the first.
The destiny of humankind is to innovate, create, play and to
discover the laws of the Universe, and that destiny is also
encoded in your genes. What turns on those genes for
innovation is the ecosystem --- the conditions that you are
exposed to --- your surroundings.
Modern biology, of the post-genomic era, starting around
2002, discovered a powerful new mechanism known as
41

epigenetics, which revolutionized the old and false

biological theory that enslaved us to our genes. The truth
is that our genes can be turned on and off by our
environment. This discovery obliterates the deplorable
arguments, long used to justify racism, sexism, casteism
and classism, that promotes superiority of a particular race,
sex, caste or class over another, based on lineage and genes.
The truth is, under the right conditions, anyone can
innovate, since innovation is in our DNA. For over 5,000
years, for example, Indians were innovators, creating
incredible systems of healthcare (Siddha and Ayurveda),
agriculture, mathematics, architecture, metallurgy, etc.
However, with the brutal subjugation of Colonialism,
beginning in 1657, Indians were deliberately brainwashed
by their oppressor to believe that they were good for just
being workers, administrators, and even high paid CEOs,
for their masters bidding, but could not be in the league of
innovators. That was a Whites only club.

42

In 1978, my genes were turned on to invent email because

I was fortunate to have been provided an incredible
ecosystem of loving parents, dedicated public school
teachers, and an amazing mentor, who provided me an
environment, where I was given both respect and freedom
to innovate, though I was only fourteen. This was long
before I went to MIT, and got four degrees.
As a 14-year-old, I had no sense of what was impossible.
Everything was possible, and everything was play. This is
why I believe young people or those with the heart and soul
of a child are probably the best innovators, because their
biological systems are open, flexible and resilient. They do
things not for control or profit, or to make the next big
company, but are compelled to do so by an inherent passion
to create.
So relative to this first secret, it is about your recognizing
that within you is innovation. Its already encoded in your
DNA.

You dont really need to attend the next big

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innovation seminar, or go to Harvard Business School, MIT

or IIT, to learn this truth.
What you need to do is to go into nature, sit still among the
trees, the wind and the sun. Close your eyes and connect
and realize that everything around you, and within you is
innovation. You are part of that Nature. You too are imbued
with Natures fullest aspect of creativity. You are That.
When you recognize this truth, you honor yourself by
seeing that you too are part of that creation, and the
creative power has always been with you, and you simply
need to connect with That.

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Secret #2: Find a mentor

The second secret is that you must find a mentor. A mentor
is someone who inspires you, and reminds you, by their
own example, that you have the power to create anything.
A mentor can be a teacher, a friend, a parent, or a stranger,
you have yet to meet. They can be from any vocation: a
mechanic, carpenter, artist, scientist, teacher, etc.

The

point is that they are someone who inspires you and can
guide you in a practical way, for you to explore this
important aspect of being a creative human being.
In India, during ancient times, there was a teacher or
guru, not someone promoting religion or some
megalomaniacal agenda, but a productive and practical
member of society, who worked with you, one on one, to
impart wisdom, and to lead you on a path, so you could lead
yourself.

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In my case, I was fortunate to have found Dr. Leslie P.

Michelson. He was 20 years older than me, and there were
others in the laboratory 30 to 50 years older. However, Dr.
Michelson and everyone treated me as an equal, with great
respect, and never was I treated as a 14-year-old kid. Dr.
Michelson led by example: he worked hard, was committed
to excellence, communicated effectively, and was there to
give his knowledge and wisdom, and direct me to others, if
and when I needed help.
He was an incredible mentor. So, if you want to innovate,
you must find a mentor, to set you on your path to
innovation.

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Secret #3: Identify a real problem

The third secret of innovation is to identify and solve a real
problem. The problem can be big or small, but it has to be
something tangible that you can clearly identify and know
that if you were to solve it, it would make life easier for
others.
In my case, the problem I found was that secretaries,
women office workers, at UMDNJ, were slaves to their
typewriter and the interoffice email system. They worked
endless hours writing, editing, and copying memos on a
typewriter, while having to manually sort, file, archive,
trash, and many other processes, inherent to the paperbased interoffice mail system.
Because the system was paper-based, it was time
consuming to work on that medium. For example, if they
made a mistake in typing something, there was no
backspace to easily delete the error, they had use white

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out, a white paint-like liquid, to white out the mistake, wait

until it dried, and only then, could they type over it.
The secretary was essentially a command-and-control
center for paper-based communications in each office. The
secretaries were interconnected through the interoffice
mail system, very much like bees working in a honeycomb.
I was able to clearly identify the problem in the interoffice
mail system, and also was able to see the possibilities of
how their lives could be made easier, if I could move this
paper-based process to an electronic system.
Because, I had day-to-day interactions with these
secretaries, I was able to witness hands-on the problem,
and in my minds eye, I could see the solution.
So, if you want to innovate, you too must identify a tangible
problem, and at least have a vision of what your solution
may look like. This is essential to the process of innovation.
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Secret #4: Find a customer

The fourth, perhaps the most important secret is to find a
customer!
Solving a problem and finding a solution without a
customer is not innovation, but is like doing a science
experiment as a lonely laboratory investigator. What you
create may have no tangible value to anyone.
I have seen many innovators create things in their
laboratories, and later discover that what they created is
useless to the end customer. So, my biggest advice to
innovators is as soon as you find a problem and conceive a
solution, find a customer, with whom you can co-create the
solution.
In my case, my customer was the secretary. If I could help
make her life easier, I not only got a customer but an ally,

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who would tell hundreds of other secretaries at UMDNJ

how email made her job easier.
What I mean by customer is someone that is your partner,
someone who you can co-create the solution with.
Thinking you can create a solution that will miraculously be
adopted, without having a customer, front and center, from
the beginning, is not innovation.
So, start with a customer, who will provide you immediate
feedback. Many times, they will give you seemingly dumb
ideas, what may seem simpleton-like to you; however, it is
precisely such dumb ideas, that can truly enhance your
solution, because your customer is in real world, and their
needs are very real.

By addressing these needs, your

solution becomes a truly valuable innovation.

Remember, humans have been innovating in response to
facing real problems to make the lives of others easier for
over thousands of years.

Innovation is ultimately about

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solving problems to address such needs, where human,

customer interaction, is essential to the process of
innovation. So, get a customer.

Secret #5: Build to scale

The fifth secret is to recognize that while you can create an
innovation for solving just your problem or just one other
human beings problem, innovations that serve many,
require you to build to scale.
What do I mean by build to scale?
I mean that your solution just doesnt help one customer
but it helps more than one customer. Scaling means that
with each new customer you help, you dont have to do
many things to alter the solution to add on a new customer.
If you have to change the solution each time, for every new
customer, you can never scale the distribution of your
innovation to many.

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In my case, to invent email, I had to make sure that every

secretary could use the solution. This scaling necessitated
that the solution be easy-to-use. Many people dont
recognize the power of making something easy-to-use. If
its easy-to-use, anyone can pick up your solution, and they
can learn to use it quickly without having to read manuals,
hire consultants and undergo lots of training.
The more easily an individual can use your solution, the
more it will be usable and can spread like wildfire. The
more you need others to be involved directly with helping
that one individual use your solution, youve created a
barrier to your solution being utilized by many, and scaling
becomes difficult.
Scaling also means that your solution is cost-effective, that
the pricing be fair, so people can adopt your solution with
ease. In my case, with email, we charged pennies per
minute of use of the email system, and this was far cheaper,
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then typing a letter, sticking it in an envelope and paying

people to transport it from office-to-office.
Scaling also is closely related to reliability meaning that
people should trust your solution. Trust helps increase
adoption. In my case, we had to ensure that when the
secretary selected the SEND command, on the user
interface, that email arrived on time, with no errors, and at
the right location. If there were failures, they would have
lost trust, would have gotten afraid, and would not have
continued using my solution, particularly since they were
comfortable doing something another way (paper-based)
and I had wanted them to switch a whole new way of doing
things, on the computer.
So, considering these aspects, during the innovation
process, you can build to scale and ensure the success of
your innovation.

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Secret #6: Protect your innovation

In the modern world, one must protect the innovation.
Two legal methods exist to protect your innovation:
Copyright and/or Patents. Find a good legal counsel and
protect your innovation as soon as possible. It is essential
to ensuring the adoption, use, sale and marketing of your
innovation.
We live in a legal world.

Without protection of your

innovation, you will not be taken seriously.

In my case, when I invented email in 1978, believe it or not,
there were no laws for protecting software inventions. The
Copyright Act of 1976, valid at the time, only protected
music and written works, but not software. The United
States Supreme Court, moreover, did not even recognize
software patents. In 1980, the Copyright Act of 1976 was
amended to become the Computer Software Act of 1980,

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which then provided a legal vehicle to protect software

inventions.
In 1981, I was lucky, enough to attend a dinner with then
MIT President Paul E. Gray. I had been invited to his home
along with other class presidents, since I was the president
of my freshman class. Dr. Gray was the first one who alerted
me to the fact that the Supreme Court did not recognize
software patents, and advised me to Copyright my
invention using the Computer Software Act of 1980.
My parents were not lawyers and could not advise me
properly. But I did follow Dr. Grays advice and sent a letter
to the U.S. Copyright Office. I received the necessary forms
and submitted them.

On August 30, 1982, the U.S.

government awarded me the first U.S. Copyright for

Email, officially recognizing me as the inventor of email.
Today, there are many cost-effective ways to get legal
advice and to protect your innovation. Literally on-line,
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you can file Copyrights, provisional patents, and even find

patent attorneys, within minutes. Its much easier, then it
has ever been in history, for you to protect your innovation.
Such protection is a must, and essential to the process of
innovation.

Secret #7: Promote your Innovation

Finally, the seventh secret, which I only came to learn much
later on, was that one must actively promote and publicize
ones innovation; or, others, those who did not invent what
you did, will promote your invention, as their own, and will
attempt to steal it, by owning the publics mind share.
In 1978, after I invented email, I won various prestigious
awards, was headlined in the local newspaper. In 1981,
even MITs main newspaper highlighted my invention.
However, I did not actively hire a public relations agency to
promote my invention. Remember, I was only 14-yearsold, and knew nothing about PR or marketing.

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It was only about 35 years later, when my work was

honored by the Smithsonian Institution in 2012, did I came
to find out that a very large defense company, Raytheon,
had spent millions of dollars promoting themselves as the
inventor of email, when in fact, what they created was not
email, but a rudimentary form of text messaging, which
they rebranded as email.
Raytheon deliberately misused and marketed the word
email to refer to their work, so as to brand themselves as
innovators, in the lucrative cyber security market, where
promoting that they invented email gave them a
competitive advantage. When they came to find out that I
had in fact invented email, and was asserting my rights,
they unleashed the most awful vitriol using their marketing
department, PR agencies and industry insiders.
That was an incredible lesson for me to have learned the
hard way. Whats ironic is that when I attempted to share
the facts, they called me self-promotional! So, learn from
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me, promote your innovation. Of course, make sure that

you have protected it first. Since I had been fortunate to
have received that advice in 1981 from Dr. Gray, and had
officially gotten the first U.S. Copyright for Email, the facts
were black and white --- a 14-year-old dark-skinned,
lower-caste Indian immigrant boy, working in Newark,
New Jersey, is the inventor of email.
I hope these 7 secrets of innovation help you, on your
journey to innovate things, be they large or small.
Remember, innovation is within you. Never forget this
eternal truth. I wish you all my best.

Know the Truth | Be the Light | Find Your Way

www.vashiva.com
email: vashiva@vashiva.com
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