In his youth, Pittsburgh-based science writer Chip Walter became a fan of the TV science fiction series Star Trek. Between the show’s initial 3-year run and the 35 years of reruns which followed, Walter figures to have seen every episode at least once. And in both subtle and not-so-subtle ways, it changed his life. 

But, as he learned through his research on a recent book project, he wasn’t alone. A number of leading scientists at universities and think tanks all over the country had also been fans of the show and its imaginary world of Vulcans, Klingons, and Romulans. They too, according to Walter, had traced their early fascination with science to the inspiration of the Starship Enterprise and its intrepid crew. And in a number of cases, their professional work since that time has focused around turning various devices first imagined by the program’s creators into realities. 

The 2002 book in which he documents what its dust jacket refers to as this “trek from science fiction to science fact” is called “I’m Working on That.” It is based on interviews conducted during a journey through leading research institutions around the country in which Walter was accompanied by the book’s co-author, Star Trek lead actor William Shatner. And what they learned reflects the power that visualizing imaginary worlds can have on galvanizing the energies of motivated people to realize those visions. 

Laser vision

That power is not limited to Star Trek fans. In fact, Walter told a September 25 forum of the Pittsburgh Product Strategy Network “Cultivating Product Category Winners: No Guts, No Glory!” the uniquely human ability to form a vision of something which does not now exist is the precisely the ability that forms the foundation for any successful enterprise – especially one involving new technology. The same applies to regions, including Pittsburgh. “You can have vision without success,” he observed, “but you can’t have success without vision.” 

In his own career, Walter’s contact with such visionaries as CNN founder Ted Turner helped him to understand the importance of a passionately held vision. It also taught him what a vision was not. For example, a vision is not an idea. Ideas are abundant and easy to come by, he noted. A vision is what helps translate an idea into a something capable of becoming reality. Nor is a vision generally the product of committees. Although brainstorming can be helpful in throwing off ideas, visions generally emanate from one person’s mind, according to Walter. Visions are not primarily about money either, although they can lead to huge financial gains if they are carried out successfully. Unlike commands, visions cannot be forced onto people; instead, they must be clear and compelling enough to draw people into them voluntarily. And visions are not static and unchanging; they are organic and able to adapt to a constantly-changing environment. 

Of course, having a vision – even a good one – isn’t enough to assure success, Walter observed. Luck, timing, passion, courage, articulation, and execution are all essential ingredients. So is creative play, which is what helps transform visions into realities, according to Walter. “This is a hard sell in Pittsburgh,” he said, acknowledging the region’s hard-nosed work ethic. “We just think if you’re not suffering you’re not actually getting anything accomplished.” 

Frontier mentality

But back at the turn of the 20th century, before Pittsburgh’s no-nonsense culture had become well established, things were different. “A hundred years ago, this was the Silicon Valley of the country. People were pouring in here. Money was pouring in here. Innovations, new business were starting all the time. We invented the steel industry. We changed the metals industry with Alcoa. We had a huge effect when we invented the food industry with Heinz. We created industries in energy with Westinghouse, in oil with Gulf Oil and KDKA in broadcasting. The Mellons were among the first venture capitalists; they put money into all of those businesses. And there was no guarantee any of those businesses was going to take off,” Water said. 
“We were the first frontier city. People that came here were not timid. Lewis and Clark started their journey here. How frontier can you get? Thousands of people came here and went off to the west. The people who stuck around afterwards were gutsy frontier people,” he said. 

“That’s the kind of thinking, that’s the kind of attitude, that carried into the beginning of the 20th century and made Pittsburgh such a great place. So now the big questions is: can we take that attitude into the 21st century? I don’t see any reason why we can’t. There’s lots of potential. We still have an enormous amount of intellectual capital here. The only thing that’s holding us back is vision.” 

Forward vision

What could a 21st century vision of the region entail? Plenty. “First, coming out of the transplantation expertise we have, is bioartificial organs and xenotransnplations,” he pointed out. “Another example is cybersecurity. This is a huge, huge growth industry. The GDP gets lighter every year because more and more of it is information and not manufacturing. The thing that makes the world run are the ideas and the information that fly around it. So we have to protect it.” Other sweet spots include pervasive computing and wireless systems, robotics, MEMS microstructure technology, and sports medicine, he noted. 

But there are shortcomings that hold us back from fully realizing those opportunities, Walter pointed out. “We lack political and cultural vision. We’re way too conservative. I grew up in Pittsburgh. I love Pittsburgh. That’s one of the reasons I feel it’s important to face the way we really are and deal with it. We’ve got to stop thinking about not succeeding and stop trying to protect what we have. We need a real vision of what we want this city and region to be so that people can get behind it and go to that destination. We’re just going around in circles. There isn’t anything really being articulated out there. 

“I also think we’re playing with ‘scared money.’ That’s a term a gambler friend of mine uses. If the Steelers went out on the field and said ‘well, let’s just try not to lose,’ you know they’re going to lose most of their games. That’s the way we’re playing right now. It’s a scared money attitude of ‘well, let’s just hold on to what we’ve got.’ Unless you’re willing to get your nose bloodied, to have a vision and really believe in it, to go for what you want, you can’t get it. You can’t get what you don’t know. 

“Knowing what you want in the first place is where vision comes in,” he said. “You’ve got to create that kind of Crystal City, that ideal, that’s full-blooded. You’ve really thought it through, kicked it around, and then you can go for it because you know where you want to go. We can go for it as a region because we can see it and lots of other people can see it as well and get behind it.” 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Peter Longini is a contributing writer for the Pittsburgh Product Strategy Network. Peter is a former professor of communication research at the University of Pittsburgh and professor of TV-Radio at Brooklyn College, CUNY. During the 1980s, he was an executive speechwriter at PPG Industries in Pittsburgh. Since 1992, he has been the principal of Peter Longini Communications, an editorial services company in Wexford, PA whose clients include various publications, public sector agencies, nonprofit organizations and corporations. In January 2003, Dr. Longini became an adjunct faculty member of New York University and Director of Communications for Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania. He can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it