Elementary, my dear Wattson

Meet Wattson. He might just be your new best friend. In these times of economical worries he will show you how much electricity your house is using. As always he is accompanied by his trustworthy companion Holmes and together they help you reduce your electricity bill. Wattson has a blue glow when you spend little electricity and he turns red when consumption is high. The display also shows you how much your annual costs would be based on your current use.

And if that isn´t enough, he´s also “gorgeous” according to himself. So you can add modest to the list as well.

Row, row , row your boat

Knowing how much Andy loves quotes I´ll start of my blogpost with one:

"You cannot solve a problem using the same thinking that caused it"

-Albert Einstein

As oil prices are soaring to new highs, the Big Three from Detroit: General Motors, Ford and Chrysler are suffering. GM´s stock price finds itself at a 54 year low and the future looks anything but bright for the trio. When you are faced with a challenge, how do you best solve it? Do you remain on the same course and hope for the best or do you go in a different direction? Are you reactive or proactive?

Perhaps the parable below taken from Fortune can offer some insight:

A Modern Parable

A Japanese company (Toyota) and an American company (Ford) decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri River. Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their peak performance before the race.

On the big day, the Japanese won by a mile.

The Americans, very discouraged and depressed, decided to investigate the reason for the crushing defeat. A management team made up of senior management was formed to investigate and recommend appropriate action.

Their conclusion was the Japanese had eight people rowing and one person steering, while the American team had eight people steering and one person rowing.

Feeling a deeper study was in order, American management hired a consulting company and paid them a large amount of money for a second opinion.

They advised, of course, that too many people were steering the boat, while not enough people were rowing.

Not sure how to utilize that information, but wanting to prevent another loss to the Japanese, the rowing team’s management structure was totally reorganized to four steering supervisors, three area steering superintendents, and one assistant superintendent steering manager.

They also implemented a new performance system that would give the person rowing the boat greater incentive to work harder. It was called the ‘Rowing Team Quality First Program,’ with meetings, dinners and free pens for the rower. There was discussion of getting new paddles, canoes and other equipment, extra vacation days for practices, and bonuses.

The next year the Japanese won by two miles.

Humiliated, the American management laid off the rower for poor performance, halted development of a new canoe, sold the paddles, and canceled all capital investments for new equipment. The money saved was distributed to the Senior Executives as bonuses and the next year’s racing team was out-sourced to India.

Sadly, The End.

-

In times of trouble the easiest can often be to stay on course until forced to do differently, although it may be the easiest it is not always the best. Sometimes you need to change your way of thinking, look for opportunities instead of limitations and solutions instead of problems.

Change your approach and you will get a new perspective.

Meatloaf and jam.....

As I am sitting here about to write my first blog entry I am suddenly reminded of an old Friends episode; Rachel has just mistakenly made meat loaf with jam as the other main ingredient. Everyone is in shock that Joey likes it and he is equally shocked that no one else likes it. “Jam.Good! Meatloaf. Good!”. Sitting here right now with a smile on my face I am thinking; Inspiration.Good.Creativity.Good.Innovation.Good.

The first week of Play is coming to an end, and this third of the yet to be named trio of interns has had a truely great week. So what is it that made it so great?

What makes any relationship great?
I am sure you can write down 10(and hopefully more) great things about your husband/wife/lover/boyfriend/girlfriend/partner, but from my experience it is not always an easy task to pinpoint the exact reason why you are together, why it works and what exactly makes it so great? It just is. I am sitting here with a feeling that this feels right. I hope over summer it will become more clear to me what creates the magic here at 1801, but like any great magic act I am not sure I want to know all of the secrets.

We have been given a thorough introduction to how Play works from the ground up. A great deal of trust, responsibility and insight has been given to us. This again makes me want to give back and that is maybe the way life is; if you want more of one thing, you should give more of that thing. The environment here is very contagious and I have woken up every morning eager to take the walk down Jefferson Ave. to Cary Street and start the day.

Right now I feel like a Kitchen Aid that is constantly getting new ingredients and spices thrown into the mix. I have no idea what the dish will look or taste like after cooking in the oven for 10 weeks, but I know it´s going to taste good and there will be more than enough for everyone to enjoy.