Category Archives: Creativity

Samuel Adams Acts Like a Good Neighbor

Posted on February 17, 2008 by John Hunter

Some people think business is only about making money. I agree with Dr. Deming that the purpose is much larger than that. Even if you take a view similar to mine though, it is not often companies intentionally help those that compete with them. But here is an example where Samuel Adams acts like a good neighbor: For a couple of months now, we’ve all been facing the unprecedented hops shortage and it’s affected all craft brewers in various ways. … Continue reading →

Posted in Competition, Creativity, Management | Tagged ,

Giving Away Your Service for Free on Weekends

Posted on January 28, 2008 by John Hunter

Copilot is a cool application that lets you control someone else’s computer. So you can receive technical support remotely. You let someone access your computer and copilot takes care of the sometimes very complex task of linking the two computers up (getting through firewalls, etc.). You can use it to fix your parents computer after you move away… or you can can have your kid fix your computer for while you pay for part of their college… (I am not … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, IT, Management, Systems thinking | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Nice Design Example, the eco-cook

Posted on January 27, 2008 by John Hunter

dining in 2015 Basically I just think this is cool. I could try and explain how it shows creativity and reducing waste… but really I just like it. From the designer: My eco-cook is an object that helps to save water, energy and time. Everyday, everyone, has to cook pasta, rice or various vegetable. Therefore different pots are needed. In a unique pot, the eco-cook enables to divide 2 or 3 space and to boil different food at the same … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Management

Poor Service from Amazon

Posted on January 11, 2008 by John Hunter

I like using Amazon, most of the time. But their decision to erect barriers for communication I find extremely annoying. Any time anything goes wrong you might as well be dealing with some organization in the middle of nowhere without phones, any internet connection or even physical mail. I ordered a printer from them a couple weeks ago. Today I get an email that “the following item from your order is not currently available for purchase. This item has been … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Customer focus, Management, Process improvement | 6 Comments

Prediction Markets with Google Employees

Posted on January 10, 2008 by John Hunter

Another interesting experiment from Google: Using Prediction Markets to Track Information Flows: Evidence from Google In Google’s terminology, a market asks a question (e.g., “how many users will Gmail have?”) that has 2”5 possible mutually exclusive and completely exhaustive answers (e.g., “Fewer than X users”, “Between X and Y”, and “More than Y”). Each answer corresponds to a security that is worth a unit of currency (called a “Gooble”) if the answer turns out to be correct (and zero otherwise). … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Data, Economics, Google, Psychology, Statistics, Systems thinking

Stratification and Systemic Thinking

Posted on January 6, 2008 by John Hunter

I am reading a fascinating book by Jessica Snyder Sachs: Good Germs, Bad Germs. From page 108: At New York Hospital, Eichenwald and infectious disease specialist Henry Shinefield conceived and developed a controversial program that entailed deliberately inoculating a newborn’s nostrils and umbilical stump with a comparatively harmless strain of staph before 80/81 could move in. Shinefield had found the protective strain – dubbed 502A – in the nostrils of a New York Hospital baby nurse. Like a benign Typhoid … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Data, Deming, Health care, Innovation, Management, Quality tools, Science, Statistics, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Toyota’s Partner Robot

Posted on December 6, 2007 by John Hunter

Latest robot in Toyota’s line showcases violin skills [the broken link was removed] But Toyota’s new robot played a pretty solid “Pomp and Circumstance” on the violin Thursday. The 152-centimetre [about 5 feet] tall white robot used its mechanical fingers to push the strings correctly and bowed with its other arm, coordinating the movements well. Toyota Motor Corp. has already shown robots that roll around to work as guides and have fingers dexterous enough to play the trumpet. Toyota President … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Fun, Science, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

How Curiosity Empowers Toyota

Posted on October 20, 2007 by John Hunter

How Curiosity Empowers Toyota [the broken link was removed] by Keith McFarland: As I read Magee’s book one idea kept surfacing in my mind. Throughout its history, Toyota appears to have put an emphasis on an important but oft-overlooked characteristic: Curiosity. You can trace Toyota’s institutionalized curiosity back to its founder, Sakichi Toyoda (1867-1930), who became interested in improving the effectiveness of weaving looms, and who went on to revolutionize weaving technology in Japan and secure more than 100 patents … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Creativity, Management Articles, Toyota Production System (TPS)

Using Capitalism to Make the World Better

Posted on October 11, 2007 by John Hunter

I have mentioned Kiva before: Microfinancing Entrepreneurs (on our Curious Cat Economics and Investing blog). In addition to being a good cause Kiva really shows some great management strategies. The use of Information Technology to connect people directly is a wonderful example of using IT effectively (understanding psychology). Kiva lets you loan money directly to an entrepreneur of your choice. Kiva provides loans through partners (operating in the countries) to the entrepreneurs. Those partners do charge the entrepreneurs interest (to … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, curiouscat.com, Economics, Fun, IT, Management, Psychology | 7 Comments

Employees That Telecommute are the Most Loyal

Posted on September 18, 2007 by John Hunter

In Loyal Employees Stay Home, quotes from the Wall Street Journal (behind a iron curtain still in this day and age – oh well): “When companies allow employees to work remotely or from home, they are explicitly communicating to them that ‘I trust you to be dedicated to the accomplishment of the work, even if I’m not able to observe you doing it,’ ” says Jack Wiley, executive director of the institute, which is in Minneapolis. “It boils down to … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, IT, Management, Respect, Systems thinking | 3 Comments

Keeping Older Workers

Posted on September 16, 2007 by John Hunter

We’re Not Finnished With You Yet Abloy and many other Finnish companies are suddenly treating older employees like a precious resource. Instead of nudging them into early retirement, they’re coaxing gray-hairs to work longer with better health benefits, extra weeks of paid vacation, and more. But these companies aren’t just feeling charitable. Finland’s workforce is aging faster than any other country’s–40% of Finns will reach retirement age during the next 15 years. Nearly a quarter of Abloy’s 820 workers, for … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Management, Psychology, Respect, Systems thinking | 2 Comments

Seth Godin on Marketing and the Internet

Posted on September 4, 2007 by John Hunter

Once again Seth Godin does a great job of explaining the dynamics of marketing on the web: Seth Godin Video on Web Marketing. In this 6 1/2 minute video he touches on various topics including: the ease with which web users ignore ads on the web the importance of customers marketing for you (see our previous post: Lego – Innovative Marketing Podcast) the need to develop relationships with customers that then allow your to reach them, “permission marketing” (such as … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Innovation, IT, Management | 1 Comment

Data Visualization

Posted on August 30, 2007 by John Hunter

Data is often displayed poorly, making it difficult to see what is important. When data is displayed well the important facts should leap off the page and into the viewers mind. Edward Tufte is an expert on this topic with great books. If you have not read them, you should: Beautiful Evidence, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, Envisioning Information and Visual Explanations. Smashing magazine has some nice examples of good display techniques in Data Visualization: Modern Approaches. I don’t … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Creativity, Data, IT, Management, Psychology | Tagged , , ,

Tesco in the USA

Posted on August 22, 2007 by John Hunter

Tesco is opening Fresh and Easy stores in the USA: starting with Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix and Las Vegas. Tesco is the third largest retailer in the world and well known for using lean management methods. I added Tesco to my long term stock picks last year (and Warren Buffett owns about $2 billion dollars worth, too). Their recent press release offers hope for Tesco operating with lean thinking in the USA: “No where is our approach to serving … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Customer focus, Lean thinking, Management, Respect, Systems thinking | 1 Comment

Cool Workspaces

Posted on August 15, 2007 by John Hunter

Beautiful work spaces acknowledge the people that work in those spaces and show a respect for employees as people. Photo by Michael Moore of the VW Phaeton assembly plant in Dresden (more photos of the plant) via: 10 Seeeeeriously Cool Workplaces Related: Why Office Design Matters – 5s

Posted in Creativity, Management, Respect | 2 Comments

Corporate Blogging

Posted on August 10, 2007 by John Hunter

Good article on the topic of company blogs and the new thinking needed to manage given the new communication system created by the internet, blogs etc.: Company bloggers can help put out fires [broken link has been removed]: “Our legal people and others were e-mailing and calling and asking me: ‘What are you doing? This is bad. You can’t do that,’ ” Menchaca says of his post on the Direct2Dell blog last August. “But I said: ‘This is what blogs … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Innovation, IT, Management | 4 Comments