Outside the Box Thinking

Happy Thursday All,

The goal of the "Thursday Think Tank" is to get each of us to use our noggin and think.  Whether it be outside the box, inside the box, or not around a box at all.  No matter what your job is, sometimes we put ourselves on auto-pilot and quit thinking....don't do that.

Here is some "out of the box" thoughts from Dennis.

All,

Chris asked me to come up with something to share with you for the Thursday Think Tank. Below you will find links to several innovative ideas where people created these products by thinking out of the box. After looking at the link or watching the video the link takes you to, close the linked window to return to this email. 

Link # 1 

Microsoft Office is a very popular software suite that many of us use. We have several different versions of Microsoft Office including Office 97, Office 2000, Office 2003, Office 2010, and Office 2013. Let's say you use Office 2003 and it does everything you want it to so you are happy to stay with that version. Then you start receiving files that were created in Office 2013 which you cannot open because Office 2003 will not open files created in Office 2013. So what do you do? You are required to upgrade to Office 2013 for $400 and you have to learn how to use the new version. Is there an alternative? Yes, I am in the process of testing Open Office which is a FREE Office substitute which you can download off of the Internet. It does read the newest file formats created by Microsoft Office. I will let you know the results of my tests and here is a link to information about this product.

  https://www.openoffice.org/product/

Link # 2

Microsoft Windows if the most popular computer operating system in the world with over 85% of all computers using some version of Windows. Windows XP and Window 7 are the most popular versions of the Window Operating System. Unfortunately for Microsoft they created Windows 8 which is a very unpopular operating system. The vast majority of their customers wanted a new operating system to replace Windows 8 that looks like Windows 7. Their were a few people that liked Windows 8 and wanted a new operating system created that maintains the "tiled windows" like Window 8. What was Microsoft to do? They created Windows 10 which has the features of Windows 7 and the "tiled windows" of Window 8 and is now offering it FREE to their Windows customers. I downloaded it yesterday and have started testing it. Below is a link to Windows 10 information. 

 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeAmlDUnjrM

Link # 3

This link is a car that is slated to come out in 2016 and will get 84 mpg and will cost $6800

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vobEBqEISh8

Link # 4

Next we have  a flying machine that costs $14,995 and is available today. 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAveOB_QoBE

Link # 5

My last link is the most fun. If I win the Lotto I am going to get one of these :-)

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LejOps-gHRU

Dennis

Attachments area

Preview YouTube video Windows 10 Mini Review

Windows 10 Mini Review

Preview YouTube video Test Drive Elio the 84mpg, $6800 Car of the Future, Today!

Test Drive Elio the 84mpg, $6800 Car of the Future, Today!

Preview YouTube video Powered Skydiving Flying Car!! $14,995 In Stock Ready To Ship!! Call SUPERDELL: 1-800-707-2525

Powered Skydiving Flying Car!! $14,995 In Stock Ready To Ship!! Call SUPERDELL: 1-800-707-2525

Preview YouTube video New Look at the PAL-V Personal Flying Car

New Look at the PAL-V Personal Flying Car

Unity Through Diversity

Happy Thursday All,

Imagine a baseball team (St. Louis Cardinals) built out of all the same type of player.  Let's look at a couple examples....

• Adam Wainwright, a 6' 7" 235 lb pitcher.  Wow, would we have a hell of a pitching staff.  He might even make a pretty good catcher....but short stop?  How about a utility player?  Can you imagine if your team had a 2.98 era?  But what about the team striking out 1 out of every 3 at bats, or having a .198 batting average.  Not so good.
• How about a team of Matt Holidays?  Can you imagine the power in that lineup?  How about Matt Holiday playing short stop?  
• What about Matt Carpenter?  He can play most positions.  He can hit for average and for power.  He might be able to be an ok pitcher.  This player is getting closer.

For a baseball team, you need to have a team put together with players of different strengths....which also means they probably have different weaknesses.  You might be able to find a player that fits in a lot of positions, like Matt Carpenter but even a Matt Carpenter is not going to be a superstar at all positions...like pitching.

You are probably asking now, what does this have to do with PAi?  Why are you talking about the Cardinals?  I don't even like baseball.  This has a lot to do with Paramount.  Paramount, like the Cardinals, has built an awesome team.  We have players that are strong in certain areas and weak in other areas, and that is OK.

The "think different" part of this?  How about looking at the strengths of your team mates and helping them become stronger in that area.  Let's not concentrate on Adam Wainwright being a better hitter so much that he loses focus on pitching. We want Steve Wands to sell, not concentrate on how to get it all printed, even though my question to him lately is "How the hell do you think we can get all this done?"

Let's all become a stronger team by working on our own strengths and know when and how to ask for help on things that are not our strengths.  We need different personalities.  We need different players, and it is OK that everyone doesn't do just as you would do.  To quote TJ from earlier this week..."We should have unity through diversity."

Have a great Thursday,

Chris

Self Evaluation

Happy Thursday, 

It's time to hit below the belt again and make you really think.  How are you at self-evaluation?  If you are like me, you probably think everyone else should evaluate themselves.  I don't really have any deficiencies myself...it's just a long list of all the things I'm great at.  Does that sound familiar?

Take a moment and forget about everyone else.  Think about you and only you.  Can you be brutally honest with yourself?  Can you really see the areas you need to improve?  Can you really understand your strengths?  Do you even want to know your strengths and weaknesses?

Now, how about going one step further.  How about approaching a colleague or close friend, or maybe your boss or someone that reports to you.  Can you ask them to give you a true evaluation of your strengths and weaknesses?  Would they come up with the same list as you came up with?  If the list is different, are you fooling yourself?  Are you really good at the things you think you are good at?  Do you really know and understand your weaknesses?

You could do like me and go to someone that will sugar coat it for you and ask their opinion....I'm going to Todd and Anna (I'm sure they will sugar coat telling me my weaknesses... ha ha)  What is important in this, if you do it, is that you don't argue or defend what they tell you.  You want someone to tell you the truth and not feel threatened by being honest.

Are you prepared to really understand the areas you need to work on?  Do you have the guts to ask someone, who will be direct and straightforward, for their evaluation of you?  

 

Have a great Thursday,

Chris

P.S.  Just because you know I'm going to Todd and Anna doesn't mean they want lists of all my weaknesses from you, I'm sure they can make big enough lists themselves.

Old School

Thursday Think Tank - Old School

by Anna Biggins

At my age, thinking differently does not come easy.  As I try to do this, I find myself recalling all my years at PAI, or Paramount Cap as it was called back when I started.  In those days we were only doing cut and sew caps and hats and we had to walk 9 miles in the snow to get to work.  It snowed every day back then, and we didn't have fancy Nike shoes to keep our feet warm, we wore hat boxes strapped to our feet and secured to our ankles with binder twine and horse hair. Back in those days Paramount enjoyed large volumes of work, just like we do now, and we employed processes that helped make us successful.

One of our recent Lean Success Stories involved Derick Curtis in raw materials.  He came up with an idea to change how to stage shirts for screening.  Derick's idea was a great one but also happened to be one of the successful processes we had used in Cut cap staging all those years ago before Derick was even a glimmer in his daddy's eye.  This made me consider some of the successful methods we've employed over the years and wonder about their applicability today.

So the theme of this Thursday Think Tank is to challenge some of us old people around here...

 

...to remember the processes we have successfully used in the past and see if they will work in today's model.

“A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.” ― George Bernard Shaw

Submitted by Anna Biggins

Innovative Thinker?

Hi All,

Are you an innovative thinker?  Do you know what innovative thinking is?  Is it important to be able to be innovative?  

What are traits that innovative thinkers have?  Here is a list of traits innovative thinkers have, do you have these also?

1.  Innovators have their ego in check.  They are open to others ideas and don't think their own ideas are always the best ideas.  Because of their openness to others ideas, they have lots of ideas to choose from.

2.  Confident, not arrogant.  They believe in what they are doing. They are not afraid to fail.  Failing just means they have found another way that doesn't work.  They see failures as temporary and don't take them personally.

3.  They are continually curious.  Open to new information, on the lookout for new ideas, read a lot, ask lots of questions, and take every opportunity available to them to gain knowledge.

4.  They are good listeners.  They pay attention to others and then come up with a response, not like most who are busy thinking about their response while the other person is speaking.  Good listeners listen to not only the words spoken, but the emotion behind them, tone used with them, and body language expressed.  

5.  They don't let their emotions affect their innovation efforts.  They don't get too down with failure and don't get too high with success.  

6.  They can take direction, and you must be able to take direction to give direction.  They can be assertive without being aggressive.  They can express their emotions in a way that isn't confrontational.

7.  They empathize with co-workers and customers.  They allow others to be comfortable around them.  You may not remember what someone said to you, but you will remember how they made you feel.

Have a great Thursday.

Chris

Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?

Happy Thursday Everyone,

Why?  Why?  Why?  Why?  Why?  Isn't that what a curious little kid asks?  If they keep asking why, they usually get to the real answer.  What happens when you ask why 5 times?  Will you get to the root cause of the problem relatively quickly?  When we go straight to the "How" without clarity about our "Why" we can make solving the problem much more complicated.

Here is my 5 why challenge from this morning......

Once we are clear about our "Why", the "How" will magically show up.  (I'm going to Wal-Mart tonight for a new alarm clock)

Keep thinking and asking questions,

Chris

Waste Observation

Waste Observation and PDCA thinking cycle (Plan. Do. Check. Adjust.)

Submitted by Pam Volner.

Hello Gang,

Last week it was my pleasure to be nominated as the official photographer for the production office's weekly team building games.  This particular week's game was a cotton ball drop.  Each person applied Vaseline to the end of their nose, then proceeded to a bowl containing cotton balls where they dove face first trying to collect as many cotton balls as possible on the sticky Vaseline.  The next step was to run to the opposite end of the room and deposit the cotton balls into a different bowl.  Object of the game, team with the most cotton balls deposited in the bowl in 2 minutes wins.

As I watched each team take their turn, I began noticing the different thinking processes each team displayed.  The First team started out with one person taking their turn and then the next person would go when that person was done and so on.  There was a pause between each team member (waiting waste).  While the first team was performing their task, you could tell the second team was already thinking of what they could do to speed up the process to pick up more cotton balls.  The first team planned and executed, but lacked the benefit gained by subsequent teams who had the advantage of observation.  They could see the waste in the current team's process and could adjust their plan to eliminate that waste.  By the time the 3rd team was up it was like a BLUUUR!  Through observation and the power of PDCA thinking, they figured out how to improve efficiency which helped them win the game.

Not only was I entertained, but inspired seeing these principles executed in a quick real life example.  Imagine what we can see and improve if we all perform some Ohno Circles in all areas of Paramount.  

Your partner in observing and improving,

Pam