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Innovation - The Japanese Soap Factory Story

A Japanese soap factory had a problem: they sometimes shipped empty boxes, without the soap inside. This was due to the way the production line was set up, and people with experience in designing production lines will tell you how difficult it is to have everything happen with timings so precise that every single unit coming out of it is perfect 100% of the time. Customers who come all the way to the supermarket would end up buying someone else’s product. Understanding how important that was, the CEO of the soap factory got the top people in the company together and they decided to start a new project, in which they would hire an external engineering company to solve their empty boxes problem, as their engineering department was already too stretched to take on any extra effort. The project followed the usual process: budget and project sponsor allocated, RFP, third-parties selected, and six months (and $8 million) later they had a fantastic solution — on time, on budget, high quality ...

Story behind famous company names

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There are many companies / brands / products whose names were derived from strange circumstances. Mercedes This was actually the financier, Emil Jellinek's daughter’s name. The Spanish name Mercedes means "mercy". Adobe This came from name of the river Adobe Creek that ran behind the house of founder John Warnock. Apple Computers The first slogan of this company was "Bite into an Apple", while its more famous slogan is "Think Different". Probably thinking differently, the founder, Steve Jobs, named this company "Apple Computers" while he was driving along with Steve Wozniak between Palo Alto and Los Altos. Jobs and his friends used to work on a community farm cultivating apples while he was working in the Bay Area of San Francisco. Jobs was three months late in filing a name for the...

Ways to make 2010 your best year yet

Robin's new book "The Leader Who Had No Title: A Modern Fable On Real Success in Business and Life" will be published by Simon and Schuster in March. Many of the ideas below come from it. Remember that leadership isn't about your position. It's about your influence. Get fit like a pro athlete. Lift people up versus tearing people down. Protect your good name. An impeccable reputation takes a lifetime to build. And 60 seconds to lose. Surround yourself with positive, ethical people who are committed to excellence. Remember that even a 1% daily innovation rate amounts to at least a 100% rate of innovation in 100 days. Believe in your dreams (even when others laugh at them). Measure your success, not by your net worth but by your self worth (and how happy you feel). Take an intelligent risk every 24 hours. No try-No Win. Watch "Man on Wire". Regardless of your title at work, be a team builder. Remember that busines...

What does your birthday say about you..

Find out what does your birthday say about you.. Just add the digits in your birthday (only the day) and find out what the numbers say about you. Number 1 You are smart, a straight talker, funny, stubborn, hardworking, honest, jealous on a competitive basis, kind hearted, temperamental, friendly, and popular. You always want to be on the top and most likely to be independent. You are most likely to fall in love at a young age, but will marry once you mature. You are likely to have problems with people who have opposite views and you are most likely to take revenge over your enemies on a long time basis. You are a spender, but you will have a good profession in the future. If you are guy you will be very popular. You can go anywhere from the local shop to the heart of the parliament because you are positive and talented in numerous areas. But in your life you will always have some people who will work hard to bring you & your name down. Because of your intelligence, some might h...

What type of employee are you ?

Aries Employee Profile (March 21 - April 19) Aries employees make excellent troubleshooters. They'll usually want to be out in the field at a variety of different work sites fixing things. They certainly won't be happy for very long behind a desk in a 9 to 5 schedule. The bored Aries employee who has been forced into a square hole will typically be restless, angry, and careless with details. No amount of money would compensate for being stuck in a routine job. Money in fact isn't why they are working at all. They do want to be paid fairly and need a status position to satisfy their competitive tendencies--but even more importantly, they'll want challenging new projects They typically like to have a sense of responsibility and need to feel needed. In return, they'll give their all and provide detailed, consistent work. They will literally work themselves to exhaustion to prove themselves. If you want to keep your Aries co- worker productive and happy, you...

Beauty of Mathematics

Here are some funny math interesting facts. All the below tricks are based around the sequential manipulation of the numbers being used for input and output. Sequential Inputs of numbers with 8 1 x 8 + 1 = 9 12 x 8 + 2 = 98 123 x 8 + 3 = 987 1234 x 8 + 4 = 9876 12345 x 8 + 5 = 98765 123456 x 8 + 6 = 987654 1234567 x 8 + 7 = 9876543 12345678 x 8 + 8 = 98765432 123456789 x 8 + 9 = 987654321 Sequential 1's with 9 1 x 9 + 2 = 11 12 x 9 + 3 = 111 123 x 9 + 4 = 1111 1234 x 9 + 5 = 11111 12345 x 9 + 6 = 111111 123456 x 9 + 7 = 1111111 1234567 x 9 + 8 = 11111111 12345678 x 9 + 9 = 111111111 123456789 x 9 + 10 = 1111111111 Sequential 8's with 9 9 x 9 + 7 = 88 98 x 9 + 6 = 888 987 x 9 + 5 = 8888 9876 x 9 + 4 = 88888 98765 x 9 + 3 = 888888 987654 x 9 + 2 = 8888888 9876543 x 9 + 1 = 88888888 98765432 x 9 + 0 = 888888888 Numeric Palindrome with 1's 1 x 1 = 1 11 x 11 = 121 111 x 111 = 12321 1111 x 1111 = 1234321 11111 x 11111 = 123454321 111111 x 111111 = 12345654321 1111111...

SixthSense - wearable gestural interface

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We've evolved over millions of years to sense the world around us. When we encounter something, someone or some place, we use our five natural senses to perceive information about it; that information helps us make decisions and chose the right actions to take. But arguably the most useful information that can help us make the right decision is not naturally perceivable with our five senses, namely the data, information and knowledge that mankind has accumulated about everything and which is increasingly all available online. Although the miniaturization of computing devices allows us to carry computers in our pockets, keeping us continually connected to the digital world, there is no link between our digital devices and our interactions with the physical world. Information is confined traditionally on paper or digitally on a screen.  SixthSense bridges this gap, bringing intangible, digital information out into the tangible world, and allowing us to interact with this inform...