Necessity is the Mother of Invention

I’ve always thought that the phrase ‘necessity is the mother of invention’ as linear. We run out of stuff and then we come up with something new. I guess I’ve been reading too much Dan Pink or Malcolm Gladwell or Seth Godin. I just can’t take things at face value any more and find myself questioning all of my long held beliefs.

I’ve come to a huge new realization. To paraphrase Gordon Gecko “scarcity is good.” (Sorry couldn’t find another g-word to keep the rhythm.) Rarely is there greatness to be found in an abundance of resource. Perhaps it’s a little masochistic but I’ve really started to enjoy situation that, at first, seem to be underfunded. Perhaps the Mother of Invention is more of a requirement than a natural order of things.

Exhibit A – Hollywood

I’ve been around a lot longer than some and not nearly as long as others. My point of reference is the late Seventies early Eighties. I have very fond memories of ET, Star Wars and sneaking out of my bedroom really late at night to watch an overly edited version of Jaws on TV. I still believe that Spielberg and Lucas did their best work when they had the least amount of money. The same holds for many directors. Opening up the studios bank doors has never been a recipe for success.

Exhibit B – Sport

If you don’t know the story of Billy Beane and the Oakland A’s Goog… you know what to do. When Jim McMahon and Chicago Bears won the Superbowl in 1985 they were one of the lowest paid teams in the league. This doesn’t just apply at the team level. Michael Oher’s story has been retold in the movie Blind Side. Pele, one of the greatest soccer players of all time, grew up with every excuse to fail. From the favela’s of San Paulo he grew an iron will and learned the value of perseverance.

Exhibit C – Business

Insert your favorite garage start up story here. Mine is California Closets. I worked for the Bevans family in Calgary thirty years ago and they taught me lessons then that still benefit me today. California Closets was started by Neil Balter, an 18 year old college student. He had no other intention than to make his dorm more organized and functional. Word spread and before long school was getting the way of business. In 1985 he went international and opened in British Columbia, Canada. A few years later Lance and Becky Bevans started a franchise in Calgary – yes – out of their garage. By the time I started working for them they were in a little shop in an industrial strip mall. About the same time my brother started working for another family run business. This one was a little different. Grandma had money to invest. He took me for the grand tour starting with a ride in his company car – a red Camaro. A beautiful office with moldings, big conference room with big table and plush chairs. Wonderful executive offices. 20,000 square feet of production space…. with two little old ladies in one corner making the samples that he would use to sell from. Six months later he was dropping off the Camaro back at the dealership and looking for a new job.

The Moral of the Story

The next time you are working on a project that you think could be so much better if only you had a little more of this or of that – STOP. Stop and ask yourself if the problem isn’t too little resource but too much. Is your lack of invention caused by no necessity? Sink a ship or two and make the island smaller. It may make all the difference in the world.

The Art of War

 

Guess who said, “Strategy without tactics is the longest road to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.”?

A few years ago I did something that has honestly changed my life.

It was Christmas time and I decided to read “A Christmas Carol.” I decided that I’d seen the story presented just about every way but, other than when I was very young, I hadn’t read the inspiration for all these obligatory TV Episodes. (Now that I’m writing this I think that Gift of the Magi will be on the list this year…) I noticed something very interesting. While most picked up on the high points none carried the richness and depth and none were complete.

The reason that I say this changed my life is that it has left me unsatisfied with others interpretations. I now have an OCD need to get to the core of an issue – as close to the source of things as I can. To paraphrase Mr. Frost – THAT has made all the difference.

There is great richness to be found in seeking out source materials. I have found that I often greatly disagree with the conclusions that have been reached. Frequently it’s a simple causation vs correlation mistake but sometimes it is egregious.
In one case I found the same erroneous view of some data that had been extrapolated so far beyond the original sources intent I was shocked. Bills had been passed in Congress based on weak if not downright wrong assumptions.

In 1981 there was a census evaluation of workers in the United States that came to the conclusion that there would be a shortage of 10 million workers by 2010. A 30 year prediction. This statistic was still being published in 2007 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It was being quoted by numerous ‘scholars’ right up until the bitter end. None seemed to done any fact checking or questioning. If BLS says it, then it must be true. To me that is like saying “if it’s on the internet it must be true.” 30 year old guesses and extrapolations. Here is the crazy part. Bad enough the info was old and weak, folks were taking the raw number and just applying factors to. We need more H1 visas. Why? BLS says we are going to be short 85,000 software engineers by 2010. How did they come up with the number? 8.5% of the labor force are software engineers. Therefore we will be 85,000 bodies short. I’ve lost the reference for the bill so these are not exact numbers unfortunately.

I’ve also found reaching huge upside to seeking out the source. Here’s why. Say I write a book. From what I can tell that takes a LONG time. Then it takes a while to get it published. OK. The book is now in print form. Time to get on the road and help sell the thing. I will never write a book because I never want to be that guy, sitting in the metal folding chair with a stack of books to my right (left handed you know…) signing away. Or worse… waiting for the chance to sign something. The challenge with a book is that once it’s done it’s done until you can afford to update it. I’ve spoken with many authors that have either changed their position on a few things or have been led to extremely powerful examples since.

Why do I relate this story? Monday I read Art of War by Sun Tzu. Imagine my surprise when nowhere in the text could I find the phrase at the beginning of this article. Apparently the oldest reference to this quote is all the way back… in 2002. It took 2600 years for someone to find it? 

Dale

My Chair is Killing Me!

Ever since 1994 when Chadwick and Stumpf unleashed the Aeron 1000s of ‘ergonomic task chairs’ have been introduced. On one website alone there are over 500 of them to choose from. 500. Mesh, gel, leather, plastic, metal – all sizes shapes and colors.

The one thing they all have in common?

The second you sit in one they start to kill you.

Hyperbole? Perhaps a little, but a lot less than you may realize. Studies have linked the amount of time you sit to your likelihood of DYING in the next 3 years.

Here is my shameless unsolicited product plug. Fitbit is my new friend. It has a little flower display that tells me when I’ve sitting around too long. Look it up…

Dale