Blog June 2009
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Tuesday, 30 June 2009 06:08 |
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Posted June 30, 2009
In our work of inventing and designing toys and games, we utilize what is described by some as the Einsteinian approach to invention and development. It is a trial and error process; build it, test it, modify it, test it again, modify it, try it again, over and over until we get it to work satisfactorily. Most of the time. Then we try to license it, showing it to prospective client companies over and over sometimes over a course of years, until we sell it or give up. Actually, we never give up. And sometimes we may license a concept a decade or more after it was first created. "You can run but you can’t hide," is one of our unexpressed mantras. As we develop our Less-than-Lethal-Weapon System, like paintball on steroids, we are beset with gremlins. As a complex system, it is difficult to get to the desired end result using the unstructured trial and error approach that works so well in toy development. We have had to step back to the beginning and optimize one component at a time, make each one consistent in its performance, one subsystem at a time. We are being very scrupulous to change only one variable at a time so that we can be confident that we know the consequences of each change, and we carefully record the results of each change and series of tests. That is the essence of the scientific method. This may not be our usual modus operandi, but this is how it gets done when the complexity is beyond that of a typical toy. We have done a lot of hard thinking, analysis of results and processes to come to this (obvious in hindsight) conclusion. And it appears to be working. We don’t give up. Never learned that in school. |
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Monday, 29 June 2009 06:11 |
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Posted June 29, 2009
On workplace teamwork and respect.
“No team can survive if its members don’t value and protect a positive, respectful workplace environment.”
Teamwork is a precious, invisible, almost magical force in the workplace. Good teamwork yields results beyond that which can be achieved by a similar group of individuals. We have seen the results of teamwork time and time again, and the results typically exceed those we were able to achieve in the years before we discovered teamwork. In any organization courtesy and respect is the oil that lubricates the contact between the individuals that work together, like meshing gears. Where workers do not treat each other with respect, problems arise, feelings will be hurt, resentments fester, and the work of the entire team suffers the consequences. It is the responsibility of the boss, supervisor or owner to provide an environment that allows and encourages such respect in his colleagues and associates. That would be me. Over the past 25 years I hope that I have gotten better at this aspect of my role as captain of the ship, and Human Resources manager, and chief cook and bottle washer. But there is always need for improvement in all things. And it is the responsibility of the team members to bring to light such concerns as they become concerns, and not allow them to evolve into problems. Big kudos to those team members that can do just that. It takes courage and proactive attitude to bring up to boss, supervisor, owner or other the subject of problems that, all things being equal, they would rather not hear about. |
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Friday, 26 June 2009 09:54 |
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Posted June 24, 2009
We knew we were sailing into it, and now it is here. Toy companies are cutting sku count, cutting the number of items they are licensing from the outside, freezing salaries, eliminating bonuses. To paraphrase the lines of a famous song, "The future is so bright, I need a flashlight to see." We have reason to be concerned, along with most of the other businesses out there. As a friend reminded me recently, I have been through some very tough times in the past both personally and in business. Other toy design firms poach our designers and feel free to use our ideas they take with them, much like the Mattel and MGA’s Bratz case, and we have survived that. Designers have left our team and taken our ideas to sell them as their own. Bankruptcies of many of our client companies, have left us out millions of dollars in lost royalties earned and future earnings. Failed partnerships. We have survived them all and gotten better as a result. That which doesn’t kill you etc., etc. On more than one occasion we have taken our lumps and gotten back up only to achieve even higher levels of success. As Rocky says, “It is not how hard you can hit, but how many times you can take a hit and get back up to fight.”
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Tuesday, 23 June 2009 14:14 |
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June 23, 2009
As we plan our (good golly miss Molly! ) 40th high school reunion, my fellow planner Holly DCB, who should have been a private detective and is doing the heavy lifting, is ferreting out long lost classmates and even elementary school teachers and tennis coaches from days of athletic glory.
I have fond memories in particular of my eccentric, former Canadian Junior champion tennis coach Rob Olear who made me the #1 singles star of our school, and no doubt heartthrob to countless of my female classmates (in my dreams only of course). He would stand behind our opponents and jingle keys and coins in his pocket to distract them at key point in the matches, among other tricks up his sleeve. Didn’t help. I still lost. Tennis was my passion in highschool and he was quite a character, but still, he was my coach.
And I am saddened to learn of the recent passing of Mr. Macaluso, my 6th grade teacher with the famous ‘meatball row’ in the back of the class for class clowns and naer-do-wells, which I narrowly escaped being relegated to. With vivid stories of his Army experiences, and high expectations of his students, I have never forgotten my time in his class.
Mr. Olear, and Mr. Macaluso, wherever you are, thank you for all you have to me, and countless others before and after me. Teachers, parents, friends, and colleagues all touch the lives of so many others. Each day we have the chance to have a positive impact on the lives of others, if we look for the opportunities to do so.
To me it is the greatest privelege to be important in the lives of others. There is no greater calling here on Earth. This then is the answer to the question: What is the meaning of life. It means what we make it to mean. And to me, it is: to be a blessing in the lives of others.
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Tuesday, 23 June 2009 13:56 |
Posted June 23, 2009
Life is as sweet as honey on the tongue..... As we get older, and look back, life seems shorter. The years stretch behind us like the road in the rearview mirror as we drive. We have forgotten so much of the journey, we begin to appreciate the limited time we have been given, and that it all will come to any end one day in the not so distant future.
My Aunt Martha is a wonderful woman with a sparkling wit, rapier sharp mind, kind, thoughtful, and in her late 80’s, has become very frail. Last summer on my motorcycle trip around Lake Erie my buddy and I stopped in for a visit, she fixed us lunch and she mugged for the camera astride our Harley’s. We had hoped to visit her again this year when we circumnavigate Lake Ontario. But now, I am not so sure we will be able to. Now she is looking for a home in which to spend the rest of her days. And she does this with her unfailing humorous take on this most serious next step in her life. |
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Tuesday, 23 June 2009 06:44 |
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Posted June 22, 2009
Life is too short.
In planning a highschool reunion I am reconnecting with long ago classmates. Their lives have taken some very interesting and varied paths. One is afraid her father will locate her. (I don’t want to know more) Others want to keep their contact information secret. (What gives with that?) One lives in Hawaii, no kids, and his life’s mantra is “Life is too short for a full time job.” Hmmmm. Gotta think about that. That is the exact opposite of my life mantra, "I don’t have enough time to do the work here on earth that I have been put here to do." Another colleague long ago said “I don’t live to work, I work so I can afford my life.” I didn’t understand that at all. Only now, later in life do I begin to appreciate that concept, that life is not about work, no matter how important. But I still have trouble with that concept. My dear friend the BugMan, just yesterday, having now lost 100 lbs by sheer willpower and cutting fat out of his diet, explained that life is about relationships. Get that. Not about work, products, results, but about our relationships. This is something I need to think about much more. |
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Friday, 19 June 2009 12:01 |
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Posted June 19, 2009
Whew! Now I am recovered from the Flu, I think. How are you feeling? I strongly urge that if you start to feel bad, get to a Doctor right away. The Tamiflu medicine that reduces the severity and duration of the flu only works if taken in the first 24 hours of the flu. After that it has little effect, other than to reduce how contagious you are to others (a significant benefit for loved ones, coworkers and others however). If you wait, this slime flu will kick your butt for 7-14 days, I am here to tell you. It can lead to pneumonia as well, becoming more serious still. So what is the flu shot to prevent economic meltdowns in the future? And what is the best medicine to reduce the severity and duration of this and future recessions and slowdowns? What are the preventive measures that the toy industry can take in the future to prevent the damaging effects of safety recalls, loss of toyfair venue, loss of retail distribution channels, etc.? How as an industry can we meet the common challenges we will all face in the future? We in the Chicago area are going to establish the Illinois Toy Advocacy Task Force to represent the importance of toys and the toy industry to Illinois and beyond. Chicago is the home of modern toy invention and design. Chicago is where most of the iconic toys of the modern era originated, in the offices and machine shops of the Legendary Marvin Glass and Associates, and the splinter groups that formed over the years and after Glass shattered. Chicago gave birth to Chatty Cathy, Yakkity Yak Teeth, Rubber Vomit, Oversized Sunglasses, SSP, Simon, Rockem Sockem Robots, Mousetrap, Operation, and the list goes on and on. This city has been and continues to be the creative wellspring of the toy industry. |
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Tuesday, 16 June 2009 13:02 |
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Posted June 17, 2009
Slime Fwu
Whew. I just spent a week or so recovering from, and staying at home so as to avoid spreading to others, a bad case of the Swine Flu. Or maybe it was a good case, since I have survived it intact. I am almost all better now, thanks for asking. I highly recommend flu shots and avoiding pig farms. It seems like the global economy has a case of the flu as well, and the toy industry certainly is a bit under the weather. But like most cases of the flu, the pain and suffering will be over at some point. Hopefully we as an industry, as well as individual companies, will find some sort of economic ‘flu shot’ that we can take each year to stave off future problems of the sort we are experiencing right now. I am not alone in the sense of astonishment that great industries and giant corporations can be brought so suddenly to their knees. We have seen financial and industrial giants that we thought could not fail do just that. Can it be that major corporations do not have contingency planning, worst-case senario studies? The military has to anticipate worst-case scenarios constantly in order to keep us safe and not be caught by surprise. I anticipate that business climate senario studies will become an important and necessary part of business planning in the future. If we can only take the time to do so. But businesses and industries large and small are all so busy surviving day to day, that the topic of long term survival and "thrival" is almost universally neglected. That will have to change. |
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Wednesday, 10 June 2009 07:03 |
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Posted June 12, 2009
I still love Detroit Iron.
Once there was the “War to End All Wars,” and then along came another one. So they had to rename the first one WW1, and the second became WW2. We had the Great Depression, and now we are in a Great Recession. As you may have heard, history repeats itself. Germany and Japan make great cars. Very popular. They are not better than Detroit's, but good nonetheless. It seems that among certain population segments the fashionable thing to do is buy a foreign car because all your friends do. I am not big on herd thinking. But you recall, Germany and Japan were not always our great trading partners. Far from it. If we continue to buy all our cars from Germany and Japan and let our knowledge, technology, and ability to make our own cars and trucks, what will happen if history repeats itself and Germany and Japan one day are not our great trading partners? What would our country be without our ability to make vehicles? Now we are losing our autmotive industry because we have chosen to buy cars made by Japanese and German companies. We have only ourselves to blame. All cars do the same thing, ferry us and our stuff around. The rest is just some story we tell ourselves, something someone else has told us. Our country needs an automotive industry, and we need to buy American cars. Otherwise we will have no American Automobile Industry and will have only ourselves to blame for it. That is why I love Detroit Iron . . . and you should, too. |
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Wednesday, 10 June 2009 06:54 |
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Posted June 11, 2009
I love Detroit Iron.
My first car was a 60’s era VW bug that never started without me pushing it. Long story there. Next was a beautiful ’51 Willys pickup truck. It had the lines of military truck. Beautiful. It ran one time, right after I bought it, and it never started again. Long story there as well. My first wife had a VW of some sort, and another had a Honda Accord. There was nothing special about either, cars that is - nothing to love. Since then I have had a long string of Fords, Chryslers and GM products and have been well pleased with them all, from a 5 liter, fire-breathing, cop-bait, Mustang Cobra, to Plymouth minivans, a Corvette ZO1 tire smoking beast, an Impala SS (Oh, I still swoon when I see one drive by), a Chevy Tahoe SUV, and a few others thrown in along the way. I have loved ‘em all. Great vehicles. Detroit makes great metal. They just lost touch with how to sell their product, how to tell their story. If you are listening GM, Ford, etc., I would love to help you figure this out. |
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Wednesday, 10 June 2009 06:21 |
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Posted June 10, 2009
Extraordinary results come from extraordinary effort. Seems obvious. Seems logical that the world should work that way. But how many of us expect extraordinary results from ordinary effort? A 40-hour week is the legal minimum. And if you work that minimum number of hours, you might expect a minimum level of results. Why would anyone expect more? It is hard to be more creative, not sure how to be smarter, don’t think I can work any harder than I already am, or somehow get more done in the same amount of time. No idea how to get luckier. But I sure can put in more hours, above and beyond the minimum, and at least to a point, I can be fairly sure that will yield greater results, all else being equal. When we created the mechanism for our Carthweeling Tigger, many a long day, evening, as well as Saturdays and Sundays were spent in the quest to perfect the mechanism, and the result was an extraordinary product. When we created the mechanism, actions, and playpatterns for TMX Elmo, TMX Cookie, and TMX Ernie, our team worked many extra days - thinking, meeting, testing and experimenting tirelessly (and sometimes tiredly). It was a process of hard work and harder thinking and the results speak for themselves.
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Wednesday, 03 June 2009 08:33 |
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Posted June 9, 2009
What's so great about toys?
If you are asking that question, I recommend you read some of my preceding commentary. And pay closer attention next time! Please allow me to illustrate further what is so great about toys and why they are so important in the world. In Norman Brosterman’s book, Inventing Kindergarten you will find compelling examples of the profound influence of this system’s set of educational ‘gifts’ (we would call them toys or activity toys) on the work of many who were directly or indirectly inspired by them. This includes, notably, many of the 20th entury's greatest artists, designers, archtitects and visionaries. If you look at pages 110 and 111 you will see the illustrations and argument that the inspiration of the painting style of Cubism may well have risen from one of the ’gifts’ or toys that were the foundation of the original European Kindergarten system. On page 117-119 and beyond you see the work of Mondrian and other artists of the era that would appear to be influenced by another of the Kindergarten system toys/activities. A cultural archeologist like Brosterman, seeking the origins and inspirations of seminal works in different fields of endeavor, concludes that in one field after another, these Kindergarten toys have exerted a profound influence on the children that went through the program, as well as many who did not but were inevitably exposed to this system and its set of ‘gifts’ or toys. Frank Lloyd Wright, a student of the system, credits one of the ‘gifts’ directly, a set of wooden blocks. For those who are unsure about the importance of toys in modern society, this section of Brosterman’s book is a must read. Toys exert a profound influence on innovations and developments in all fields of endeavor. Toys matter. Toys are brain food. Toys feed the brain and thereby the world. |
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Wednesday, 03 June 2009 08:28 |
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Posted June 8, 2009
Why Toys REALLY matter:
A noted Nobel Prize winning scientist was quoted as saying that one of the greatest losses to modern society has been Legos replacing Erector Sets. In his opinion the relatively simplistic block, replacing the far more complex, versatile nuts and bolts, girders and beams of the Erector/Meccano system resulted in a loss to society. Now we all agree that Legos are a great toy. But his point is that children’s imaginations will not be challenged by Legos block stacking play nearly as much as they are by the complexity and resulting possibilities that the Erector set provides. And more generally his point is that TOYS MATTER TO SOCIETY, that toys matter to the world and to all of us. He is saying just what I have been saying and just what the toy industry needs to be saying. This is just what toy companies, inventors, designers, marketers, advertising and PR executives, and sales reps need to get into their collective thick skulls (myself included). What we do is important. Creating and bringing toys to market is like delivering food for the brain, nutritious food to help brains grow and develop to their greatest potential. And this matters greatly because these brains we are feeding will one day feed the world. So the lesson for today is "Toys are Brain Food. Feed the Brain, Feed the World."TM |
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Wednesday, 03 June 2009 08:22 |
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Posted June 5, 2009
Why Toys Matter Toys are the wellspring, the fountain head, they are the source and headwaters of innovation and the continuing evolution of modern civilization. From toys and other playthings arise the advancement of science and technologies of every sort. Toys change the world, and in that way toys are fundamentally different from every other type of product. The Wright Brothers credit their interest in flight, and thereby their contribution to the development of powered flight, to a toy airplane their father gave them. The ledgendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright credits a set of toy blocks as the source of his interest in and his style of architecture. Airplanes enable us to travel. The gift of a toy airplane inspires two young bicycle mechanics (no less) to be fascinated by flight, and as adults to demonstrate powered flight, and thereby enables the creating of the airline industry. Architects build tall buildings, but architecture was changed forever by a set of blocks a boy played with and was inspired by to become a revolutionary force in architecture. Products perform functions. Toys inspire innovators, artists, designers, scientist, and engineers to do work in their lives that will change the world and advance technologies in every category. |
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Wednesday, 03 June 2009 06:20 |
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Posted June 4, 2009
Business is like skydiving.
Once again, it was my great friend Stu who enjoined me to take up skydiving with him. Everyone needs a friend like that. Sitting on the floor of a tiny, old, rattle-trap Piper Cub, shocked to see the door suddenly swing up with a dip of the wing, and feeling the roar and rush of the wind at your shoulder, one's senses are nearly overwhelmed. Then, instructed to climb out the door, grab hold of the overhead wingstrut and stand on the tire, one cannot help but think, "this is ridiculous. I am not doing any such thing. How did I get here? Can I get back into the plane?" One hundred mile-an-hour wind buffets your face, and you are told to let let go of the strut. OMG. And then you are floating. You feel the wind gently in your ears. Peaceful. Beautiful. Unbelievable. You did it. Business, like life, can be scary at times, with tough choices and difficult plans of action to be taken. But that is how success is achieved. Hold your nose and jump in. You will figure it out once in the water. Jump, and the chute will appear. Believe in yourself, and you will surprise yourself. We are in the midst of the most difficult business climate I have ever seen, and industrial, commercial and financial giants are crumbling around us. Don’t know if we are going to make it through, but it won’t be for lack of trying. Nor for lack of optimism that our best days still lie ahead. Nothing to fear but fear itself. Believe and achieve. |
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Wednesday, 03 June 2009 06:09 |
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Posted June 3, 2009
Business is like long distance bike riding, say 3500 miles or so across America. In the summer of ’73 my good friend and I took off with little idea of where we were going, how to get there, how long it would take, or where we would sleep. All each of us had was a change of clothes, tools for repairs, a tent, and a sleeping bag. “You cain’t git thar from hereabouts,” we were informed one day up in the mountains of North Carolina. Well, we didn’t take that to heart. Even though we had no planned route, we knew we could get there, somehow. Patience and persistence will prevail, plan or no plan. And in a small business, the plan is often simply to stay in business. |
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Tuesday, 02 June 2009 06:25 |
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Posted June 2, 2009
Business is like bull riding. I did a little bull riding when I lived in San Antonio. Whenever my friend and mentor Stu came down to visit we would go out and find a local arena, sometimes by day, sometimes at night. It must have been very amusing for the cowboys, seeing a couple of long-hairs from out East getting tossed off the backs of 1500 pounds of angry muscle with horns. Get tossed off, get back on. Business is like that. Get setback, get back on track. Endure failures and frustrations then get back to it and get better at what you do, try something new. |
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Monday, 01 June 2009 06:31 |
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Posted June 1, 2009 The point of the previous story is what, you may ask?
Not sure, really.
But to me this is an example of non-obvious thinking - not coming up with only the first, or correct answer, but before choosing, coming up with a variety of plausible and not so plausible answers to choose from. The best answer will not necessarily be the first. If you have only one solution to a problem, then you may very well not have the best solution. By coming up with many ways to solve a problem, you improve your odds of finding the one best solution, if such exists. We often find that while something may not appear possible, if we will allow ourselves to consider it possible, then we often come up with viable solutions. One case in point, last week we went to a military technology show and demonstration. Our plan had been to have a booth, as well as to do a technology demonstration. Somehow we ended up with neither one, but our travel plans had already been made. We decided to go anyway, hopefully to meet and greet, rub shoulders and perhaps locate some potential customers, licensors, investors or others to help to commercialize our system. But how would we find them, or they find us? Sandwich signs! Walking billboards. An old solution, but a bit too obvious that we were trolling for business, and a bit ‘vaudevillian’ as well. We opted for T-shirts and hats with images on the front, and system details on the back. We went trolling and met some interested parties. What looked like a failed plan was successful through some non-obvious (except of course in hindsight) thinking. We went with success in mind, and may well have snatched victory from the jaws of your feet . . . or whatever.
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Bruce Lund, Founder
Lund and Company Invention, L.L.C.
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