My Blueprint

I am so glad that we were able to do the blueprint assignment. It has completely changed my way of thinking. As I came in to school, I had no idea what I was going to do as a career. As the semester went on, I started to get more and more lazy. When we were introduced to this assignment and told we had to have it done in a week, I was really upset. I was really against it and was fighting it as much as I could. But I had to do it in order to get points. So I sat down and just hammered through it. The more I got through it, the more I got interested in it. It was at that moment that I realized how behind I am in planning my education. When you get in to school, there is always a little bit of time to figure things out, but my time was up. The time is now for me to look in to a career. I had not taken time to figure this out. I was just going through the motions and doing the work. As I did my four year plan, it got me excited about what I was getting myself into. My generals were pretty much all finished and it was time to pick a major. I found a whole new excitement and fire to finish out school. The reason I was getting lazy was because I was getting restless and bored with classes that I had absolutely no interest in. If I had not done this assignment, I would still be stuck in that deep hole. I would have no idea what I want to do and still be walking around in circles chasing my tail. Dr. Fawson, if you are reading this, I would definitely keep this on the list of assignments to keep on for next semester. It has helped me out immensely.

Seek first to Understand....

Throughout my life, I have always held my friends high. I have always tried to be the absolute best friend that I could no matter what the circumstance. But now that I have taken a step back and looked at what I do to them, I realize that there is a lot that needs to change. I noticed that I haven't really been listening to them. Whenever I would talk to them about a rough time they were going through, I would always say that I know how they feel. When in all reality, every one's situation is completely different than anyone else. That is what we are taught in 7 Habits. If we learn to actually listen to people, we will become very effective at communicating our thoughts and feelings to others. This obviously has to do with Seeking to understand, and then be understood. It has completely given me a paradigm shift in my life and things have really changed. I have grown closer to my friends because of this simple tool. It has been an amazing experience and I am going to continue to use it for the rest of my life.

Britt Crane - Law of the Harvest

I love this video.  I just bought a car and this video helped me to put things into perspective.  I felt like this would be a good video to show everyone because most of us are poor college students and we all have or will buy a car.  The point that I want to bring up is that too often we feel that we need things now that we truly do not.  The story of the golden goose is still one of my favorite stories and it applies well with this video.  We always seem to want super nice things, who wouldn't? But we see more and more people going into debt for ridiculous reasons.  We need to learn to be patient and the value of hard work. Its like we think that we need or deserve things NOW, right when we want them, without ever having done anything to get them or be deserving of them.  I feel like this is a dangerous pattern in our society. The Inside Job comes to mind.  And like this video points out if we can just be somewhat patient and work a little we can get what we want and come out on top.  First things come first.

Reply to win win

I liked dylans post about win win. It can be hard to always be thinking win win, but thats how everyone can work as a team and get things done. I found this video on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HOA66raW1I and it was really good, he talked about what thinking win win can do for us and how much it can help us. Everyone should check it out.
You have to be very unselfish to always be thinking win win, but in the end if your a team player you'll have a much better outcome.

7 Habits

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UPt5fMFxSw
I've been watching youtube clips on the 7 habits book. It is a really good book! i am glad we had the opportunity to read it.  The hardest thing is applying what we learn from the book. I like how the work book helped us to apply it daily.

Each chapter is dedicated to one of the habits, which are represented by the following imperatives:

The First Three Habits surround moving from dependence to independence (i.e. self mastery)

• Habit 1: Be Proactive

Synopsis: Taking initiative in life by realizing your decisions (and how they align with life's principles) are the primary determining factor for effectiveness in your life. Taking responsibility for your choices and the subsequent consequences that follow. Getting things done.

• Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind

Synopsis: Self-discover and clarify your deeply important character values and life goals. Envision the ideal characteristics for each of your various roles and relationships in life. It is always better to try and foresee situations. Predict outcomes and then think of worst case scenarios, will help come up with informed decisions.

• Habit 3: Put First Things First

Synopsis: Planning, prioritizing, and executing your week's tasks based on importance rather than urgency. Evaluating if your efforts exemplify your desired character values, propel you towards goals, and enrich the roles and relationships elaborated in Habit 2. Prioritization is the key to the success of any business or in any walk of life. Being proactive rather than being reactive leads to success.

The next three have to do with Interdependence (i.e. working with others)

• Habit 4: Think Win-Win

Synopsis: Genuinely striving for mutually beneficial solutions or agreements in your relationships. Valuing and respecting people by understanding a "win" for all is ultimately a better long-term resolution than if only one person in the situation had gotten his way. Everyone will feel inclusive and involved. A better environment of trust and loyalty establishes.

• Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, then to be understood

Synopsis: Using empathetic listening to be genuinely influenced by a person, which compels them to reciprocate the listening and take an open mind to being influenced by you. This creates an atmosphere of caring, respect, and positive problem solving. This can also avoid situations where the problem does not actually exist and its just a matter of misunderstanding. It is always said that listen double to what you talk since we have 2 ears to listen and one mouth to talk.

• Habit 6: Synergize

Synopsis: Combining the strengths of people through positive teamwork, so as to achieve goals no one person could have done alone. How to yield the most prolific performance out of a group of people through encouraging meaningful contribution, and modeling inspirational and supportive leadership. Everyone is a master of something and not everything. Positive potentials can be put together to achieve better results.

The last habit relates to self-rejuvenation;

• Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw

Synopsis: The balancing and renewal of your resources, energy, and health to create a sustainable long-term effective lifestyle. This is constant improvement of one's self in order to be a better human being and to sharpen one's skills in order to achieve better results.

the art of communication

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWLF7JjU1sc


i think this video really speaks for itself, but communication is more of an art than anything.  I feel this video has a lot of great insight that relates to many of the principles that we have covered in class, especially the Covey Principles.  It is something that is improved over time, and really can accomplish the most important things in life such as business initiatives and personal relationships.  I also really enjoy how he presents this information.

my team

By working in a group I found it easy to bring together a lot of great and newer ideas. I felt that our group did great on our project. We all had different and unique ideas that eventually became one...our final project. Every single person in our group made a significant contribution. We did not have one person that stood out and therefore we successfully teamed together and worked as one. I am sure we will all receive a good grade on this assignment.

sometimes new inventive ideas dont work....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QU-AR4YtNY



this is kind of a non-realistic scenario, but i think its super funny.  Also, i think it brings up a good point, that sometimes new ideas that are far-fetched don't always work or are even necessary. I chose this particular example because of our last group assignment to create a renovated bathroom.  Our group came up with a lot of good ideas, but some of them we ended up throwing out either because they didn't fit our criteria of efficiency or realistically wouldn't work.  This was an awesome exercise to improve the thinking process for any type of project or assignment in the future. aannndd i like robots:)

Response to Procrastination

Thanks for sharing that video! It described my problem, and apparently yours as well perfectly! I have a huge problem with procrastination. I always seem to wait until the last minute to get things done! One thing that I have found useful is coveys own first step to organization and putting first things first. Making Lists! Since I started making lists each day about things that I needed to do that day I seemed to get a lot more accomplished. It was also fun to do it was kind of like a game to see how quickly i could get the things done and before i knew it I was getting a full nights sleep and free time every night. Hope this helps!

Seek first to understand then to be understood

At the beginning of the semester I had a problem with this concept. I was always the kind of guy who thought that my way was the best way. However after reading covey's book it really opened up my eyes and enhanced my listening skills. Since doing so i feel as though i have become a better friend, student, and co worker. I now choose to listen to what other people have to say BEFORE I say something instead of after. It has honestly opened up my life and makes me happier over all.

Thinking win-win

A major problem that we have as students is learning how to think win win with each other. Everyone lately seems to be looking out for themselves and trying to figure out their own futures. What we all need to realize is that in order to create a better future for ourselves we need to work together. One single person cannot change that much on his own. If we all band together and work as a single unit we can come up with some really good ideas.

Britt Crane - PROCRASTINATION

I chose to post this video because it fits perfectly with what I am presently displaying.  Posting videos hours before the cutoff date.  I am horrible with procrastination, probably one of my favorite sections in 7 Habits was first things first.  I have always waited till the last minute and I still struggle with this addiction.  The reason that I chose this video is because it talked about different ways we can procrastinate and put less important things first in our lives and waste time.  Too often I miss out on great opportunities because I have procrastinated.  I usually look back and I cannot figure out why or how I talked myself into doing something absolutely meaningless instead of working on something of actual importance. Even after reading Covey and getting mad at myself for procrastination time and time again, I still seem to fall into the same destructive procrastinating patterns?  I know many people procrastinate just as I do but I have never really heard any success stories of people who conquered it.  If anyone shares my addiction or has somehow conquered it please comment and share your story…please!

Motivation

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2VC7zD/www.thatvideosite.com/video/well_drawn_explanation_on_what_motivates_us

This is a really cool video on what motivates us as students and just as people in general. If we have dreams and aspirations they do nothing for us without motivation behind it. We need motivation to get us up and moving and working on improving the current world we live in. As business students its our job to create new things to help better everyday life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cbk980jV7Ao

This short video is amazing. Its cool just to see how your attitude can effect others for the good. I was reading Dale Carnegies book How to win friends and influence people. He talks about how just smiling will help you win friends. Business is about communicating and be likable. People are more likely to trust you and do business transactions. the movie maybe long but i highly recommend it.

Listening

I have learned a great deal about becoming a better listener. Seek first to understand section of Coveys book is helping me to become a better listener. The part about not formulating a response while the other is talking is something i have found myself doing a lot i have worked on it and it has helped me in communicating with others. Changing these little aspects of communication have helped me in expressing my self to others and vise versa.

Planning

Something that i used to absolutely hate is planning but i have started to like it. Coveys beginning with the end in mind has helped me this way. If i just set aside just 10 minutes of my day it can save me hours of time the next. I can be where i need to be on time and be more efficient. I have be relying on my plans and it have helped me to be a more effective person. I guess that old saying is true "you fail to plan you plan to fail."

Idea for Bathroom

I was on a road trip down to Las Vegas to see my sisters family. Along the way we stopped to use the restrooms as most people do and i was trying to come with ideas to rethink the bathroom. There are a lot of dumpy little restrooms so i had a lot i could work with. i didn't like touching things and like the hands free thing like sinks paper towels. So an idea popped into my head that this things use energy and i wasn't sure if they run off batteries or what but why not put little solar panels on them and reuse the energy already produced by the lights. let me know what you think of this idea. Greg Timothy i got the idea from those little calculators we all used in elementary.

Aeration and the goose with the golden eggs

I have a little business so to speak where I aerate lawns. We charge on average 35 dollars a yard on average and can aerate a yard in about a half an hour or less. We invested money to buy our own machine and it paid for itself in about a weeks time. The long days can be hard on the machine if it is running nonstop. We change the oil fairly often but it takes a chunk out of our pay each time. But we need to give back to the machine that has helped us earn the money by maintaining it. When coveys book talked about this fable this can to mind as a great real life example of this.

Innovation Quotes

Here are some good quotes i found about innovation and the importance of it.




If I had asked the public what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse 
– Henry Ford.


Innovation is the specific tool of entrepreneurs, the means by which they exploit change as an opportunity for a different business or a different service. It is capable of being presented as a discipline, capable of being learned, capable of being practiced. Entrepreneurs need to search purposefully for the sources of innovation, the changes and their symptoms that indicate opportunities for successful innovation. And they need to know and to apply the principles of successful innovation 
– Peter Drucker.


Innovation is the process of turning ideas into manufacturable and marketable form 
– Watts Humprey.


Learning and innovation go hand in hand. The arrogance of success is to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow 
– William Pollard.


Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower 
– Steve Jobs.


Innovation is the creation of the new or the re-arranging of the old in a new way
 – Michael Vance




Innovation as a process in a healthy business is never-ending process. Something that is innovation today, it’s not tomorrow. It must be improved.

comment on Bathroom Rethink

Ya at first i thought this was going to be a weird project, especially the bathroom concept. I hate talking about people bathroom 'experiences'. But like others were saying this was a great way for all of us to implement what we have been learning the whole semester. Business by design.. we all designed new ways of improving something we use daily. That is the only way to keep things going these days redesigning what we already have, innovation is the only way to keep up. However its kinda funny with restrooms it seems like we've found a level where things haven't progressing much, lots of things have stayed the same for a number of years.

Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0m0M4FmSdek

here is our group's video that didn't work in class. It shows our creative process and how we defined problems in that bathroom.

It was very interesting going through our final project. The IDEO design process was a different way of thinking. It gave us a direction to be creative and see things a different way. I think it summed up the whole class. Trying to think a different way so that you can be competitive in the worlds economy.

I really enjoyed this class. It gave me new insight in seeing how a business could work. I will be able to apply these skills now in my life as well.

End of the semester

Not to be too cheesy but this class was one of my favorites. The reason being how easily applicable the course was to real life situations and possible future business ventures. I belive that covey helped me to re-wire and motivate my desire for school. I really never believed in a quick fix book and that's why I really connected with coveys concepts to change our very paradigms and connect to timeless principles. I found that one of Daniel Pinks six senses "Meaning" had a lot of wieght to it and is something that is easily forgotten in today's business world. As seen in my previous blog post i believe Roger Martins knowledge funnel can connect to a lot of aspects in life and is an important process to follow or we truly will become stagnant and fail. Huntsman book was able to show how a system of values can translate into the world of business which i appreciated. The classes also helped to see real world application of the materials we were learning. All in all this class was great and helped me to find my chosen major. Again, not to be too cheesy but this class was one of my favorites.
Tyson Andrus

BUS 1000

I have enjoyed this class more than I thought I would. A friend of mine took it last semester and recommended it to me….At first it was just a class to take, but now I am pleased I took the opportunity to take this course. First it motivated me to start reading again ;) but not only that, I have learned that I need to take continuous steps to improve not only my way of thinking but my personal behaviors. This will help me in being innovative and finding things that are “broken.” I enjoyed the redesigning bathrooms project, it taught me not only how to be creative and be open to ideas, that to me may seem outlandish, but also, many other attributes such as patience. I have discovered that I enjoy hands on activities and learn better when I am involved in the processes taught by the course.

I was also able to correlate another class with this one. We watched the Inside Job and I was/am taking Econ 1500 where we talked about many of the principles in the movie. In watching the Inside Job, it made me think how I would act if I were in there shoes. Thinking about it, I feel I would respond how Jon M. Huntsman responded in his situation with the Watergate time. If I am able to keep and hold to my values and standards now it will help me stay strong and know black from white with no fuzz area in the business world. Thank you for such an inspiring and creative class.

Michaela Ferguson

Broken

Today I jumped into my car and started it up and drove it up next to my complex waiting for my roommate to come down so I could drive her for work. As soon as she jumped in the car and I drove away that little beeper we all love so much started to go off. Trying to put on her name tag and forgetting to put on her seat belt she began complained saying "Why does your car even have this beeper it is so annoying." I refuted back at here "Because thousands of people die in car accidents that probably could have been saved and so someone decided to do something about it." She paused for a moment and then questioned "I wondered how rich the guy who invented the seat belt alarm is ? " Driving back I began to think about her question. When I got home I attempted to Google it but could not find the answer.

After I gave up and closed my computer I realized how this related to our business class. It reminded me of the video in class we watched about things in society being broken. I remember the man talked about how there were so many things in society that were broken because people thought it wasn't there problem. This reminded me of the seat belt alarm, for years and years people died because they did not like to or forgot to wear their seat belt. It went on like this because people car builders continue to say not my problem till someone took the time to come up with a fix to this problem instead of just passing it off the next person. In one of our guest lectures the head of the Entrepreneurial program talked about taking things that don't seem to go together and putting them together or otherwise thinking outside of the box to come up with successful products. The seat belt alarm is a simple invention that people may not have thought about before. The car alarm is not perfect, but it one of the first steps to fixing a problem in society. The man or company who designed the car alarm made a successful product because they took they time to look at society and see what was broken and figured out a way to fix it. If we want to be entrepreneurs we need to look at the problems in society the things that are "broken" and work to come up with solutions to these problems and we may just get lucky and get rich too.

Knowledge Funnel

Today after the presentations it was mentioned how Roger Martin's "knowledge funnel" connected to the process of why bathrooms were lacking new innovation. While that was being discussed I realized that my college process has been just one big knowledge funnel experience. When I first arrived at USU I had no true idea of what I wanted to go into. This stage of my life was in the mystery section of the knowledge funnel. But as time went along I was able to narrow it down into two large fields of study. Now I finally feel I know what major I want to go into specifically. But i still feel i'm in the Heuristic stage of the funnel. This is because i still do not know the exact classes I will take. I also feel like I will need to get some patterns down to be able to thrive in this major. Once I am able to reach that I will be able to hit the Algorithm stage in my college life. But interestingly once I get all of that down and graduate I will have to be prepared to start at the top of the funnel. Because I will need to find out where I can apply my new skills and degree. Hopefully as my life progresses I will continually be reminded of the need to restart the funnel process. Because if I am able to do that, I have a chance at being successful in whatever field of life I am in.
Tyson Andrus

Bathroom Rethink

The last project of the bathroom rethink to me personally was extremely helpful for me to put everything that I learned this year from the business by design class to use. It aloud me to work with my group and listen to their idea's and try to create a win-win situation to in the end make a successful final project. One thing that would be cool about this class is if we were able to do projects like the bathroom rethink through-out the whole semester instead of just for the last few weeks of class.

Also on Implementing

When Dr. Fawson asked why these things hadn't been implemented, it got me thinking also. I honestly think we just haven't caught on!

I lived in the nicer part of Brazil, that wasn't so much a third world country. They had nicer facilities than what I see around here in Utah. But then if you went to the bus terminals, their bathrooms were terrible. For urinals, they had one long metal trough for all to use at once. What's the difference? We may be a first world country, but that's compared to who? Who's standards?

Bathrooms here are NOT working. If there is any splash back from using a urinal, that is broken! Is it really that hard to make it not splash back? Americans need to implement more Design Thinking, so we can fix it. Or one day we might be in Brazil's shoes.

-Jeff Bailey

In this class as well as two of my other classes this semester, ethics has been a major point of discussion. We have seen consistently throughout history that when ethics fall apart, so do everything else in the organization. This is important to note, especially from a business point of view.

When we try to build off anything but the truth, we cannot hope to survive. Truth is principles that don't change. Truth is strength. If we want a strong company, a strong family, and a strong character, establishing a pattern of good ethics by building off the truth is key. Only then can we hope to be successful.

It is easier to be 100% at something than it is to be 98%. So begginning now to make 100% ethical decisions in our lives will set us up for success in the future.

Jenny Phillips

Next Class?

This class has talked a lot about attributes and principles of success. I feel like there needs to be a Busn 1010 class that helps us to put it into action. Maybe a class that focuses on helping us to aquire those attributes, and goes through practices to put it all into action. Dont get me wrong, this class opened my eyes to see the business world in a new paradigm. But just talking about something is only so helpful. The blueprint and the swot were good practice tools that actually helped us put what we talk about into action. I'm thinking I might end up missing some things that a class discussion of how we can better take advantage of the opportunities we have now.

For example, I gave a speech a couple of weeks ago for my public speaking class. The topic was about Saving Money. If everyone understood that if, as soon as they start their career, they put away 10% of their income in the bank, they would be millionaires by retirement. Anyone with a Teacher's salary could do it. That's something that if you're not proactive NOW, you'll miss reaping the benefits.

-Jeff Bailey

Conclusion

Throughout this class, I have noticed a central theme. No matter what subject we might be covering or which guest lecturer is presenting, I find that every topic just relates back to the idea of the knowledge funnel. I found this the most prominent theme in the class because it relates to everything in which someone could be successful. For anyone to become effective, constant change and reinvention is required. Whether the knowledge funnel is related to the success in business or making appealing products, to creating customer friendly products, constant change is required to be successful.

This is probably the idea I will take from the class. A lesson to not be too comfortable, and always striving to reinvent either a product, business model or myself. This, I am sure, will prove to be a productive lesson in which anyone striving to be better could do to study.

By the way, thanks for a great semester!

Hannah Heninger

Toy Story - Falling With Style

Sometimes in life, whether it is our business or personal life, it seems like everthing has gone wrong. The moving truck has left, our match got blown out, we're strapped to a rocket, and we're free falling toward the concrete. In these kind of situations we have really only two options. One, we can fall screaming to our doom. Two, we can spread our wings and, as Buzz Lightyear so elegantly put it, fall with style.

Falling with style requires that when we are stuck in the bottom of the knowledge funnel we have the courage to climb back to the top and jump back into it again. Buzz and Woody missed the moving truck where all their toy friends were. But when they were falling through the sky, they didn't set their sights on the truck. They looked forward to a bigger and better goal of being with Andy.

So when we find ourselves metephorically strapped to a rocket and falling through the air, we can spread our wings and aim for something better=Falling with style.

Jenny Phillips

Something I learned...

This class has taught me a lot about having a successful business and personal life. Things that I never realized about myself before have come to light, and because of this class, I know how to either build upon those strengths, or fix the weaknesses that I have in order to be more successful. Things are constantly changing in the business world, and in order to be on top, we have to change with it. If we don't we're doomed to fail. This class has really been a big help in influencing how I will go about the rest of my life. Thanks for all of your help!

Dylan Lewis

Government Taxation

This post is in response to the post about the Bush Tax Cuts and the one about "Robbing from the rich and giving to the poor." Certainly this is a sensitive issue for many people and I will do my best not to let any preconceived bias that I may have about the topic affect my post. This whole idea of how and who the government taxes though reminds me of principles that I have learned in my economics class.

Just a couple of weeks ago we had a discussion on taxes that we then had to take a test on just recently. One of the specific things we talked about was Progressive and Regressive Taxes. Progressive taxes are taxes in which the rich pay more, in terms of a percent (%) of their income than the poor do because of the amount of their income. In other words, the more money you make, the higher percent of taxes you pay to the government from that money, one example being that of the aforementioned income tax. Regressive taxes on the other hand are taxes that decrease percentage (%) wise at one's income increases. Some examples of this tax are taxes such as sales and property tax.

Now, it's no doubt that the government needs money to pay for funding, public services, projects, and other things. It also comes to no surprise that taxing those who have a larger income may be an attractive idea because of how much money that have, especially with all of the payments that the government needs to make, or at least say they need to make.

From this though, results the argument of whether or not taxing the rich substantially more than the poor is a good idea. In my economics class, it was recently discussed that the tax ceiling, or maximum percentage of one's income that can be taxed is currently around 36%. Certainly this is a very high number in some peoples opinion, and a low number in others opinion's. A point that was raised in class however got me really thinking about the tax situation going forward, and whether or not i would be better off making more money or less money. The point that was made was that if the tax ceiling were to raise above 36% and reach 50% and then 60% and so on until we reached the 70's or 80's percentile, is what would the motivation then be to do well financially and work hard to make a lot of money if more than half of it would then go to the government? Would small businesses and entrepreneurs begin to thin out? How would this affect the economy? Would those making more money settle for being lazy if they figure they can get the same amount of take-home pay as a poor person who doesn't work as hard as they do does?

The final point from my economics class that sticks out in my mind is that the government makes 80-90% of their taxes off of the very rich and wealthy people in the country, such as the multimillionaires or even billionaires in some cases. I have no comment one way or the other on how things should be done, but I suppose I would just invite people to raise and think about questions on how things are done in this country. Is it right for those who have worked hard for their success to pay substantially more than lower-middle class do? Certainly they have more money available, and will naturally be taxed more than some people just because of the large amount of their income, but should they be taxed as much as they are? Should the government really tax people near 40% of their income? Should the government raise the percentage that rich people are taxed or lower it? Will it really help resolve the problem of the national debt? How long will the rich put up with being taxed so much before they just say forget it and no longer have the motivation to earn as much? These questions as well as the ones raised previously are all things that I think we should consider, as we will soon be, if we are not already part of the vast working class of America who are paying taxes to the government.

Rob from the rich and give it to the poor. That is the worst idea in the world. It is by the sweat of our labor comes the riches. To ask the rich, the poor to carry the wight of all the others leads to slavery and I mean it as that. Look to the past with Soveit Russia that is what they did. The econamy coolasped beanth them. No I beleive that core of the class should remain, the entrepreneurial spirit. To take more from the rich would make it so people would not want to do their best to EARN their riches. No, If we really want out of the recession then we most open more buiness and go back to the basics. get the merial wealth of the ground, employ every clever mind to improve the uses of all the wealth we have. Then we recover and begin to be clean. Every option most be explored. To raise the foundation then the goverment and society upon which it is built will last many, many years. Give the people the digity of keep most of what they earn and every man pays the same to the goverment. On a side note if we can get every one to follow the Princples we have learned this semster then the goverment would not need to govern as much. The bottom line all need to earn their keep and all need to pay thier way. equaly in everything, no bais to the rich or to the poor. We are an equal society in everything, in rights, freedom, everything. Then the princple most remain the same for everyone and for everything. take the taxes down and let buissness thrive in mining, innnovation, relations, food, everything then we will see proserity like we never seen before. In the words of Tomas Jefferson " life, liberty and the pursuit of wealth (happiness).
Jacob Pratt

Creatures of Habits

During class last Wednesday while listening to the presenters and their bathroom designs, Dr. Fawson asked the question, "Why do you think your design ideas have not been already implemented?" It was a question I had never really thought about before. I thought of all the great ideas that we as a group had come up with as well as each of the presenters in class that day and wondered why it is that bathrooms haven't already become as good as we thought they could be. This is my answer:

According to psychologists, humans are "creatures of habits." Surprisingly, habits help us survive. In the words of Ian Newby-Clark, "When we are doing something that is habitual, we are not engaged in the task in the same way as when we are doing something that is not habitual." He says that the things we do out of habit are actually easier because our brains are programmed to do them effectively with less concentration. Everything we do, "out of habit" is literally "easier" to perform because it takes less brain activity. This is good for all the little habits that we need for our survival like eating and personal hygiene. It is not good, however, when we fall into habits just because we are lazy. Some things require our full attention in order to be performed well, and design is definitely one of those tasks. I believe one of the main reasons our ideas for bathroom designs are not implemented in public buildings is because the designers tend to fall into habits of how a "normal" building is designed and they find it hard to break that habit and try something more unique. They have found something that they feel is functional and cost efficient and have formed a habit of designing each bathroom in a similar fashion.

I believe design thinking is contingent upon our ability to break the habits of doing those things perceived as "normal" and putting forth the effort to turn what some may consider "eccentric ideas" into realities. Our quality of design depends upon our ability to break habits and vary from the norm in order to create things that have never been seen before, but which are functional an interesting to its users.

Cason Wortley

Bush Tax Cuts

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-april-27-2011/bernie-sanders?xrs=share_copy

In this debate on MSNBC, continuation of the Bush Tax Cuts is argued. In 2001 and 2003, President Bush made major changes to America's taxation, giving large tax breaks to the super rich in the country. While the tax cuts helped most tax payers in the country and led to a brief period of prominence in America, now the tax rates are low enough for the super wealthy that they can pay nearly nothing. I find this incredibly unjust. Those who are more wealthy should give more. We are just coming out of a recession and we need to, like one of the debaters said, look to those who can most afford to pay. We can no longer rely on the middle-class to pay our way out of debt. Instead, we need to eliminate the Bush Tax Cuts for the wealthy and level the playing field.

Marcus Lancaster

Study Abroad Opportunities

Before having the panel of students come to our class and talk about the study abroad program and their experiences with it, I did not know that Utah State was one of the only Colleges or the only College that offered the study abroad program for undergraduate students. I knew that there was a study abroad program since the beginning of the year when I went to connections, but I didn't not know it was offered for undergrad students. This is certainly an opportunity I would like to take very much for various reasons. The first being that I would love to go somewhere outside of the U.S. for an extended period of time and see the world a little bit. The other reason being that on my "7 Habits Benchmark" assignment, one of the bits of feedback/advice that I received from my boss was that it would be beneficial for me to see how people think, interact, and work outside of Utah, so as to broaden my range of thinking whether it be for my own opinions sake or for appealing to others interests or desires in business. This is something that is definitely on my radar now of something that I would like to do and will strongly consider eventually doing. I must say that I am grateful Utah State offers this program.

Go Global!

As we learned about international business by the great guest speaker Taira Koybaeva, some very compelling arguments were brought up on why it is very important for us as business students to find a way to separate ourselves from any other job candidate by having international experience. We must plan now for success. This article makes a lot of valid statements about why going global for a business is such a great idea. If we want to run a very successful business, we must set a strong foundation, so that the business is capable of becoming big enough to go global eventually. So, in order to have a business capable of going that far, we need to plan now to gain the skills required in dealing with international business. This article shows just how to do that, and lists many more reasons why to go global, and advice for business students. check it out!

http://www.allbusiness.com/retail-trade/4017371-1.html

James Butterfield

Attitude is Altitude - Nick Vujicic



My brother sent me this video clip of a man named Nick Vujicic. I couldn't help but see it in light of Carrying Your Own Weather. It seems like Nick has pretty well every reason to be miserable, but he's obviously not. What a great example he is of making the very best with what you've been given. It seems like he couldn't be happier. It really opened my eyes. It seems like the more we have, the more we expect from the world, and from life. From my perspective, I can't comprehend living without arms and legs.

Doing something like that must take a tremendous amount of perseverance and patience. When I have a late night, I wake up the next morning, and it's so hard to roll out of bed. I realize how easy I really have it. I wonder what it really takes to carry that weather, to make yourself be happy. Is it simply a fake it till you make it? Does it require a real miracle or tragedy of some kind to help your realize that there is a lot of goodness in your life? How can a person just make so much out of so little? If people are looking to get your posts done, I would like to hear some thoughts on this.

My opinion on why bathrooms arent "fixed".

Like others on this blog. Dr Fawson's question about why these ideas haven't been implemented got me thinking as well.
I have a couple ideas, but still not sure if it's right.

1. I don't think it is the number one priority on businesses list to have top notch bathrooms. Yes, they can be made more convenient. What we have now works. It is more money to make these bathrooms look better to which I think is a factor.
Also I think if a company wants to have styling bathrooms they are aiming for a certain target audience. Nice bathrooms go with nice buildings which mostly people with more money go into. i.e high class=Nicer stuff.
I also think people think that bathrooms are overall a dirty place where unsanitary business happens in them so why make them all nice. Also people usually don't spend more than 5 minutes in them at a time. Why make some way nice for 2-5 minutes of time.
Overall I just don't see top of the line bathrooms on the top of people's list to make perfect for people. I think small changes are happening and will continue slowly. If you want something way nice, go where their is lots of money and businesses are really trying to impress.
Just my opinions.
Jared Spackman

David Clark on Entrepreneurial Spirit

I really enjoyed listening to Mr. Clark when he came to talk to the class about Entrepreneurial Spirit. Entrepreneurship is something that I have been interested in since my senior year in high school. I really began to develop an interest in it when I took an entrepreneurship class for winter trimester at Sky View. The teacher of the class is actually only a part-time teacher who's main occupation or occupations are that of an entrepreneur. He has at least three small businesses that he is involved with in some way or another, and is one of the main pioneers in terms of starting at least two of the small businesses. This is all on top of being a part-time teacher. During his class, I remember him mentioning that one of the ways that entrepreneurs come about designing or coming up with a new product or innovation is by looking at things that cause inconveniences in everyday life, or as we have talked about in class, things that are 'broken.'

David Clark also outlined a similar philosophy to success with entrepreneurship when he said to look at things in life that cause pain. I liken this advice to the advice I had gotten from my former teacher at Sky View as well as principles we had learned in class prior to Mr. Clark coming in to speak to us. I now go around thinking about ways to improve things that cause 'pain' or 'inconveniences' in everyday life, or things that are broken. I even write down some of the ideas and I believe have a much more 'design thinking' process as a result of this class.

I am glad that I had the opportunity to listen to Mr. Clark come in and talk with our class about entrepreneurial spirit, and really allowing me to make the connections between what I had learned previously at Sky View and other things that I had learned earlier in the semester.

Why has it not been implemented?

The question still stands, if our ideas are so good and innovative, then why have they not been put in place?

I'll be the first person to admit that we did not consider that question in our design process. I may be wrong but my impression was that the presentation was about our design process. I was unaware that we were supposed to convince the audience why our ideas were brilliant. If you want certain questions answered, tell us what you are looking for.

But to answer the question after I have had some time to reflect, my answer would simply be, our ideas are in place. Nothing besides the target urinals is unrealistic. Every single one of our ideas is already invented. Granted, not all of them are available in every single restroom, but if the builders wish to implement our ideas it can and has already been done.

The reason not every idea is not installed in every restroom is still uncertain to me, however, it would be very simple to do so. All of our ideas were gathered from different sources to make "OUR" perfect restroom, but this is not the case for every restroom that is built. OUR PERFECT restroom may be completely different from YOUR PERFECT restroom. Restrooms are built around need, and maybe there is no need for all of OUR ideas.

Business By Design

I've loved this class, i've learned a lot about business.  You'll only be successful as a business owner if you are selling something that everybody wants or needs. Thats why business by design is so important. You see tons of things that fail, they look cool, they are cool, but no one needs or wants them. With this class Business By Design, its opened my mind and helped me learn how to cater more toward what is in demand and having an mind set to make what people need and always designing to stay up with the times. Business By Design,  Design your future and your success.

International Respect

I really liked when we talked about the value of international business in class. I realized that the world of business is so much bigger than just the United States. It makes me excited too because I didn’t realize that my going to another country for a couple years and learning another language has so much potential for helping me out in my dream to own a business. There are so many things to learn from other cultures. It only requires an open mind and we should definitely strive for synergy.

I also found it very interesting that other cultures will respect your culture as long as you show respect for theirs. She demonstrated this principle with her story about how they were required to drink in a meeting but decided not to. How many times do we have the attitude that one person is wrong and another is right? Many times we believe that if there are two different opinions present then one must be right and the other wrong. It is wonderful that she suggests that we consider that they are both respectable and should be respected.

Entrepreneurship: A Principle of Success

As I listened to David Clark when he came to class I realized many things. First of all I had never thought of entrepreneurship as the more general idea that an entrepreneur is simply someone who undertakes innovations. That doesn’t necessarily mean that you create a whole new business. I love that idea that entrepreneurship can be applied in many different situations in business and otherwise. Even as an employee one can seek to innovate the business that already exists.

I believe that this idea can also be applied to family life. There is always room for improvement in a family and the family would benefit greatly from heads of house that constantly innovate and rethink their way of doing things. I believe the principle of innovation is a timeless and self-evident principle that will lead to success in any endeavor. It recognizes that we are imperfect, that there is much we don’t know and thus much to discover and use for improvement and more success.

Public Bathrooms

I believe that Dr. Fossen's question has gotten everyone thinking more deeply about design and innovation. I know the question he asked today in class to the group has been on my mind all day. Why is it that there is technology out there that we are not taking advantage of and incorporating into our lives ? Why do we know that we can improve things in society but yet things continue to stay the same with no improvements ? Thinking about this all day has led me to some conclusions on what I believe are some of the answers to these questions.

1. Cost- This was discussed in class saying that many things have a bigger upfront fee but will save you more in the long run. One reason that builders may not use them or incorporate them into their designs is they don't do their research and simply are scared away by the upfront fee of the product. The information may not be well known and therefore is misunderstood, harder to find, or takes more effort to research.

2. Innovation is often a slow process- not many people are looking to reinvent the wheel. Public bathrooms have been around for a long time. There are many improvements that have been made to public bathrooms over the years but we may not notice or they may start in one area and slowly spread to other areas. There may be designers who are trying to incorporate new ideas and new technology but getting everyone to follow along with their ideas could be challenging.

3. Motivation- Why fix something that isn't broken? Many builders or designers may thing that the bathroom is not a top priority, thinking that if they are functional they are good enough. People continue to use public bathrooms so the design must be working right ? In high school there was one bathroom in our science building that was so old and gross they weren't even functional. All the locks were broken, the stall were learning so some of the doors did not shut, the mirrors were scratched out, and it appeared to be very dirty. No one used that bathroom and after a year the janitors saw that no one used it and suggested to the principal that it needed some renovation done to be functional. The bathroom was renovated for the simple reason that no one used it, if people would have continued to use the bathroom and deal with the problems it would have never been fixed. People keep using public bathrooms so to builders or the bathroom there is not large problem with they are they are and the way they are always designed. Also buildings do not often win awards because of their remarkable bathroom design so a designer may loose motivation to worry and spend time and money on the bathrooms.

4.Time- Many time designers, builders, contractors,etc. are under a time crunch. Mentioned earlier they may not make the bathroom a priority so they do it the way they have always done it instead of going through the knowledge funnel they use the algorithm that already exists.

I do not know if these are the exact reason to the problem of our "broken" public restrooms but I am sure they all play some factor in why not not a lot of innovation has been brought to public restrooms.

Similarities between guest speaker and "A Whole New Mind"

I very much so enjoyed when our class was able to have a guest speaker, Tiera come speak to us. I really enjoyed her perspective on the world after having the opportunity to visit many different places around the world and experience a vast array of different cultures. I believe I appreciated it even more than I would have regularly because of some advice I had received from a boss of mine from our 7 Habits Benchmark Project. He said that it would be good for me to get outside of the state and get a better understanding of how people think outside of Utah. Every since reading that feedback from him, I have been more interested in study abroad opportunities and listening to people with international perspectives like Tiera. I also think that it has some similarities with what Daniel Pink talks about in his book, "A Whole New Mind" when he outlines how the world is moving towards the conceptual age, which requires a new way of thinking, with creativity, and understanding what people want being central to this new world age. I hope that I will be able to do enough to prepare myself for this new age, with getting as much perspective from those outside of Utah as I can.

Near the end

We've almost completed our semester in Business By Design; and there has always been an enormous emphasis on BUSINESS in terms of design. Additionally we experienced the creative process individually and in groups - as in the Restroom Rethink. However, I feel that the greatest value this class imparts is viewing things in terms of design. Just learning of the value creation inherent in design prompts one to see it in the "designed" things around them, such as the keyboard I'm typing on now. Similarly the relative focus on design companies have becomes more and more apparent based on things such as commercials. One car company may state its focus on innovation, while another may focus on the results. Odd that the most valuable lesson, a change in perception, would be the simplest and among the first.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoWB5Qr0JQ0


This is a video of a few guys that took simple surfing to a new level. By Combining ideas and thinking like a designer, Laird Hamilton produced an entirely new product. Using something called a hydrofoil, essentially a metal fin taken from an AirChair that was then strapped onto the bottom of a surfboard he came up with a surfboard that will fly over the waves.

Using Design thinking as a means to an end, they can now use this new idea/product to use any wave out there. They can ride with rain and wind, and maybe one day use the new hydrofoil to ride a hundred foot wave.

This video mentions the fact that there are hundreds of surf board “shapers” but none have come up with such results. This is a great example of the benefits from design thinking and getting away from the every day.

Brady Walker

Ideas for Good

http://www.youtube.com/toyotaUSA/?x=ideasforgood


I loved what they talk about in the first minute of this clip (plus watching them build a Hybrid Roller Coaster was pretty cool too). It talks about how being naive about things, and relying on your creative side can sometimes be the best thing because you don’t have a “clouded vision”, and everything becomes possible. The guy in the clip says how this can help because it forces you to be creative and think of something totally new and different. This obviously fits in with concepts that we have talked about throughout the entire semester; being open-minded, thinking in innovative and different ways, and using your right brain to solve problems. I have really enjoyed this class and learning all of these different skills and ideas that can help in a business or personal life. Even though it may seem like we have beat the word innovation into the ground because we talk about it so much, it really is the way to create a new experience, benefiting both your business and your customers.

“Innovation is fostered by information gathered from new connections; from insights gained by journeys into other disciplines or places; from active, collegial networks and fluid, open boundaries. Innovation arises from ongoing circles of exchange, where information is not just accumulated or stored, but created. Knowledge is generated anew from connections that weren't there before.” ~ Margaret J. Wheatley


Jaimie Beazer

ideal bathrooms

Today in class we were asked the question, "Why aren't bathrooms designed using newer technologies?" The main answer given by the group presenting was that such appliances were not cost efficient...they cost too much money! To counter that argument our professor pointed out that new buildings cost millions of dollars...so what is a few thousands dollars more towards bathrooms? I have an idea. It is not the cost of these new and better bathroom appliances, but rather the companies producing these appliances. There is not enough production of the variety amount of new technologies. If there was more demand for such appliances then there would be a greater supply. If we do not start to invest in newer technology the demand is not there and likewise the supply will be low.

Walk a mile in her shoes

Recently I walked through campus and was met by an army of women, a few men at their head, all wearing high heels and waving signs that said things like, “just say no to rape.” The practice as I understand it was to enlist as many men as possible to “walk a mile in her shoes” aka walk a mile in high heels. The purpose as I understand it of this yearly event is to help men gain empathy for women raise awareness concerning rape, and raise funds for an antirape organization. I think this is a noble and noteworthy cause, and I wish them the best of success in their efforts to reduce rape occurrences. I wonder though if there is not a better method to go about their goal.

I would propose that there are many things that this group (I estimate them to be about 80 strong) could do to reduce rape occurrence, and I venture to say that most of them would be more effective than walking a mile in high heels while waving signs. I have applied the principals of design thinking to this situation as best I could, and have come up with the following hypothetical situation.

An annual event held in the tsc or on the quad. Hire a few martial arts instructors to teach 20 minute rape defense classes. You would need several levels of classes so someone can come back 5 times in the course of the day. Food needs to be provided on site to help attract people, and I suggest handing it out to anyone who is willing to go through the rape defense class. Offer it to men if they will come and act as practice dummy’s, and women if they will go through the class. I think the food would be I big motivator for participation, I think the learning will be much more effective in deterring or stopping rape than will the memory of seeing 80 people walking a mile in high heels, and I think it will be a lot more fun for guys to participate in. In the way of cost I think getting instructors to donate their time would not be too hard, I personally know 3 police officers who would be happy to donate a day for that purpose. As for cost of food, I would hope that a donation could be made somewhere by someone. Maybe a local pizza place would like to sponsor the event for advertising.

Those are my thoughts, such as they are. I would like to know what yall think about them.

Bryan Scoresby

Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC posted a blog titled: "How to Innovate Like Captain Jack Sparrow". Mike Figliuolo makes mention of a few different reasons why we should look to Jack Sparrow as an example of a good innovator. Jack Sparrow is one who forgets rules. He isn't tied down by meeting the expectations of others. For him, everything is in play. When there are no boundaries to your discovery for solutions, there are lots of incredible things that can happen. Mike also makes mention that Captain Jack does encounter failures, but that is how innovation works, there is a tremendous amount of work that goes into innovating, but that just makes a real solution become that much more successful.

The next thing that Mike makes mention of is to not overlook the simple solutions. Frequently during the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, Jack Sparrow is forced to come up with a plan on the spot. He uses the things that he has readily available, and he usually comes out on top. We can do more with the things we have than we think.

Finally, Mike talks about how important it is to experiment, and he gives an example:

"When Captain Jack fights Barbossa over Cortez's gold, he gives being cursed a try. He steals a piece of gold to see if it too will make him an immortal skeleton pirate zombie (which is awesome). Had he been wrong and the curse didn't work, he would have been dead when Barbossa ran him through with his cutlass.

Instead, he became immortal and was able to compete with a competitor who was initially much better positioned to win.

It was a risk. He experimented. Something cool happened. When was the last time you experimented? Try something new just to see what will happen. Many times our hypotheses and the conventional wisdom are wrong."

I agree with the things Mike talked about. Even though it's just a movie, and we shouldn't need to be innovating in quite the same way Captain Jack does, there are still things we can learn from it.

Here's where I read from: http://thoughtleadersllc.blogspot.com/2011/04/how-to-innovate-like-captain-jack.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ThoughtleadersLlcBlog+%28thoughtLEADERS+Blog%29

The 8th habit

Everyone in the class is familiar with Stephen R. Covey’s 7 habits of highly effective people but did everyone know there was an 8th habit?

In this video Covey talks about the four needs that everyone has, the needs of Body (to live), mind (to learn), heart (to love), and spirit (to leave a legacy) this is what everyone needs to be a good worker and a good person. I think that everyone needs to think more about these needs and if they did they would be pleasantly surprised with the outcome.

Covey also talks about the hardwired birth gifts that everyone is born with. They are: freedom and power to choose and the universal, timeless and self-evident principles. All of these births are things that we can choose to make what we want out of them. People can blame the world for the bad things that have happened to them but in the end it was their choice on how they reacted to them.

I have learned so much from Covey’s work, I try to live the 7 habits everyday to make my life better. Its hard to do it but its defiantly worth the practice and effort. I think that everyone in the class has learned so much about their selves and about others, I know I have. Once I feel confident in my ability to live the 7 habits effectively I want to read and analyze the next habits and learn from them as well.

Kate Kendrick

Human Centered Design

I watched this clip in my Interior Design class and I was really impressed by this company. When describing how they came up with their products they seem to follow some of the IDEO principles we have been learning. They did research, collaborated, brainstormed with one another, and went through the knowledge funnel again and again till they came up with the human-centered product the desired. They began with something they believed was broken like the small amount of space in their New York apartments and figured out the best way to solve the problem. They were creative and thought outside of the normal parameters of furniture and wall dividers to create and modern human centered product.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9Xlqs0M2l0&NR=1

When Brooke taught the lesson just after the Super Bowl, I immediately thought about this. I remember she showed us the Crysler Commercial with Eminem in it that aired during the Super Bowl and we had a class discussion about it. I recall one student in class raised the point of how he thought it was ironic that Crysler could afford to do a fairly long commercial, with Eminem in it, during the Super Bowl, considering their current financial state.

Brooke also raised the point of how the commercial made Detroit look like a nice, but tough town with cool people that had pride in what they do. Another student in class though, made sure to testify that Detroit was not all that nice, nor safe for that matter, or a city at all. She had been there just recently and had taken some pictures of some of the places there, and it reflected that the city failed to upkeep many of its places, one of her examples being that of an old theatre or some kind of business or building that had shut down, but still remained with everything unkept. Another one of her examples was that of an old building that was essentially gutted and then used as a parking garage. Overall, I think all of these points just go to show how companies can go to great lengths in advertising to make their product, or even city look a lot better than it really is, even if it means spending a lot of money to do it. This clip, just reminds me of the fact of how Detroit really is, and provides some laughs at the same time.

Tax the Rich

Tax the rich. They can afford it right? Those greedy people who have worked for their money think that it's only theirs. These weasels don't think that they have the moral responsibility to help out us less endowed with that glorious green inked cotton creation that we call the American dollar.

RealClearPolitics - Video - Moore On Wealthy People's Money: "That's Not Theirs, That's A National Resource, It's Ours"

This is the rhetoric that I have been hearing for so long it’s starting to make my ears bleed. We hear word and terms, such as greed and hording, being thrown around like rice at a Catholic wedding, but what do they mean, and what does it say about those that use them. I find it most comical that the individuals that are talking about increasing the taxes of the more affluent, those that say it’s the patriotic duty of the rich to pay more in taxes, are the very same individual that tend be in the 48% of household that pay absolutely NO taxes at all. Which sounds more greedy, those individuals that don’t want the government coming into their lives and taking their money, or the people who are receiving those individuals money in the form of social programs and welfare who then turn around and complain that they aren’t getting enough free handouts. I for one hope to be able to provide a comfortable living for my family but am afraid that to much “success” will lead to an overabundance of ridicule and harassment, it’s almost as if life would be better off if we where all failing together. Taxing the rich won’t raise us up out of our enormous financial mud hole; it only seeks to pull us all down into the depths of misery and that, my friend, is NOT the American dream.