“Hmmm, maybe this isn’t a failure after all. We just need to look
at it differently.”
A simple personal example may demonstrate the value of slow-
ing down. Soon after I was linked to the Internet, I was asked to
make a presentation to the business students at the Kellogg School
of Management. As I was preparing the slides on the day of the
presentation, I was hit by an inspiration: Why not include the
Wildcat mascot on the slides? After all, Northwestern had just gone
to the Rose Bowl, a relative rarity, so why not celebrate? Because
I was in closed mode—head down, pounding out the work to meet
the deadline—I raced to my car, drove three miles to Central Street
where a merchant sells NU logos, bought one with the Wildcat on
it, and tore home. Once back at my desk, I scanned in the logo,
saved it to a file, and then imported it to my Power Point presen-
tation. Total elapsed time: 20 minutes. It was only later (with an
audible “Doh” like Homer Simpson’s) that I realized I could have
gotten the Wildcat logo online from NU’s Website. A no-brainer.
Go to a search engine, plug in “Northwestern,” right-click on the
mascot, and hit “Copy.” Total elapsed time would have been about
two minutes. Savings: a factor of 10. I am convinced that all busi-
ness everywhere could enjoy these same savings if only they en-
couraged their people to move in and out of the closed mode, as
appropriate.
The true beauty of this suggestion is that it only requires a few
minutes each day.“C” Is for Change Gears 17314-25 ware 173 1/19/01, 1:15 PM