25Seven

Fire Trucks & Collaboration

Everyone in the Seven Cycles Collaborative has specific reasons for participating—some personal, some professional, and all of them worthwhile.  One of the reasons I’m participating in the Colab is to improve my teambuilding and collaborative work.  Hmmm, maybe it’s not so strange that the project is called the “Collaborative”—and not the “Steel-Lugged-Bike” project.

A Metaphorical Story

I’m not a story teller and I usually don’t like metaphors.  So, here’s a metaphorical story.  And it actually relates to the Collaborative.

Wentworth Institute & Creative Conflict

Yesterday I had the pleasure of speaking to a class at Wentworth Institute of Technology.  Mark Pasnik, one of the teachers, invited me to talk with a group of 60 architectural students about Seven Cycles.  The group is working on a project called, “Tectonic Implementation:  A Bicycle Production Center”.  Their directive is essentially to:

“…design an innovative center for the production of bicycles…focus on conceptual ideas and design methods… client culture… implications of a site and its context…”

A great project on which to work, no doubt.  Mark asked me to share some of the experiences, successes, and challenges Seven Cycles has had.  In particular, he asked that my primary focus to be on Seven’s:

• Culture
  
• Design
  
• Manufacturing
  

Change Mantra

Change Mantra
Originally uploaded by Tautological Hinterland

I'm trying: With all the ladies wearing “CHANGE” vests, you’d think that self reflective patrons might take that request to heart and change their lives. Oh well. I guess I misinterpreted the statement; I thought it was a suggestion but it turns out it’s a prediction—about what you’ll have left in a few hours.

One Third of What You Want is Perfect

There’s an expression I learned early in my bike manufacturing days—probably in 1988:

“When you work with the Taiwanese you get one-third of what you asked for, one-third of what they think you asked for, and one-third of what they want to do.”

I first heard the words from Ron Andrews, back when he worked at Fat City Cycles.  At the time, I thought it was a humorous statement and that’s about all.  I had not worked with any Taiwanese companies yet, so my only reference point was the results I saw from companies that did source frames and parts from Taiwan.  And, it sure looked like Ron’s comment was true—sometimes the bikes seemed a bit off:  odd design choices, parts that had the appearance and feel of being designed by people that weren’t riders, durability issues, funky quality.

Well, now that I've done some work in Taiwan and China—mainly for other companies—I no longer find that comment humorous—although it still makes me smile.  I now find Ron’s statement to be true and fairly universal.  I’ve learned that the words hold a lot of wisdom.  In fact, his comment has been really helpful in my travels over the years—and not just in Asia.

Contradictoriness In People

Recently I watched Ian McEwan on Bloomberg's Muse program.  At one point McEwan talked about how he finds inspiration in people's contradictoriness.  He provided a nice example of how people can be inherently--and comfortably--contradictory.  He spoke with a bit of humor and irony--and an unmistakable English accent.  Here, I transcribe from the interview: 

"I went up...not far from the North Pole a couple of years ago with a very dedicated bunch of scientists and artists who wanted to think about climate change.

"We had to take off all our outside gear so we didn't bring moisture into the ship.  Within a day or two this boot room was just a chaos:  people pinching each others boots, they couldn't find their own, taking each others helmet.  Yet in the night, we'd sit 'round the table and talk about our plans to save the Earth.   

"So there's that marvelous contradiction between our idealism and generosity as well as our streaks of selfishness--sometimes even cruelty.  All these running together often within one person.  That's what fascinates me."

This sometimes describes Seven and me.  And it fascinates me, too.