SolidSmack is honored to feature this article by Jesse Newton, CEO of Simplify Work and Author of Simplify Work: Crushing Complexity to Liberate Innovation, Productivity, and Engagement. Learn more about Jesse’s approach to problem-solving at simplifywork.com. Organizations today are complicated messes. They are a scramble of matrixed structures, reporting lines, disparate systems and bureaucratic processes. Navigating these labyrinths to attempt to deliver value is time-consuming, energy-sapping and frustrating. It’s no wonder that employee engagement levels are lower than they have been in over two decades. The slowly propagating nature of organizational complexity has meant that most of us don’t even realize that this virus is slowly killing our best companies. If…
Three years ago, we covered the Ghostkube – paper engineer Erik Åberg’s origami-inspired creation made from wooden cubes of different shapes. Instead of using scraps of square paper though, the Ghostkube is composed of small, interlocking wooden cubes designed to move together in unison. The result is one “master” cube–a kinetic sculpture which can be rearranged in many ways yet still mimic the fluidity of a living object. Fast forward to 2018 and Åberg has refined his design and has made it available to the public for the first time so you can create the mesmerizing cubical creations. The cubes are each created with six of the same piece with…
The only kind of pens that you’d like to pass down from one generation to another, are in the range of the expensive Cartier and Mont Blanc kinds. Definitely not falling into this bracket, is the ManualPen as it’s not super expensive and neither glam-ed up with celebrity endorsements. However, it holds the distinction of being an everlasting piece of treasure that you will want to own and pass down. With capabilities of functioning under water, in zero gravity and upside down, the biggest draw of the pen is the fact that its milled out of a single piece of solid metal. What makes the pen an instrument that will…
Even if you have just a grain of knowledge about the automotive industry, you’ll know how resilient Toyota is. This resilience is mostly due to what the company calls “The Toyota Way” – an adaptation of the kaizen philosophy where everyone, from the head honcho to the interns, work together to further improve the business. This includes adopting new business practices, ideas, and yes… new technologies. With other automotive companies like Volvo and Ford using AR in their car building processes, Toyota now plans on working with Microsoft’s AR technology and HoloLens to make car production much more efficient. Their plan is to create a solution for having fewer people…
Founded in 1927 in Centralia, Washington by the Geier Brothers, the Geier Glove Company has been churning out some of the world’s finest work gloves for heavy wear and tear. Made from Elkskin, which is more rugged than deerskin, these gloves can stand up to just about anything you can throw at them—from nasty wood splinters to cold steel bars. Heck—they even make great winter gloves whether you use them in the shop at all. Made in the USA, you can’t go wrong with this Western staple in your workshop. Geier Glove Elkskin Gloves — $58.95 Features: Men’s elkskin gloves in slip-on styleRugged and tough for work or ridingMade of…
It began slowly, a low hum buried in a flea-bitten haze of fur and glowing eyes. What we were hearing in the cavern and what we were measuring on the nibblometer didn’t match though. The power readings were off the charts, and all we could do is huddle in the corner, cover our eyes, and hope they would pass us to get to these links. Celia Lowenthal – The illustrious New York-based Illustrator has a way with a color palette in a refreshing comic-like style of period scenes. Video Game Propaganda Prints – All of Fernando Reza’s illustrated prints are amazing but these, these take the cake. From Dig Dug…