Think!
The best leaders provide an environment for creative thinking

We often hear people say, “Now just think about this or that.” What does it mean to think? John Dewey, the eminent scholar and philosopher, has defined this as a problem solving process. He outlined his process as follows: (1) We humans confront perplexity (2) Perplexity leads to an analysis and clarification of the situation (3) Given data gathering and analysis, we next consider alternative solutions to the situation (4) We verify that the chosen solution works.

Dr. W. Edwards Deming began to teach Japanese manufacturers his problem-solving process, Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA), in the early 1950s as his strategy for achieving high quality products. Deming knew that quality products could be produced through everyone in the organization utilizing a common problem-solving process as a normal part of work. I believe that Deming’s PDCA problem solving process builds value into any organization’s people; people learn from problem solving.

The late Thomas J. Watson, Sr., former chairman of International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) was one of the first chief executives to build value into his people as his number one strategy. During the 1930s, when he did not have adequate work for his engineers, he sent them back to school to earn advanced degrees instead of laying them off. His philosophy of operation was based on three basic beliefs: “Respect for the individual” as the number one priority; “Provide best customer service;” and “Excellence in all that we do.” Watson conceptualized his philosophy into one word – THINK.

Watson Sr. institutionalized his THINK concept as any IBM person’s way of being in the 1930s. When I became an IBM employee in 1966, one of the first documents I received was a little note pad with a brown cover. It had been designed to fit into one’s shirt pocket. On the cover’s center was printed the word THINK. By this time, THINK signs could be found everywhere within the IBM environment. THINK was already a cultural value.

Thinking creatively was expected of all managers and professional employees during my days with IBM. I will argue that all excellent leaders provide an environment for their employees how to think creatively. The output from these employees will provide values to society: high quality, low cost, delivered on time product and services.

But Watson’s philosophy was limited in that it did not include all workers. The average “shop floor employee” was not given much responsibility to think at work; the average assembly line worker was expected to follow F. W. Taylor’s principles of standardized work. Industrial engineers set these standards and the worker was expected to work to these standards, generally on the same operation day after day.

Taylor had built his theory on maximizing a worker’s psychomotor skills; he had proven that workers who work to standards get faster over time. Cognitive skills had been left out of Taylor’s equation for shop floor personnel. However, IBM did encourage these workers to write a suggestion every now and then.

I have now been retired from IBM for more than 10 years but I continue to hold on to an original copy of the THINK Pad. This document has long ago disappeared from the “shirt pockets” of IBM employees. The only “Think Pad” you will find around IBM shops these days is a laptop computer.

Dr. Arlie Hall is an adjunct professor for the Center for Robotics and Manufacturing at the University of Kentucky's College of Engineering.
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