McSaturation of The Continental United States

via weathersealed.com

This map uses geolocatiion data to plot the density of the 13,000 US McDonald’s franchise locations and color to represent the distance to the nearest outlet. It is interesting to see that the Eastern US is fully saturated and that in many locales the outlets are nearly right on top of each other. The most McRemote location in the US is in South Dakota, 145 miles by car from the nearest Mickey D’s.

I’m Lovin’ It!!

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All For The Price Of A Sandwich

IN A NUTSHELL: A monthly birthday lunch ritual is an easy, enjoyable, cost effective way to connect on a more personal level with your organization.

At AGY and when I led the GE Sealants business, I implemented the practice of holding monthly birthday lunches.  I’ve found this to be a very convenient and fun way to connect and stay connected with people in your business.

As leaders, we have a tendency to be “All Business, All The Time” when we are in the office.  Consequently, it’s sometimes easy for people to think about us as managers and bosses, as opposed to just “normal people”.  Additionally, in a business of any size (ours has over 1300 associates), it is nearly impossible to know everyone or to know much about their lives or their backgrounds.  A monthly birthday lunch rhythm can give you a start at overcoming both of those potential barriers to effective leadership.

Really all you need to do is run an extract sorted by birthday from your payroll system and use it to generate a series of meeting invites:

• Explain in the invite that the meeting is just to celebrate all the birthdays in the month (no business agenda or homework required)  and that you are picking up lunch.
• I think the optimum size for these meetings is 10 – 15 people, including yourself.  Anything much more and it’s hard to orchestrate around one big conference table where you can make eye contact.  Anything much less and you may be in for some awkward silence.  You may need to adjust frequency (combining two months or having two sessions in one month) based on the number of people in your company / at each site.
• Make sure you do this at all your sites if possible, not just at HQ.
• Congratulate everyone, wish them a Happy Birthday, and shake their hand as they come into the room.
• Once everyone has arrived, explain that this is just a session to celebrate their birthdays and to get to know everyone better.  Explain that you do not have a business agenda to discuss, but that they are certainly welcome to ask you any questions which they may have.
• Once every one has grabbed their sandwich / chips etc. and has sat down at the table, it’s usually good to just go around the table with a standard series of ice breaker questions.  I like to use the following:
  • What’s your name?
  • When was/is your birthday (age optional)?
  • What department do you work in and how long have you been with the company?
  • Tell us a quick story about one of the most memorable birthday’s you’ve had.

Usually this morphs a cool room into a warm dialog among team mates and you can spin off into many different directions based on where the conversation takes you.  You’ll find that you learn a lot about the people in your company and that the folks will increasingly see you as a human being and not just as a boss.  Be prepared to address any off the cuff business related questions candidly and casually.  If you are as bad with names as I am, you may find it helpful to jot notes on the printed calendar entry invitation to help jog your memory about specific people.

I’ve found this to be a great way to connect on another level with your people, and the birthday boys and girls seem to enjoy it as well.  Please feedback in the comments  if you have similar experiences or suggestions.

(photo courtesy mhaithaca under creative commons)

1 Million Spiders Make Golden Silk for Rare Cloth

via wired.com

This interesting article explains how an amazing number of golden orb spiders were collected from telephone poles in Madagascar to produce enough Spider Silk fiber to weave this 11 foot x 4 foot textile.

Spider Silk has higher tensile strength than Kevlar or Steel and over 40% tensile elongation, which would make it an extremely interesting fiber for ballistics, aerospace, and other composites applications.

Unfortunately, over 14,000 spiders are required to generate one ounce of silk. (This fabric weighs over 2.6 pounds, meaning that over 1 million female spiders were silked in the process.) To date no one has been successful at generating a synthetic process which duplicates the transformation which goes in in the spider’s spinnerets, where physical force is used to transform liquid protein into solid silk.

I need to get our AGY scientists right on this one!!

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Interview With Jeffrey J Davis In JEC Composites Magazine

The largest global tradeshow in the composites industry is the JEC, held every year in Paris in the spring.  The JEC show is very valuable, as all of the key players from every segment of the composites industry convene in one locale, providing great opportunities to network and conduct business.  During the 2009 show,  I had the privilege of being interviewed by JEC Composites Magazine, and this interview is running in the current print issue #51.  If you do not subscribe to the print magazine, you can read the interview on line in their electronic version here.  (Just hit “PREVIEW” as opposed to logging in, if  you are not a subscriber.)

In the interview, we discussed the strategies that AGY employs for global innovation and growth, as well as some of the recent innovations which we have introduced into the market place.  It’s a good snapshot about our company and where we are trying to take it.

Interview with Jeffrey J Davis in JEC Composites Magazine Issue #51

An Amazing Sand Painting Rendition Of Germany’s WWII Ukraine Invasion

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Birds on the Wires

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Benjamin Franklin’s Daily Schedule

via log.scifihifi.com

I came across this posting on Sci-Fi Hi-Fi http://log.scifihifi.com/post/161617118/benjamin-franklins-daily-schedule-via-nick and it sparked me to ponder my daily scheduling mechanisms.

I’m not sure if Ben’s actual schedule was any closer to his planned schedule than mine typically are, but I am impressed by the way he built work / personal life balance, daily planning and reflection into his daily rhythm.

Is your daily schedule “all about work”, or does it keep you complete and allow sufficient time for planning and reflection?

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The Longest Way 1.0 – one year / 4646km time lapse walk through China

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The Bear – Amazing Natural Action Film by Jean-Jacques Annaud

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Keeping It Real In ShiPu

IN A NUTSHELL: A day’s walk through the ancient coastal fishing village of ShiPu impressed me with the simple lifestyle and generous, friendly personalities of the local people.

I spent last weekend sightseeing with a friend in Shipu, an old fishing village in Xiangshan county.  This was less of a tourist destination sightseeing day, but more of a just “wander around and talk to the locals” style of day, which I found refreshing.  This city revolves around the sea and the fish and sea life which grace the local tables, hence it’s moniker “Ancient Fishing Village”.

We started by climbing to the rooftop garden of a seven story apartment, where we had great views of the harbor.

Sīguā vines (Loofah) overlooking ShiPu harbor

Rainwater Capture Urns

Further up the slope, we noted a row of small houses and it appeared that one had been involved in some kind of fire.  We went back down to street level, then climbed up steep stairs and a very steep dirt slope to get a closer look.

The Burned Out Home

Stairs Up From Street Level

After making it up to their level, we met a man and his wife rummaging through the hopelessly charred remains of what used to be their kitchen.  Apparently this fire had happened several weeks earlier, and in a very animated discussion, the woman explained how they believed it was started as an arson, due to their non support of a local building project further up the hill (more on that later).  I felt sorry for the terrible state of their home and wondered how long it would take them to rebuild.

Fire Victim Wife

Fire Victim Husband

Picking Through The Ashes

Searching Through The Ashes

We continued to climb up a loose gravel trail to the top of the hill, where the construction project was going on.  A large temple project was being built, with activity everywhere, and the power of cheap manual labor apparent.

Temple Construction

We browsed around, but by this time, we were extremely hot, tired and thirsty, as the day was extremely warm and sunny and we had just  climbed several hundred meters from street level.  Unfortunately we had forgot to bring water, and set out to see if we  could bum some off of the workers.  We met a lady who was one of the cookers for the work crews and she kindly invited us into her kitchen and poured us some water from her urn.  She was quite shy to have her picture taken, but I snagged a few anyway.  She explained that the workers were mostly from Anhui and Fujian, and she was there as the chef for the workers from Fujian.  She complained that Ningbo cuisine was good, but just “different” from Fujian, so the workers were more happy and productive if they could eat food from their hometown.  She was in the middle of cooking lunch, dish by dish, and had everything stored under a large plywood cover to keep the flies away.  She kindly offered to have us stay and eat lunch with them, but we decided to move on.

Fujian Cooker

Fujian Cooker 2

We made our way further up into the town, and came upon a group of ladies just relaxing in their courtyard on a warm Saturday morning.  We played with their dog, DengDeng, whom they promptly tried to sell to me for 5000 kwai.  One lady knitted a sweater automagically the entire time we spoke with her.

DengDeng

Saturday Chillin, Shipu Style

The Knitter

Walking on, I met a kid snacking on dried fish cake who was happy to pose for a pic and hope for world peace.

Peace, Man

We watched a man and his wife make custom made cotton and down comforters for a customer.  I learned that the price is 25 kwai, and I found the manufacturing process pretty interesting.  When asked why the customer was buying heavy blankets in the middle of summer, she knowingly explained that lead times in winter can be several weeks, while if she bought in off season, she could have it made while she waited.  Even though man and wife were working hard, they seemed happy to have a customer and pretty willing to have their picture taken.

Comforter Factory

We made our way back down toward “Seafood Street” along the harbor for a quick lunch.  The setup here is a little different, the tables are along the harbor, and the fish tanks and kitchen are  on the other side of a busy street.  The marketing department aggressively flags down cars as you pull through the street.  We went over, picked out our live sea creatures, and then sat down and waited about 10 minutes for our freshly prepared lunch.  Along with some ice cold local Daliangshan beer, it was a nice end to an enjoyable day.

Dinner - Before

Dinner - After

Waiter Heading Back To The Kitchen

Chef Napping Between Customers

If you make it to China, wander around, get off the beaten patch, don’t be afraid to talk to the local people.  Chinese are almost all very friendly and you will learn a lot about the normal daily life.  See all of my pictures from Shipu here and my coastal beach pictures of nearby beautiful Songlanshan here.