LucidChart for Business Education

(9/24/2013) Today I introduced LucidChart (a cloud-based diagramming software) to our SIMBA students. It was a blast. I found this platform last year during my first year of MBA teaching and briefly introduced it to them. But this year, I had more time to prepare and decided to introduce Lucidchart in the first class of OM/SCM introduction.

It was a blast because our students are very creative. After I showed them more diagram shapes (other than the basic flow chart shapes), it's like releasing school kids in the playground. From the diagrams they built and shared with me, I was 'forced' to learn more about LucidChart. I studied on LucidChart.com and found more...

Not only Lucidchart has process engineering, venn diagram, and iPhone, iPad and Android mockups, it also has organization chart, Cisco Network icons ..... You can share with your teammates (students or teachers), you can also link with your google account and construct Lucidchart diagrams directly from Google Drive. And the most important thing is it is free for academic usage, I have applied for 45 accounts that my students in their learning with me can also use it free. LucidChart.com has a community that users share their application and creativity.

(10/31/2013) Today, the same company just release another tool - LucidPress.com. I have not used it yet. It seems to be a cloud-base collaborative reporting tools that now they provide FREE to educators and students. Check it out.

A LucidChart diagrams drawn by Chris in 30 minutes, a high school student who took URITC Summer Academy with me in this summer. Great job, Chris. 

Simulation of War and Evolution

(9/24/2013) I found this research -- War, space, and the evolution of Old World complex societies -- very interesting though its claim might be too much for many historians to accept. You can find the original full paper and supporting documents here. I wonder whether the methodology can be applied to other aspects of business activities.

Flushable Toilet Wipes to Be Blamed

(9/24/2013) Do you like to keep toilet clean with flushable moisture wipes? Now they are clogging the sewage system in many cities and cost millions to fix the problem? Who to blame? The manufacturer for failed product? Marketers for misleading consumers? Consumers for their ignorance? What are the actions to solve the problem resulting from our hygiene convenience?

Flushable wipes costs cities millions of dollar to clean the clogs and fix the equipments.

Stockout on Purpose?

(9/23/2013) Do you think sometimes business let stockout happen on purpose? Yes, it can be. Lululemon "circuitously admitted" that the plus-size clothes do not belong to their target market. Plus size customers cannot easily find their clothes in Lululemon because there is not much in their stock. If you are lululemon's customer, have you noticed that there is no much plus-size clothes there? Is this market positioning a correct strategy to business? What about Lane Bryant's targeting on plus-size market?

A Iconic Van to Remember - VW Transporter

(9/23/2013) Have you seen hippie style Volkswagen van buses in many movies? Volkswagen Transporter is an iconic vehicle that was launched 63 years ago in Germany. Now Volkswagen calls an end to Transporter's production because it does not meet the latest safety standard. It is an unfortunate result since Transporter is known of its durability ("but also its tendency to break down" from the article). This summer, when I visited Aspen for Jackson Browne's concert, I saw a VW van exactly in that hippie style (see below). Well, the van below belongs to a shop called "2 old hippies (H2o)." I love that shop not only because it is a very cool shop, it also has great collection of boutique acoustic guitars.

VW Transporter van

H2O Hippie Van in Aspen, CO

Social Media and Damage Control

(11/28/2013) In Thanksgiving morning, I saw this encouraging news. Gap responded to its "make love" Sikh model ad very positively: "Hi there. Thanks for informing us. Can you please follow & DM (direct message) us? We'd like to know the location of this." It makes a difference and turns a negative distraction into a positive PR for Gap. The IQ of a consciousness business matters.


(9/20/2013) In the era of social media, any misfire of an individual can cause huge damage in the whole dynamic. A thoughtless tweet from a professor at the University of Kansas can rally pro-gun group.  We have seen too many examples: employee's tasteless facebook show-offs (Berger King), Politician's mistweet, Kitchen Aid.... See here.

Collective interest now hinges on several individuals. How much more dynamic a human world can be?

Screenshot saved from Huffington Post

How Do Fish Swim in Schools?

(9/18/2013) When I was in the army in Taiwan, I always wondered how clumsy we are to form an array without being shouted. Human are not that well coordinated. I always wonder how fish or birds swim or fly in school so swiftly. Now the science may find the answer: it is in the genes. When I watched BBC's documentary - Blue Planet, I realized that this is small fish's survival strategy. If we see the whole school of fish (instead of individual fish) as an entity, then swimming in schools will guarantee the maximal amount of survivals after being attacked by predators. Are we human beings the same as fish? Can we survive without cooperating with others?