Transcripts

Joel Saltzman, author of the book, Shake That Brain!…

When video stores started people thought the man who started this video store was nuts. People wouldn't want to rent a video; people only want to buy a video- it would be like renting a book. When he retired some four years later he owned 400 video stores.

It's all about questioning assumptions. For example most of us assume that a stapler has to look the way it does, however…

What if a stapler sat vertically, and that's what the Boston Stapler Company did and they created a whole line of staplers called upright staplers. And they captured a big share of the stapler market; they also discovered that 80% of people who use staplers pick up the stapler to use it. So, let's put it in a way that makes it really easy to pick it up without it taking up a lot of space.

And it's not just big ideas say Joel, take do not disturb signs in hotels. Most of them say do not disturb…

Then there's a place like the Hard Rock Hotel that has do not disturb signs that say, " I hear you knocking but you can't come in." So it has a sense of humor, it gives extra value and it costs nothing. How do you get there, you challenge assumptions. Does a do not disturb sign have to be boring?

You can link to Joel's website from ours: somethingyoushouldknow.net- I'm Mike Carruthers and That's Something You Should Know.