On May 4th of this year, a man named Tom Foth from somewhere In Connecticut posted a response to an article in the New York Times.
The article Mr. Foth was addressing was regarding a Social Medial lesson learned by the airplane manufacturer, Boeing. It was about a young boy who sent fan mail (in the form of a crayon drawing) about a plane to the company, and instead of getting a nice response from the PR department, received a letter from the lawyers in intellectual property rights curtly informing him that Boeing didn’t take engineering ideas from the general public.
As you might imagine, the boy’s father – who just happens to be running an ad agency specializing in social media (which makes you wonder if this has a whiff of “publicity stunt” to it) – takes to Twitter, and vents his frustration. Someone at Boeing responds…and big company learns important lesson and they all lived happily ever after, or something like that.
Here’s what was MUCH better than the story – Tom Foth’s post in response:
“Back in the 60′s, my father worked for Kimberly Clark in the factory. I was playing around one day and created this easy-open envelope that had a string across the crease that allowed one to easily open the envelope by tearing a corner. I know it is real common today… not so much in 1966.
Without my knowledge, my dad submitted it to Kimberly Clark’s new product idea campaign.
Two years later I got a personal “rejection” letter that told me how they researched the patent rights (J&J held them for the BandAid ™ wrapper), how they built a prototype machine to see how much it would cost to make them, and did test marketing and that the focus groups determined people would not pay a premium for envelopes their recipients could open easily.
The letter went on to tell me that I shouldn’t feel bad and keep on trying to invent things. It quoted Edison saying when one of his labs burnt down: ‘All our mistakes are burned up. Thank God we can start anew.’
Today I have 32 US patents.
In my mind, that is in part from the encouragement I received from that person in the new ideas department at Kimberly Clark.”
Wow.
At Stone Creek Dining Company in Noblesville, Indiana last night, my friend – and incredible server – Colin was telling me how, as he was waiting with a shoe, pen, and dressed in his jersey, Michael Jordan had practically pushed him out of the way when he was a young child.
Then, I re-read the incredible Sports Illustrated article on Stan “the Man” Musial. Even if you hate baseball, you have to read this story about this truly remarkable and wonderful man.
Odds are – like me – you’re no star athlete…or running a multi-billion dollar company like Boeing.
However, your encouragement can make a difference to someone. Today.
Will you be willing to take a moment and make an effort to help inspire…and create a better world for the future?
Pingback: Tweets that mention Boeing, Stan Musial…and you… — Scott McKain Viewpoint -- Topsy.com