Book Except

CHAPTER 1

Idea Safaris: YEarning + LEarning = Earning

Creativity Dividends

In December 1981, as I commuted daily to work at Tandem Computers’ facility in Cupertino, California, I relished the companionship of my daughter Kim (three and a half ) and son Lance (nearly five) to their school near my office.

They knew I liked to learn, and the commute to school was about thirty-five to forty-five minutes. They welcomed the opportunity to share with me their interests and observations from the backseat of our vehicle, Brown Olds Adventure Mobile.

Our creative games fueled and infl uenced our leadership values and practices. Because the games were fun and the kids earned creativity dividends, they ignited their own enthusiasm.

I was working in Silicon Valley where workplace volatility seems to be perpetual. My previous employer, Applied Materials, located in Santa Clara, was going through layoffs. I joined Tandem Computers in Cupertino, my third “Fortune 500 company” in the computer industry (IBM and GE were the other two).

Before the separation and divorce, I had taken Lance and Kim to Play and Learn Childcare, a preschool and day care facility near our home. However, I wanted the stability of a school that would provide some academics, and the kids would already be at the new school when their mom moved to Sacramento, a hundred and thirty miles away. These were major transitions. (I had no relatives within hundreds of miles.)

When I told the kids about the new school in December 1981, I added an element of “funobtainium” (way of having fun) by saying we would carpool.

Kim asked, “Daddy, what does ‘carpool’ mean?”

My answer to Kim’s question was “Love, ‘carpool’ means you’ll decide the route and I’ll drive.” Had I not listened and responded fully and respectfully, there would be no color-coded commute routes. What an opportunity missed that would have been for us.

I wanted the word “carpool” to make sense to her. I took two American Automobile Association (Triple A) maps, of South San Jose and North San Jose, and the kids and I got on the floor and taped them together. With colored pens, I drew several routes from our home in South San Jose to their school near Cupertino.

I explained what the lines meant on the map and assured them we would understand them all and have fun. I said the “zipper lines” were railroad tracks, the broad lines were expressways, and we would see all of them. I showed them on the map where we lived and where their school was located. I recorded many of our commute explorations and conversations.

 

Learning Power Tools

Also in December of 1981, Lance asked me, “Dad, on the dark blue route, do we stay on Stevens Creek Boulevard, or do we go on Highway 280?” He was on his knees sketching his own version of the composite map which I had fastened to the wall.

Impressed with his self-initiated project, I called Kim in to see what Lance did. I praised him, “Son, a map is a complicated model. You just modeled a model—I’m impressed. I have told you many times as you built trains, train tracks, cars, and cities you are very creative and have far greater insights and patience than I have. Lance, you just earned your first creativity dividend.”

I reached into my pocket and drew out three quarters. I handed two quarters to Lance and one to Kim. A few hours later, Kim earned her first creativity dividend. She saw the Exit sign inside Pizza Hut Restaurant where C. K., the kids, and I went to eat.

Kim said, “Dad, that’s part of Texaco: T-E-X.” I reached into my pocket, drew out three quarters, and said, “Kim, you just earned your first creativity dividend.” I handed her two quarters and Lance one. The day that creativity dividends were invented, both kids earned three quarters.

I had formed and developed effective work teams as a department manager and as a project manager. Linking individual rewards and celebrations with team members worked for me professionally in long-term effective team performance. I believed linking the creativity dividend earnings would energize the kids as they yearned to learn and to earn as a cooperative team.

They were thrilled to realize they were earning money as a result of their ingenuity. We had actually converted the Triple A maps into treasure maps, with riches uncovered daily as we journeyed to school.

I had told them on many occasions, “Guys, I earn my living with pencils, paper, and ideas; and I’m sure you will too.” I also wanted them to become skillful in the use of these learning “power tools” as well.

With this immediate tangible payout, the kids’ initiatives were sparked. Riding in Brown Olds Adventure Mobile became an even more exciting treasure hunt. On our very first commute to school, I started reading the names on signs and road markers such as Texaco and 7-Eleven.

When the kids spotted another business along the route that was the same as the one I mentioned, I awarded to the first one who saw three of the same signs three Smokehouse almonds and two to the other. To incentivize their taking initiative, they also earned the almond dividends when they saw three-of-a-kind business establishments. We added those businesses to the list, which I had started.

With our different routes to school, they soon earned too many almonds. I set a limit of ten almonds going to school and five coming home. They quickly learned to add the number earned and mentally subtract from ten or from five so they could tell me how many almonds they had left when I asked.

On the way to school in February 1982, Kim said with great excitement, “Dad, milk is my name backward with an L for Lance. I can spell ‘fat low milk’ l-o-w-f-a-t-m-i-l-k.” She smiled and spelled it from memory. She did this because she knew I’d praise her for the clever observation, and we shared the excitement of learning with each other.

Several weeks into our commutes, Kim said, “Hey, Dad, I can spell ‘Ford’ backward.” We had made a practice of reading billboards and the names on pickup trucks. However, with no billboards or pickup trucks nearby, she did it correctly.

Lance calmly responded, “I can spell ‘Chevrolet’ backward.” He spelled it correctly on his first try also.

I asked, “Lance, how did you do that?”

“Dad,” he said, “I saw it in my imagination.”

One evening as we left a pizza parlor, Lance said, “Dad, if you had the word ‘left’ and you took out the f , you’d have the last part of ‘Chevrolet.’”

“Wow, you’re right, Lance,” I said.

He continued, “If you had ‘Chevron’ and you took out the n , you’d have the first part of ‘Chevrolet.’ So if you took ‘left’ and ‘Chevron’ and took out the f and the n , you’d have ‘Chevrolet.’ Dad, I think that deserves a creativity dividend, don’t you?”

As our commute games continued, I made sure none of my challenges were too difficult for them. I explained the symbols and main streets on our color-coded composite map.

In the early days, we traced beforehand the route Kim selected on Tuesdays and the one Lance selected on Thursdays.

They soon learned three places where my favorite read, the Wall Street Journal , could be picked up—at a rack near Lucky’s grocery store, at Denny’s restaurant, or at the post office in downtown San Jose.

One morning on the way to school, Lance said, “Dad, I’m getting tired of this Texaco game.” Then he asked, “Dad, do you feel something on your ear?” I couldn’t feel what I knew was there; the rays from his flashlight. Each child had a battery-powered reading light hanging from the backs of the front seats.

“No, Lance,” I answered. “Now let me ask you both a question: can you tell me why I don’t feel the light?”

With their answers, “It’s not hot enough” and “It’s not hard enough,” I had the perfect opening to introduce the wave theory of light. I pulled out the radio’s volume control button, and as the antenna rose, I explained that we could hear music from the radio waves without “feeling it.”

On several occasions, when trying to display my brilliance, I failed miserably. One day, as we were driving, I said, “Okay, you guys, the numbers ‘one’ and ‘ten’ both have three letters. Which letter do they both have?” (I thought they had one common letter only.) One of my backseat teachers replied e while the other one said n .

I gathered the notes I made of our commutes during February 1982 and wrote our first published stories. Dr. Roger von Oech published our first story in his publication, Creative Think , in the spring 1982 edition. That edition also had stories of Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari and Pizza Time Theatre; Robert Metcalfe, inventor of Ethernet, chairman of 3Com Corporation; Rene McPherson, dean, Graduate School of Business, Stanford University; and Steve Jobs, chairman of Apple Computer.

Tandem Computers published our second story in the international edition of NonStop News in May 1982. Our stories as they appeared are on the Web site, with permission granted, www.parentingdad.com.