From Lose Friends Radio comes this ‘Believe it or not’ segment Number 26, called ‘Eye-see’. You can read the transcript below, or listen to the original broadcast by clicking on the green play button:
Jonar_Nader_26_BION_Eye_see.mp3
Believe it or not, according to Jonar Nader, competitors can benefit by working together, instead of against each other. By way of example, he cites the erasers that we find at the end of common pencils – that little innovation that two industries.
When pencils were first introduced in schools, children used to sharpen both ends of the pencil so that they always had a sharp tip on standby.
Unfortunately, this resulted in many accidents as young children bent over their work and accidentally poked an eye with their sharp pointed pencils.
Fearing a public outcry which might label his latest invention too dangerous to use at school, Count Faber Castell convinced rubber manufacturers to provide him with their small off-cuts, which he used to put at the tip of each pencil. The eraser tip pencil was not only a handy device, but it put an end to all those injuries that resulted from having a sharp tip at both ends of the pencil.
The solution satisfied school boards and parents alike, and the sales of pencils skyrocketed. And thus two industries (rubber, and pencils) prospered as a result of a cooperative venture.
Believe it… or not.
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