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76 SMT Magazine • January 2017 Words mean something, it seems, unless you are a politician. No matter what your political views, it is hard to dispute that the recent U.S. election was unique and certainly not in a way that makes us want to stand up and cheer. Before the email deluge begins, let me make it clear that I'm talk- ing about the election process. Speaking truth to power has a romantic and compelling draw. However, this campaign was no Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. I have often counseled young engineers that being right on a technical point is not enough—that the pack- age you put your information in is as impor- tant as the information itself. In team dynam- ics we call this aligning constituencies, and it is an important element in influencing other team members. It's hard to gain the support of oth- ers after you've used your command voice—or worse, called them the devil's spawn. On the other hand, there is an attractive and refreshing quality to being direct when making a point, and calling one out when it is warranted—remember the child on the parade route screaming: the emperor has no clothes on! The art of rhetoric—persuading one to agree with your position on an issue—is walking the sometimes very fine line between the two ap- proaches. Production Volumes Take Off Our corporate production organizations have been in place since Henry Ford created the assembly line in the early 20 th century. Each line worker was given a small, repetitive task to perform in the overall assembly of an automo- bile. This reduced production costs and corre- spondingly, automobile prices. More and more of the population were able to afford this prod- uct. Production volumes skyrocketed 1 . With the exploding volumes, more workers were need- ed. As the technology became more complex the workers developed areas of specialization. These workers had to be managed, so they were by Tom Borkes THE JEFFERSON PROJECT A New Organizational Model Using Logic, Cost Effectiveness and Customer Service, Part 2 JUMPING OFF THE BANDWAGON