About Entrepreneurial PIE Teams

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What has been said about PIE Teams

Entrepreneurial PIE Teams brings to the table a view that we must have a proactive approach to creation of jobs. Drawing on Metaphors from M21C thinking, the concept of planting PIE Teams is a proactive way to get people thinking about the primary functions that create Things and therefore Jobs. A graphic expresses this with emphasis on hands and fingers. A new metaphor for the six hat team is presented using the fingers of a hand and the arm to represent essential functions associated with a viable business.

It is a team that wear the following hats with objective to create new products, services or processes:

  • Business Hat (Entrepreneur)
  • Customer Hat (Marketplace)
  • Technologist Hat (Production/Service/Processes)
  • Engineer Hat (Design & Development)
  • Scientist Hat (Research)
  • Logistics Hat (Global Supply Chain)

The concept evolved in the authors mind during the 1990s when he was teaching at NCA&T.  Students were having a difficult time determining where their future careers would be. The concept of a room with four corners was used to give the students an orientation from which they would share with the class where they felt their future would be. 

The door of the room represented the marketplace where the customer hat resides, it had a unique understanding of the marketplace and the business and was an advocate of the Customer bringing solutions to fit his needs.  Also, he brought the needs of the Customer to the business so they could create products, processes or services that they needed.

The corner of the room next to the door is the Technologist's Hat which makes specific stuff that the Customer needs.  The next corner is where the Engineer Hat resides and does design & development; taking ideas and building prototypes that could be passed to the Technologist for producing high quality, low cost, high performance services and wares.  In the next corner is the Scientist Hat doing Research, coming up with new technologies and techniques that the engineer and technologist can use for a competitive edge.

In the Hall is the Logistics (Sourcing) Hat which is concerned with the global supply chain.

This mini-web's objective is to give students a point of reference to create six hat teams with the objective of creating a new product, service or process.

It is hoped that planting PIE Teams in Schools and Jobless Networks will result in new startup businesses and therefore create new jobs for the future workforce.

Feedback that will enhance and strength the concept of PIE Teams is encouraged.  Thanks for your consideration of this concept.

What has been said about PIE Teams:

  • When I introduced Entreprenurial PIE Teams George Clopton - Polo Ralph Lauren, he responded "That sounds like 'The Skunk Works'".  I procured a copy of Skunk Works and read it; this was the group in Lockheed that came up with the U-2 and Stealth Technology. It appears that there was a lot of PIE Hat Thinking going on there, I highly recommend the book to anyone with an interest in creative and innovative thinking and the challenges of implementing this thinking and products. July 2010

  • "Entreprenurial PIE Teams is an exciting approach.  In concept, it is compatible with the case study approach to learning that I advocate as an important education tool.     I see teams could be interdisciplinary (ie involving various business entities like engineers, salespersons, marketeers, accountants, etc) or intradisciplinary (chemical engineers, mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, etc...).  Regardless of the groupings chosen, students will not only have an opportunity to exercise their skills in their field of study but also learn the important contribution that their skills may contribute to accomplishing innovation on a broader scale.

    Another contribution is the interpersonal skills developed as being a part of such a team.  I have done some work with elementary kids, allowing them to create things with simple shapes -  circles, squares, rectangles, triangles.  After voting on the best design, an assembly line was created.  Then I witnessed the same organization behavior and dynamics as being played out with adults in industry:  some productive and some counterproductive attitudes to the mission at hand.  If we use "PIE" like teams as a catalyst to teaching students how to better collaborate interpersonally as partners to complete a mission, businesses will be more highly productive in their work teams.


    Again thanks for exposing me to the exciting important work you are doing."

    Dr. Ida Pittman July 2011 
     

  • "... You have wonderful, entrepreneurial programs with IEEE.  While f4k isn't solely entrepreneur focused, I believe we can connect kids to entrepreneurs and get them excited about careers and industries ---> 'Entrepreneurs of Tomorrow' ..." Susan Milliken Sanford - executive director www.f4k.org. August 2011

  • Guilford County Schools Future Economy Task Force adds "Students will utilize the PIE framework to develop service learning experiences" as part of "utilize Service Learning opportunities in their career exploration" Goal.  October 2011

  • "The information you've provided below is incredibly valuable and topical not only to entrepreneurship, but to providing early and continued exposure to principles and tools useful in vision-directed creativity and career development from the earliest ages. 

    An important factor in your design is that application of engineering principles to pursuit of an endeavor, which I find absolutely critical to venture success.

    I am a big fan of the PIE approach and happy to market it and otherwise help in any way I can."

    Roger Cubicciotti - President www.nanomedia.com November 2011

  • "Great stuff"

    Dr. Dianne Welsh - Director, Entrepreneurship Cross-Disciplinary Program UNCG January 2012

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