Change Without Pain

Recently, I gave a presentation in my Operations Management class on "Change Without Pain", a book by Eric Abrahamson. It was really interesting to read about how we should learn to reuse the five key assets organizations have. Those assets are people, social networks, culture, structure and processes. The author also talked about creative organization, which is learning how to reorganize and reuse assets rather than get rid of them completely. He gave a great example using legos: As a child, when playing with legos you create something and then what? You don't throw away all of the pieces, buy new ones, and start over. You creatively recombine those legos to build something new and different. I thought that was a great visual!




(http://books.google.com/booksid=HqjpNd9KejMC&dq=change+without+pain+abrahamson&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=PWmS9GVApKonQehhrWTCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CBQQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q&f=false)

Under Armour

My group decided to invest in Under Armour stock, and I realized that I don't know too much about this company. I can honestly say I own one under armour shirt and the rest of my athletic gear came from either nike or adidas. So, to make me feel more comfortable with the company, I got a basic history of how this company came to be.

(http://investor.underarmour.com/investors.cfm) It started with a desire for a different kind of workout shirt, one that kept sweat from soaking your clothes and that let your skin breathe. It was founded in 1996 by a former University of Maryland player Kevin Plank. It has grown to be a common article of clothing for all sports, and there are even different types of under armour for different conditions. "Wear HeatGear® when it's hot, ColdGear® when it's cold, and AllSeasonGear® between the extremes."

I want to give this company a chance now that I know a little more about their apparel. I play a lot of sports, and I think it would be interesting to test out their different gears for different conditions.