Starting Pistols At Track And Field Races, A New Way To Put On Band-Aids, And Beer Cans in Japan: How Breaking Tradition Can Lead To Progress
The 3-Word Quote: “Rethink the Routine”
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1.
An Ingraham High School social studies teacher ran to his classroom door to lock it from the outside.
Locking the classroom door is the first step in a drill that teachers have practiced for years in response to school shootings.
Lock classroom doors, turn off lights, and remain quiet.
But on the morning of November 8, 2022, it wasn’t a drill.
A gun had been stolen and was smuggled into Ingraham High School that day.
A fight occurred.
And shots were fired.
Moments later, a 17-year-old student, Ebenezer Haile, had been struck by the bullets.
Haile died in the school hallway.
Haile's family, the school, and the community were traumatized.
Like all schools that endure school shootings, counselors were brought in, procedures were examined, and new safety plans were enacted.
Hundreds of things were scrutinized and changed.
However, the students still suffered in many ways after the shootings.
The district has been 'dedicated to tackling a comprehensive approach to addressing trauma at Ingraham...'
Nearly every routine was examined.
One of the many decisions made came from an unusual source: the new athletic director, Mike Wentzel.
And his decision was prompted by something he found in his desk.
It was a gun.
2.
Josephine Dickson often cooked for her husband, Earle.
By all accounts, she was a good cook but a clumsy one.
Josephine frequently suffered minor cuts and burns during her meal preparation.
Frustrated by the minor injuries, Josephine asked her husband if there wasn't something he could do for her.
Earle, a cotton buyer for a large company at the time, was sympathetic to his wife's kitchen injuries.
So, one day, he brought home some antiseptic, gauze, and surgery tape.
He then cut a strip of tape 18 inches by 3 inches and placed a piece of gauze in the center.
Earle then 'covered the surface with a crinoline fabric to keep it from sticking to itself.'
He folded the strip in a roll so that if his wife had an accident in the kitchen, she could cut a section of the strip and cover the wound.
Why didn't she use a Band-Aid?
Well, this was 1920, and mass-produced bandages were not available.
In fact, Earle's contraption of gauze and cotton was the first Band-Aid.
You see, Earle was a cotton buyer for Johnson and Johnson.
Earle's wife loved the bandage strip her husband created so much that he shared the idea with his bosses at Johnson and Johnson.
The company loved the idea and created a small batch called Band-Aid Brand Adhesive Bandages.
But the idea didn't catch on quickly. People had to be taught why these strips were needed and taught how to use them.
The new Band-Aids were sold in a roll in 1921 and had to be cut to length.
In 1924, Johnson and Johnson wrapped and packaged them in pre-cut strips as we use them today.
One historian said, 'These days you'd be hard-pressed to find a person in the US who has not used a Band-Aid brand adhesive bandage.'
100 years of Band-Aids.
Used the same way for 100 years.
But a few months ago, I walked into a clinic to get a flu shot.
Thirty seconds into the appointment, I was shocked by something the nurse did.
She put the band-aid on me incorrectly.
'Oh, that's how we do it now,' the nurse said.
So, after decades, someone decided band-aids were being used incorrectly in some situations.
It turns out that someone was a physician and inventor named Dr. Robert Watson.
3.
Last winter, my daughter went on a brief trip to study in Tokyo.
She explored the city, took scores of pictures, and enjoyed experiencing a different culture.
Among the many activities the students participated in was a formal tea ceremony.
She enjoyed the ceremony, the dress, and the traditions, but there was one thing she didn't enjoy about the ceremony.
The tea.
She loved all aspects except the drink itself - she's an iced coffee connoisseur.
So, while the ceremony didn't convert her into a tea drinker, she appreciated the experience.
But there was never a time when she confused the tea for coffee.
But why would she?
The drinks look different and taste different.
Tourists and residents are more likely to consume their drinks from a can than a ceremonial tea cup.
However, some Japanese drink companies were concerned that people might be confused about what drinks were actually in the cans - even though all drinks were clearly labeled.
And to be sure of what is actually in canned drinks, some Japanese consumers must pay close attention to what's on top of those cans rather than what's printed on them.
Turns out what's on top of those cans is quite unique,
The Takeaway:
So, what do an athletic director at a school that endured a tragic shooting, a new way to use band-aids, and Japanese cans have in common?
Nothing should be compared to a school shooting - other events simply compare in importance or impact.
But each of these is an example of rethinking the routine and how making decisions based on the few is often helpful and healthy for the many.
When the new athletic director opened his desk drawer sometime after the shooting, he found something startling.
It was a gun.
But not just any gun.
This was a starter pistol - the type of gun officials use to start track and field events and races.
It wasn't that unusual that this gun was in his desk. After all, starter pistols have been used to commence events for over 100 years.
Olympic events have used the starting gun for decades; however, a new timing system has been in place for the past few Olympic games.
It is difficult to find when the starting pistol was first used to start races.
However, the purpose of using a gun was for both the sound and the smoke that a shot produced. Runners and spectators could hear and see when a race started.
Using the starting gun to begin races is a long-standing tradition.
But when the athletic director saw the gun - even a starting gun - in his desk, he knew he would never again start a race the traditional way at Ingraham High School.
Why?
He knew many of the students had been traumatized by the shooting and the sound of gunfire on campus.
The sound of gunfire stayed with the students.
Some students were now bothered by slamming lockers. Popping balloons caused some to panic. Loud noises startled many.
There was still fear in the school.
And so Wentzel was not going to add to this fear by using a gun on campus - even if it was to start a running race.
Wentzel figured the last place you should expect to hear gunfire is at a school.
So, last year, he spearheaded an effort to replace starting guns in the county schools with modern electronic timers.
With the electronic system, you push a button, and a tone starts the race.
No gun. No gunshot sound.
Ingraham and its leaders had to make hundreds of decisions to make the school safer and help students deal with the events.
However, the athletic director's decision on how to start track events seemed to be a great one.
He questioned a decades-old tradition - why a gun had to start the event—and then made a simple change.
But his seemingly simple decision spared some from panic.
Sometimes, a decision made for a few positively impacts many.
***
Earle Dickson invented Band-Aid brand bandages over 100 years ago.
And his company, Johnson and Johnson, made them a household name.
Received an injection, got a scrape, suffered a little cut? Unwrap a bandage and stick it on the wound.
Same process for 100 years.
Simple.
Except a few months ago, I went to get a flu shot.
It was at a local drugstore. They called me back to their mini-clinic, and I rolled up my sleeve, waiting for the needle.
But the nurse didn't stick a needle in my arm.
Instead, she first unwrapped a bandage and put it on my upper shoulder.
She could see I was confused.
'We put the band-aid on first now,' she said.
Wait. What?
For decades, people would walk in, roll up a sleeve, get an injection, and then have a band-aid placed their arm.
It's how it has always done. It was normal. It was expected.
But now a band-aid goes on first? Before the injection?
Apparently, the traditional method of giving injections first and then placing a bandage on the site after wasn't the safest.
Dr. Robert Watson, a physician who passed away in 2020, thought differently about the traditional way of giving injections and applying a bandage.
Like Ingraham High School athletic director Wentzel, Dr. Watson questioned a long-practiced tradition.
And what he invented was something called The Inject-Safe Barrier Bandage.
Dr. Watson knew that occasionally, some people transferred bloodborne pathogens when they gave injections.
Gloves weren't doing enough to protect against these rare transfers.
So, Dr. Watson challenged tradition.
His new Inject-Safe Barrier Bandage looks different - they're often circular with an adhesive membrane and clear in the center.
This new bandage style is placed on the injection site first.
And then the needle passes through the transparent membrane of the bandage second.
No longer was it injection first, band-aid second. Now, it's band-aid first, injection second.
The CEO of Inject-Safe says the bandage is 'constructed of a self-sealing, non-coring, elastomeric membrane, which is another way of saying once the needle passes through the barrier, it reseals preventing any fluid from coming out.'
The CEO says it's a safer, quicker, and more affordable way to administer a vaccine.
A new way of doing things because someone challenged tradition and thought differently.
***
My daughter loved Tokyo but wasn't a massive fan of the tea.
She drank the tea to participate in the ceremony, try new things, and experience new cultures.
But she was always clear as to what she was drinking. She did not confuse the tea with coffee.
There was no confusion because she could see what the liquid was. Tea is one color, coffee another - easy to distinguish between the two.
And if the drink was in a can, she could read the label to ensure what drink was in hand.
It's how nearly all of us tell the difference between most things - using our sight.
But in Japan, some of their cans have a series of tiny raised bumps on the tops of the cans.
And these dots help some people determine what drink is in the can.
But don't the cans in Japan have printed labels on them telling customers what the contents are?
Of course they do.
But if you are blind, these printed labels mean nothing.
The raised dots on top of the cans?
They're Braille - explicitly printed on the tops of cans to ensure people who are blind aren't grabbing a can of alcohol when they only want a soft drink.
The Braille symbols are only on most alcohol cans. The printed Braille dots spell words such as 'Beer' or 'Alcohol' as a one-word caution.
Less than 1% of Japanese people are visually impaired, and a smaller number than that read Braille.
So why add Braille to cans when so few people can actually read them and when cans have been sold without warnings for decades?
They did it because the brewers thought it would be helpful.
Japanese brewers initiated printing Braille on these alcohol cans - the government did not mandate this.
They did it because they thought it would make their product safer for some of their customers.
Japanese brewers, an athletic director, and a doctor all questioned tradition in search of better ways to do things.
How to start a race, when to put on bandages, and manufacturing Japanese beer cans have all been done the same way for a long time.
None had to be changed, but they were.
To gain insights, we often have to rethink our routines.
Sometimes progress comes from changing what we currently do, rather than by adding something new.
3 things before you go:
Watch: someone who challenged the status quo and rethought tradition; Terry Moore: How To Tie Your Shoes; interesting 3 minute TED Talk
Watch/Listen: my high school talent shows never had acts like this; great teamwork and skill with this drum line; an entertaining watch
Listen: who doesn’t love this song?
Hope to see you in 10 days. Thanks for reading.
-Jeff