Unidentified Man #1: OK, idea number one.

HATTIE: (Voiceover) The centerpiece of Boardroom's corporate culture is something called I-Power.

MARTY: (Voiceover) I-Power is a simple suggestion system that's sort of automated.

Unidentified Man #2: We have many premiums in inventory in very small quantities that are still usable, but they're just not being used, so my idea is why not test a premium offer for Bottom Line Personal and Moneysworth in which we give a mystery gift of six different premiums, our choice.

MARTY: It was something that Peter Drucker suggested, not with that name, but he said, `Make your meetings more interesting. Ask the people at their next meeting for two suggestions,' which I did, and I was just knocked over by the suggestions. They were just so fantastic.

This is the essence of the Japanese system, which is "kaizen," and that was given to them by Deming as continuous improvement. It was imposed on them by MacArthur. Deming was brought over there by MacArthur, and the leaders of Japanese business were told, `You pay attention to this man.' So that it was imposed on relatively small businesses at that time, and it just grew and grew and grew. It works. It's just amazing, and it's not just the suggestions, that's the detail. It's how we get people to think, and it brings about a huge amount of cooperation. The I-Power meeting that you did attend only hinted at it. But at some of these meetings, you'll come out with an idea and someone else'll say, `But we could make it blue,' and then someone said, `Yes, but we could put yellow polka dots on it.' And, obviously, I'm saying it wrong, but it's just so exciting when that building goes on.

HATTIE: The give and take and the back and forth between departments and between units who would not normally talk to one another, and then maybe eventually jeopardize each other's productivity, not on purpose, but just because they weren't talking. But the I-Power gets them together to talk.

MARTY: And we've used it--once you become adept at it, you can use it in other ways. We've had differences between people here, some really unpleasant situations, where--you're gonna have in any business, we had it too--and others have tried to solve it, and then I came in a couple of times and I say, `Hattie, would you please give me five reasons--five things you can do that would make Marty's life better.' And, `Marty, would you please give me five things that you can do to make Hattie's life better.' And also, `Hattie, would you give me five things that Marty is doing that steps all over your feet,' and vice versa. `But give it to me, don't exchange it,' you know? `Give it to me, I'm in the middle, and then I will edit it out and change the language so it's acceptable.' And it's just incredible. It's just like magic.

HATTIE: I-Power, then, is a way for you to describe your corporate culture.

MARTY: Indeed. Besides the ideas, the important thing with I-Power is the development of the individual.