• Begin with a terminal objective. For example, if dealing with auto repair, an objective could read: “Given access to all tools, materials and standard equipment, and a flat tire having a single puncture, repair the tire; time limit 20 minutes.”

In a world where corporate leaders strive on a daily basis to maximize their workforces’ performance and do more with less, Steve Jobs, Apple CEO, chooses to go against the conventional “batten down the hatches” approach when times are bad. Instead, Jobs sees lean times as an opportunity to ramp up research and development so that when things begin to improve, your company is already one step ahead (or more) of your competitors.

In fact, the entire corporate culture at Apple, steered largely by Jobs’ vision, is anti-“hedging your bets.” Instead, Apple's philosophy centers on the belief that too many companies “spread themselves thin, making a profusion of products to defuse risk, and become mired in the mediocre. Apple's approach is to put every resource it has behind just a few products and make them exceedingly well. Apple also is brutal about culling past hits: The company dropped its most popular iPod, the Mini, on the day it introduced the Nano.” According to leaders at Apple, the Nano was a better product with higher margins, so why would they dilute company resources by producing both?