For an entrepreneur, having the chance to pitch a business idea to local venture capitalists is a big deal, like a budding actor getting an audition with an independent film director. But having a chance to pitch an idea to Kleiner Perkins–the most prestigious firm in Silicon Valley–is more like a private one-on-one audition with Steven Spielberg. You could walk out a star, or you could walk out having blown the biggest chance of your life.

And that’s why twenty-nine-year-old Jerry Kaplan was nervous as he stood in the Kleiner Perkins office in early 1987. His presentation would start in about thirty minutes. Kaplan was a former researcher at Stanford who had quit to work at Lotus in its early days. Lotus, with its bestselling Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet, became a stock market darling. Now Kaplan was ready for the next challenge. He had a vision for a smaller, more portable generation of personal computers.

He hung around outside the conference room as the previous entrepreneur finished his presentation. Watching the other entrepreneur, he felt underprepared. As he observed, his nervousness advanced toward panic. The other entrepreneur wore a dark pin-striped suit with a red power tie. Kaplan had on a sport jacket with an open-collared shirt. The other entrepreneur was projecting an impressive color graph onto the whiteboard. Kaplan was carrying a maroon portfolio with a blank pad of paper inside. This did not bode well.

Kaplan had thought that he was showing up for an informal “get to know you” session, but, standing there, he realized how naive he’d been. He had “no business plan, no slides, no charts, no financial projections, no prototypes.” Worst of all, the überprepared entrepreneur in the boardroom was facing a skeptical audience that now peppered him with tough questions.

When Kaplan’s turn arrived, one of the partners introduced him. Kaplan took a deep breath and started: “I believe that a new type of computer, more like a notebook than a typewriter, and operated by a pen rather than a keyboard, will serve the needs of professionals like ourselves when we are away from our desks. We will use them to take notes, send and receive messages through cellular telephone links; look up addresses, phone numbers, price lists, and inventories; do spreadsheet calculations; and fill out order forms.”

He covered the required technology, highlighting the major unknown: whether a machine could reliably recognize handwriting and convert it into commands. Kaplan recounts what happened next:

My audience seemed tense. I couldn’t tell whether they were annoyed by my lack of preparation or merely concentrating on what I was saying. . . . Thinking I had already blown it, and therefore had little to lose, I decided to risk some theatrics.

“If I were carrying a portable PC right now, you would sure as hell know it. You probably didn’t realize that I am holding a model of the future of computing right here in my hands.”

I tossed my maroon leather case in the air. It sailed to the center of the table where it landed with a loud clap.

“Gentlemen, here is a model of the next step in the computer revolution.”

For a moment, I thought this final act of drama might get me thrown out of the room. They were sitting in stunned silence, staring at my plain leather folder–which lay motionless on the table–as though it were suddenly going to come to life. Brook Byers, the youthful-looking but long-time partner in the firm, slowly reached out and touched the portfolio as if it were some sort of talisman. He asked the first question.

“Just how much information could you store in something like this?”

John Doerr [another partner] answered before I could respond. “It doesn’t matter. Memory chips are getting smaller and cheaper each year and the capacity will probably double for the same size and price annually.”

Someone else chimed in. “But bear in mind, John, that unless you translate the handwriting efficiently, it’s likely to take up a lot more room.” The speaker was Vinod Khosla, the founding CEO of Sun Microsystems, who helped the partnership evaluate technology deals.

Kaplan said that from that point on he hardly had to speak, as partners and associates traded questions and insights that fleshed out his proposal. Periodically, he said, someone would reach out to touch or examine his portfolio. “It had been magically transformed from a stationery- store accessory into a symbol of the future of technology.”

A few days later, Kaplan got a call from Kleiner Perkins. The partners had decided to back the idea. Their investment valued Kaplan’s nonexistent company at $4.5 million.

What transformed this meeting from a grill session–with an anxious entrepreneur in the hot seat–to a brainstorming session? The maroon portfolio. The portfolio presented a challenge to the boardroom participants–a way of focusing their thoughts and bringing their existing knowledge to bear. It changed their attitude from reactive and critical to active and creative.

The presence of the portfolio made it easier for the venture capitalists to brainstorm, in the same way that focusing on “white things in our refrigerator” made it easier for us to brainstorm. When they saw the size of the portfolio, it sparked certain questions: How much memory could you fit in that thing? Which PC components will shrink in the next few years, and which won’t? What new technology would have to be invented to make it feasible? This same process was sparked in Sony’s Japanese engineering team by the concept of a “pocketable radio.”

Concreteness creates a shared “turf” on which people can collaborate. Everybody in the room feels comfortable that they’re tackling the same challenge. Even experts–even the Kleiner Perkins venture capitalists, the rock stars of the technology world–benefit from concrete talk that puts them on common ground.

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Making ideas tangible and real is powerful. Helping our customers “see” is priceless. Making your ideas concrete ” magically transform a stationery- store accessory into a symbol of the future of technology.” This is what takes us from a mockup room to a brand new tower filled with beautiful patient rooms.

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This article is excerpted from the book Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, written by Chip and Dan Heath. Chip Heath is the Thrive Foundation of Youth Professor of Organizational Behavior in the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University, and Dan Heath is a Senior Fellow at Duke University’s CASE Center, which supports social entrepreneurs. The Heath brothers’ new book, Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, was released in 2010 and debuted at #1 on The New York Times bestseller list. For free resources related to both books, see heathbrothers.com.

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As you can see from the last blog its been a while since we’ve seen you! Our apologies for our “blogging hiatus”.  It’s now the beginning of the December, in just a matter of weeks we will be wrapping up the year 2010 – an incredibly busy year for Modular Services Company. Our Method line has soared, so much so, that we will soon be releasing an exciting new marketing efforts around it…stay tuned! …We don’t want to give away the secret just yet! We’ve launched our brand new Mini Magazine, Connect in hopes to bring together Architects, Clinicians and Contractors – three very different industries that all come together during the process of hospital construction. We’ve launched our new color selection page to help you along in the design stage of your products. And we’ve wrapped up another successful season of tradeshows, hospital installations and research for future product design.

We hope you haven’t given up on our blog just yet – there’s much to come – industry information, discussions, even give-aways! Bring on 2011!

I suppose in some areas creativity should only be taken so far….no one wants me to get creative in the kitchen. no one. It’s best some things are left to a manual. You don’t want to go in public wearing those pants with that shirt. People will stare. But then again – you don’t want a closet full of all button down, starched white shirts, either – do you?

Surely there are others out there like me with this same need. I would imagine that when designing a patient room, some such as myself would like a little direction. A little inspiration.

Modular Services Company is a custom manufacturer. Our products aren’t created then stored on shelves. They are built-to-order. We like to boast that “you can have what you want” or with some of our products, we go as far to say, “begin with a blank canvas.” No templates, no shelved units, the possibilities are endless (assuming they meet UL and hospital grade standards, of course.) We believe that every hospital and patient care area is unique. We understand that each space is determined by architectural considerations, staff preferences and patient requirements.

That being said, having total freedom to create from a “blank canvas” can be a bit intimidating for someone like myself. We understand. We understand that design is a process and requires a great amount of collaboration. That is why at Modular, we are committed to a partnership with each of our customers to design a complete headwall system to the highest level of quality. Dream a little. Be creative. Have fun designing your ideal patient room with us.

My point?  Style is important.  Not just to seventeen-year-old girls, but to businesses too.  Your company brand, your products, your website, the coordinating colors used in your brochures. It’s all style. It’s what gets you noticed and differentiates you from your competitors.

Take the IPhone for example, the geniuses at Apple have found a way to take a phone and make it “smart.” It’s sleek design, elegance and simplicity combined with marketing’s nonchalant “if you want it, you can get it” attitude has left people standing in line, and willing to pay $100, $300 or $400 to have one in hand.  For IPhone owners, it has become a necessity to life. And who can blame them? From finding the nearest Starbuck’s to remotely driving a car, “there’s an App for that”.

But Styles Change.  Motorola, Verizon Wireless and Google just released the Driod, an android phone marketed to take the place of Apple’s IPhone. Although not as sleek in design as the IPhone, the Droid promises to go beyond the IPhone in functionality, “Whatever IPhone doesn’t, Droid does.” The new release leaves many consumers excited to get the new technology in their hands, and even more looking to Apple, wondering how they’ll respond and with what.

Style differentiates. It’s not just about what you do, but the image you portray while you’re doing it.

At Modular Services Company, we understand the importance of style. It is what sets us apart. When designing a hospital room, most people don’t look at medical gases and electrical services as an opportunity for art, but at Modular Services Company, we see things a little differently.  We view headwalls as a chance to create the perfect design fit uniquely to your specific needs.

Company style is more than aesthetics.  It goes deeper. Much deeper.  Whether you’re a technology company, a web-browsing host, a headwall manufacturer or a seventeen year old – your style should tell the world who you are and your purpose in it. Whatever you do, do it in style.

Ultimately, the question is this “DO PEOPLE AND FOR THAT MATTER COMPANIES AND CO-WORKERS REALLY DO THIS KIND OF THING?  DO PEOPLE, DO COMPANIES, DO CO-WORKERS EVER GIVE UP THIER FREE TIME TO JOIN TOGETHER TO POSITIVELY IMPACT THEIR LOCAL COMMUNITY?”  I know it sounds somewhat cheesy, but it is a serious question, one all of us need to tackle.  It isn’t about PR or publicity.  It is about values, internal values of a company from the top down.  It is about values that encourage and inspire greatness, not just in performance at work, but performance in life. At MSC, one of our core values is IMPACT.  We strive to positively IMPACT our customers, our company and our community.  Does your office, your company, or even more personal do you long to do more/be more than just your job.  Do you long to have an extraordinary IMPACT on your community with your own time?

See at Modular Services Company we Design Extraordinary, Custom Healthcare Products, that’s what we do Monday thru Friday!  If you have ever done business with us in the past, you know like I do MODULAR SERVICES COMPANY IS MORE THAN A JUST A MANUFACTURING COMPANY.  We are electrical engineers, product managers, mechanical engineers, estimators, production specialists, clinical designers, submittal engineers, solutionists, design engineers and so much more. We are pioneers, innovators, and problem solvers in the Healthcare Design Industry. However, on that sunny Saturday in August, what I saw was even more extraordinary than all of those titles and individuals.

See I took my co-workers invitation, and I met up with the close to 50 other MSC employees at Hope Crossing, the first ever fully, master planned neighborhood by Habitat for Humanity in Oklahoma City.  We had been asked to come and in one day frame an entire house, a house where an Oklahoma City resident would eventually move in and live!  It was amazing to get to be apart of literally lifting a house into existence.  We swung hammers, swept floors, laid insulation, and YES we sweat like Beasts!  Sure, it was hard work, but even in the midst of all the work, I could feel the weight of the day, I could feel the enormous impact we were getting to have on this lady’s life.  During the day, the woman who was going to move into the house we were building came by and worked with us.  She had so much joy giving us a tour of her what would be new house.  At the end of the day, our group had framed, sheathed, and blue board insulated the entire house.

EXTRAORDINARY IMPACT!  This woman’s life will never be the same, and why?  Because a group of people from MSC and 100′s of others said, “I am not going to go to the lake this weekend, or sit on my couch watching TV or waste my day surfing the internet.  I am going to go and sweat with my friends from work and we are going to help build a family a house today!”
So how do you respond to this?

This kind of story demands a response.  We’ve got to start by asking ourselves how do we make EXTRAORDINARY IMPACT not only at work but also in our communities.  How do we create cultures in our workplace where we encourage each other to use our own time to get out and make a difference in our communities?  For me, it must start now… We have to generate ideas, new ideas…Post your ideas NOW… In workrooms, on blogs, in offices!   Let’s call each other to serve and make an impact on our local communities. TAKE STEPS NOW!

Guilty of being a bit of a “perfectionist,” it’s rare for me to consider my “best” to be good enough.  I don’t mean that to be negative, I’m just guilty of spending a great amount of time and energy looking for ways to improve on what is considered best.

Lately, my mindset had changed.  Why reinvent the wheel?  Rather than focusing on making better best…or best better, the ultimate goal should be focusing on what is “next.”

“Next” is true innovation.  Pioneers are always looking beyond; searching for the next adventure. Next is what launches businesses from drowning in the cutthroat competitive red oceans to swimming in the blue where there is unknown market space and demand is created rather than battled over. Focusing on the “next” results in the creation of new ideas and products that have a lasting effect on your community, your industry or possibly even the world.

At Modular Services Company we are pioneering new territory in clinical design. We are the innovators. The leaders within our industry. Look to us to see what’s “next” in healthcare design.



To be interpersonal is to be open to communication, to actively listen and dialogue through questions, statements, comments, sketches and drawings, photographs and mock up rooms, renderings and final installations. If we cannot connect to the people that use the product, the product will never serve the people in a way that is helpful and long lasting.



MSC makes it our final goal to design products that meet the needs of the end users. We strive to design products that are human centric in nature. This begins by listening, learning, by asking questions, watching and conversing. Even though we have designed and produced thousands of products for all different types of needs, we begin each design process with curiosity and a desire to understand what is needed most, so our product can truly help and serve the user.



The Interpersonal interaction through the design is the Method design process. The Method is the human centric design process and partnership to create custom healthcare products. 



An MSC design team works with the customer to design the ideal product, this includes the clinical design, aesthetic design and installation design.



We design products, services and process solutions that solve real problems and thus make meaning to the user. The design is human centric and involves lots of listening, researching, humility, flexibility, curiosity and experience. 



So if you have could have whatever you wanted in a headwall system, what would it look like, how would it function, how could it help your daily tasks, needs and goals?

Your very own coffee table can become a metaphor that helps illustrate the design process and how it can relate to the new Element by Modular. How people use their coffee tables differs from house to house and functionality can change from day to day.  How do clinicians address the needs of their patients?  What is the acuity level and how can adaptability and flexibility be enhanced and optimized?  When we add, subtract, arrange elements (our stuff) on this table top or negative space; we are making design decisions. 

The primary purpose of a coffee table is function – what you need, when you need it within easy reach – remote(s), laptop, games, food and drink and a convenient place for feet. The headwall must also prioritize function and ergonomics for the clinicians, patients and staff.  Aesthetics also play a part in how many of us arrange elements on our coffee tables; often a focal point, this surface can have a decorative function – floral arrangements, candles, decorative objects all make a statement.

The Element contributes to the room aesthetics and the healing environment and offers limitless creative possibilities. Finally, a coffee table can be an extension of who you are and your space – identity and image.  What is your message and your passion?  Coffee table books and photographs are carefully selected for this purpose.  What image does the hospital want to convey? The design of both table top and headwall are driven by function, elements that are useful, attractive and telling come together as an efficient and cohesive unit.

Like the home coffee table, Modular’s Element is unique to the needs of each installation and solutions are found to meet those specific criteria. We begin with a head wall negative space and collaboratively we explore and find the best possible solutions to meet functional, aesthetic and identity criteria.  But … please don’t put your feet up on our headwalls!!

So, how can this be done you ask?  It’s as easy as changing a light bulb to an energy efficient one, turning off that light or other appliances when not in use, recycling waste easily taken at your curbside, watching the runoff from your sprinkle system, or harvesting the rain water from your gutters to your garden. 

With the vastly increasing population, the impact that we have as a society on the earth’s finite resources must be addressed. 

The same holds true for Healthcare- its smart practices can encourage a greener planet.

As a healthcare manufacturer, Modular Services Company realizes our responsibility and is making vast improvements within our organization to make a difference.  MSC recycles all steel and aluminum materials leftover from the manufacturing process.  All products are free of latex, DEHP, Mercury phthalates, persistent accumulative toxic compound, carcinogens and reproductive toxins – all extremely detrimental to the environment.

To decrease waste, Modular Services Company packages all of our products in the least amount of material needed for safe transport and use.  Packages are specifically made for the product/products being shipped and their designated quantities and all shipping containers are made from cardboard or wood, both materials easily recycled.

As a company, Modular has recently formed a ‘Healthy Environment Committee’ to encourage healthy living amongst employees and their environment.   The committee has started a paper recycling program throughout the administrative offices and manufacturing plant.  They have placed new vending machines in break rooms with healthier & fresher eating choices.  In addition, Modular has encouraged exercise by participating in the American Heart Association Heart Walk and starting a walking program in which employees compete against for prizes.

Modular Services Company is always looking for new and improved ways to minimize our effect on the environment and will continue these efforts for future generations.

Just a few fun, fast and last minute thoughts to “go green” by – “It’s a lawn not a lake!”, “You are what you eat!”, and last but not least, “Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle!”

Honestly this may sound strange, but I have been thinking about and researching the subject of photosynthesis.  You might be wondering why photosynthesis?  It all started with a friend of mine putting together a training/mentoring group to develop young leaders in business.  The group is going to be small and extremely helpful to young leaders (and their organizations) on their way to senior leadership in their company or business.  In thinking about the process of developing leaders I began to think about it through the lens of photosynthesis.  This led me to think about photosynthesis and how it relates to creating and inspiring ideas that lead to action or products or something of value.

The part of “Photosynthesis” I have connected to is the “Synthesis” part.  The word Synthesis means “the combining of the constituent elements of separate material or abstract entities into a single or unified entity.”  Put simply the word synthesis denotes process, it means the combining of separate parts to be one and every part of the process is important to eventually combining to make up the whole.  This process can take time, one part of the process may occur quickly while other parts take more time

This synthesis is all around us.  We see it everyday.  The synthesis of plants growing or energy forming deep in the earth are examples of synthesis.  I think the reason I am so interested is I am realizing more and more that good products and ideas come from a process of creation that clings to the process.  They come from understanding the unique parts of the whole, by understanding the careful balance of the single part and how each relates to the final whole.  Most of all I am realizing that getting to the final result takes time and the time part of the process is often the most important aspect of the end result.  In a culture where you can have it now, where waiting on something is painful, where if we cannot have it now, we do not want it, where we require immediate reaction to almost everything we do and deep down inside we all love it that way, we are addicted to it and as a result we do not wait on things well.  To a person in the Generation Y the idea of synthesis is alarming.  Realizing the process is important is initially a downer, believe me I want it now, but there is wisdom in slowing down and working the process.  The proof is everywhere.

Learning to be comfortable with the process is very important.  In developing new products, ideas, headwalls, a healthy economy or new leaders it is important to acknowledge the process and not be tempted to skip ahead or leave out steps.  Letting ideas evolve and the process to run its course will allow for a unified and complete whole.  It may take time but in the end the process will generate positive fruit.  Some things simply cannot be created without following the process, without the synthesis playing out.