I Tivoed Thomas L. Friedman Reporting: Addicted to Oil which appeared on Discovery Times in June 2006. Finally got a chance to watch it this evening, and was floored by this statement¹ by Shaunna Sowell:

“America can keep good manufacturing jobs, but we cannot do it the same way we’ve been doing it. We have to do it differently. I think you do first have to set an impossible goal. Amazing things happen when people claim responsibility for creating the impossible. It generates new ideas. It generates passion. And we exceeded a goal we thought was impossible. How exciting is that? And if you’re a true competitor, there’s nothing like winning.”

Shaunna Sowell, Vice President for Worldwide Facilities, Texas Instruments

Texas Instruments needed to build a new chip factory. Sowell and her colleagues were challenged with finding a way to reduce the cost by $180 million for a building in Texas. Otherwise, the plant and jobs would be located in China. The task was impossible, but they actually saved $220 million.

Impossible goals? Amazing!

¹ Part of the quote came from Tom Friedman’s January 18, 2006, New York Times column entitled, A Green Dream In Texas (paid access).