Course Textbook- Beebe, S. A., & Mottet, T. P. (2013). Business and professional communication (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Do you or your family own any Tupperware? Chances are the answer is yes. Tupperware, invented in the 1940s, consists of the ubiquitous plastic bowls and other kitchen storage containers that keep food fresh because of its unique way of "burping" air out of the container. A Tupperware party, a sales meeting usually in someone's home, is held every 2. 5 seconds resulting in annual sales of over 51.2 billion.' But the pervasive influence of Tupperware in American kitchens during the past half century almost didn't happen. The inventor of Tupperware, Earl Silas Tupper, was a genius in creating new products, but he didn't know how to sell them. Then Tupper met Brownie Wise, an energetic person with a gift for sales. Their meeting and working together is a testament to how people with different skills and talents can create something that neither one could do on their own. Wise was a marketing genius; Tupper was a brilliant inventor. Through Wise's sales ideas (home Tupperware parties), Tupperware became a household word and the Tupperware business flourished. Without Wise, Tupperware would probably be a forgotten product. But because of their collaboration, great things happened. Working together and with teams of salespeople, Tupperware became a household word.

Leading questions-

1. Brownie Wise and Earl Tupper each had different talents: Wise was the sales person and Tupper the inventor. When have you been part of a group or team that included people with different talents and backgrounds that accomplished more than was possible if the individual group members had worked alone?

2. When you have worked with people who were different from you, what strategies have you used to bridge the differences? What would you like to learn that would help you collaborate with people who have different skills, talents, and backgrounds than you?