The $10,000 Chalk Mark: Why Knowing Where to Mark is Worth Everything Imagine a team of highly skilled engineers standing helplessly before a giant, malfunctioning machine. They have exhausted all their knowledge, their tools, and their theories—yet the machine remains lifeless. The factory is at a standstill, production is halted, and money is being lost by the minute. Enter **Charles Proteus Steinmetz**, a man whose mind was as brilliant as his stature was small. Henry Ford himself had called upon him to solve this mystery. Steinmetz didn’t rush to take things apart. He didn’t demand expensive equipment or an army of assistants. Instead, he **listened**. He **observed**. He **calculated**. For two days, he immersed himself in the machine’s hums, vibrations, and inconsistencies, performing complex calculations in his notebook. Then, with quiet confidence, he made a single mark with a piece of chalk. “This is the problem,” he said....