Week 1 reading: Burn the box

This post is a response to the Art of Possibility Chapter 1 -3


Thinking outside of the box! Innovation, game changer, paradigm shift.

These catch phrases have been used by corporations to get their employees to come up with the next big thing. As a result of the perpetual abuse of these words, I have developed a very strong eye rolling and sometimes gag reflex everytime I hear them. Why? Because large companies, with all their rules, processes, delude themselves into believing that they can innovate. I firmly believe that to think outside of the box you either have to burn the box, not know there is box or live in a different box. Start with a blank slate.

Just to clarify, large companies can innovate and come with new ideas and design but these ideas are more along the theory of phyletic gradualism. That is progressive change, baby steps. True innovation and out of the box ideas are thoes that truely changes how things are done or peoples lives. It was said by my teacher in high school (Mr. Paul) that no amount of development in transitors would have given us modern computing. Integrated circuits true innovation provided that leap.

Every year in my company we have an innovation fair, it is an opportunity for employees to share their ideas with management. Sounds like a good idea to foster innovation and the creation of the next best thing but is it? In the last 10 years of the fair there have been no game changers derived from this program. Lets examine the reasons for this. Why are some ideas chosen over the others? The first constraint is that we can't develop every idea so we can only choose a few (wall 1). Of course these ideas the cost of development has to fit with in the innovation budget (wall 2), then we have to choose something that fits with the current company vision or product line.( wall 3).Every employee are aware of these constraints so right off the bat we have started building our box, this box affects what the employees submit and what management chooses. These constraints and processes gets in the way of out of the box thinking, as a consequence large companies tend to get their next big idea by buying smaller companies.

Which brings me back to my statement above, to innovate, paradigm shift, change the game and think out side the box you must burn the box. That is get rid of all of the rules and assumptions you make about everything or at least one thing in particular.And then you can innovated and change the game. A study of history reveals this to be true, coca cola on of the world biggest icons and popular drinks, was not invented by the established soda industry? Coca cola came from a pharmacist, he did not set out to make a soda, i.e. he was not aware of the box. (information given at a tour of Coca Cola)

The art of possibilites is all about changing your thinking removing your assumptions and preconceptions i.e burn the box. Because of how our brains think it is difficult to burn the box so people have developed games or exercises to foster this time of thought. Once such example is is yourself an A.(This was taken from the book Art of Possibilities)
This concept is liberating as it removes the burden of achieving an A, it also removes the thinking that perfection is necessary to receiving an A. Thus moving an A from an improbability to a possibility. This positive blank slate gives the mind the room to create and become inventive, to see opportunities.

This then begs the question how does this idea work in education?

In the movie Freedom writers, the give the students an A concept is dramatized. Erin Gruwell offered her students a chance to start over their lives. The result was the transformation of students who were considered unteachable to college-bound seniors with a unique and valuable perspective. By removing all her student preconceptions, baggage and constraints she freed them to realize their true potential.

Just another random side thought, have you noticed, that when you look at babies and children, we tend to think that the whole world is open to them. They can be anything do anything, there is a whole world of possibilities open to them. But as we grow older the world of possibility grows smaller, we start to think well if we have not done it by now then we probably ever will. In our minds possibilities and time seem to inextricably linked but what amount of time makes the difference? Seconds, minutes, days, years decades? Just something to think about

The pictures above was taken by me of my son