Photo by Andrik - Langfield - Petrides on Unsplash |
Synopsis
Rather than swing for the fences and the big idea, learn the
simple little habit that actually makes those ideas more likely.
You might not believe it, but the best way to a
big idea – an idea that changes how we think, and one that stands a mightier
than normal chance of actually becoming real – comes from a small tweak.
It’s true. And it’s really that simple. But
examples make it easier to see, so let’s consider a few.
At the end of each work day, a nightclub manager
sees food being tossed out by the ton, in his establishment and countless
others across town. On his way home from work each night, he also sees dozens
of homeless and undoubtedly underfed souls. For a time, the parallel
observations add up to little, until one day he “tweaks” the two separate
thoughts so that they intersect one another: “What if all that wasted food
could feed those hungry souls?” he wonders. 20 years on, Robert Egger’s simple
mental tweak has spawned programmes nationwide that capture and repurpose food
from restaurants, grocery stores, farms, hotels, and school cafeterias. Today,
dozens of programs and organizations like DC Central Kitchen and LA Kitchen are
the backbone not just of successful initiatives to feed the homeless, but of
thriving catering businesses, senior citizen nutrition programs, social justice
education programs, and on and on – all catalyzed by a minor mental tweak.
Now consider this example. An entrepreneur, small
business advisor, and journalist spends a decade helping countless adults start
and grow their own business. In the same timeframe, she and her husband are
raising three kids – curious kids who wonder what exactly mom does. She knows
she can’t just offer them the description as she gives it to grownups. Their
eyes would glaze over and they’d never make the mistake of asking such a
question again. So she tweaks her grownup script and tells her children a
story. A children’s story. The fictional kind they prefer, that just happens to
be about kids starting a business. The characters encounter the same challenges
any adult business would, but the tale is seen and the challenges solved
through a kid’s mind. The mom, host of MSNBC’s Your Business JJ Ramberg, then
turns the simple story into a book for kids, and the lessons of business become
so simple a child can understand them. And curious children, far beyond her
three, become budding entrepreneurs.
For good measure, here’s one final example. A
young post-doc in psychology gets a plum job on a revolutionary new research
project. The goal is to figure out what really lies behind human learning,
thinking, and creativity. The dominant wisdom points to intelligence as the
source and the IQ test as the best indicator. But the early research results
tell Howard Gardner that something’s not quite right. Reality just doesn’t line
up with the metric. “Maybe intelligence isn’t the key indicator,” he first
muses. But then he tweaks that thought: “Maybe it’s because intelligence isn’t
uniform. Maybe,” he ponders, “just maybe there’s more than one form of
intelligence.” Five decades hence, no one has looked at intelligence, or
creativity, or learning, the same way, and we continue to pursue the best ways
in which to tap the range of our multiple intelligences.
Redefining a societal challenge... Making adult
lessons so simple a child can understand them… Putting forth a new theory of
how we humans think and do – as different as they seem, all of these examples
share important commonalities. None of these big ideas happened all at once.
Less obvious, none of them happened according to some prescient or pristine
plan. Least obvious of all, each began with the slightest of tweaks – a
blending of observations; a shift in language; a fine-tuning or flipping around
of a question – something that triggered a change of view and with it, the
possibilities.
Robert Egger, Founder of LA Kitchen |
Robert, JJ, Howard, and their stories stand out
because they didn’t let all their valuable experience, skills, or success hold
them back. It’s a counterintuitive but important distinction. They didn’t
passively conclude there was only one way to do what they did, or assume only
certain people or resources could accomplish the feat. There was no feat in the
beginning – or plan, or preconceived notion of where it would all lead. They
just tweaked their thinking, their view, and the borders of what they knew a
little bit to see what might happen.
And then they kept doing it. And a pattern
formed. In fact, in all likelihood that pattern was long in play for all of them
– tweaking here, wondering there, playing with an idea simply out of curiosity,
long before their big ideas began to surface. It is a near certainty that many
forays in this creative zone came to nothing – both before and after the tweak
they now identify as revealing the paths they took. But that didn’t concern
them. Their actions had their own purpose: play and wonder. The results were
accidents – purposeful accidents.
Though the practice of tweaking one’s thinking can lead to game changing ideas, it’s important to note that in forming this creative habit the promise of revelation or success isn’t the thing. The difference maker is the willingness to purposefully explore. All successful innovators will tell you it’s true. A simple pattern of creative tweaking is what leads to the seemingly accidental (and innovative) results. One tweak, begets other tweaks, which accumulate to a “twist” on an old view, that in turn shapes a new way of thinking, being, and progressing. It’s a secret of creativity that appears little but has the power to move the world.
Larry
Robertson is the author of two award-winning books: ‘The Language of Man.
Learning to Speak Creativity’ and ‘A Deliberate Pause: Entrepreneurship and its
Moment in Human Progress’. Larry is a graduate of Stanford University and Northwestern
University’s Kellogg School of Management and a former Adjunct Professor of
Entrepreneurship at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business.
Find out more at http://www.larryrobertson.me/Larry_Robertson/Hub.html
Find out more at http://www.larryrobertson.me/Larry_Robertson/Hub.html
Originally published on THE CREATIVITY POST
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