Put your expertise aside
Remember that meditation app you downloaded and never used again?
The first exercise in the app is to picture your thoughts as cars driving on a road: “Step away from the road and look at them flow, without interfering.”
This helps us stop fixating on one problem or thought.
Just like in meditation, you should look at your train of knowledge. Take a break, get out of your river of thinking and look at it from the side. Embrace lateral thinking.
We are our own biggest barrier
As Duncan Wardle (former Head of Innovation at Disney) reminds us, the single biggest barrier that prevents us from innovating is our expertise. Naïve experts will get you out of your river of thinking and get you to think differently.
Bring naïve experts into any sessions you run. They won’t solve your challenge for you, but they’ll ask the embarassing question you’re too proud to ask; they’ll throw out the audacious idea you’re too proud to throw out.
When looking for innovative ideas, forget what you know and spit up the unexpected, the bold ideas.
They’re the ones that stick out, that stick around and challenge the status quo. They won’t solve the problem, but they’ll offer a new perspective, which will eventually help us solve the problem.
Abraham Maslow once said:
“If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”
The barrier is the tendency to use the methods we’re familiar with and skilled at in every situation. Put the hammer down and brainstorm, like a naïve expert.
