The Thinks You Can Think
October 15, 2010 by Cat Matson
By Cat Matson, Alito
Yes, you read that right – the thinks you can think. It comes from Dr Seuss and it accurately articulates some things I’ve been thinking about recently. And in particular, the impact our thinking has on our business.
I recently met with a client who has, in his mind, developed a cute little calculator that will help create and convert leads for his business. I was brought into conversations when a colleague saw opportunities beyond the original purpose. This ‘little’ calculator literally has the potential to change at least two industries. No kidding.
The problem is, the guy who developed it couldn’t see it. He couldn’t see the possibilities. He just saw the lead generator. I’m working with him to show him the potential, but I’m consistently bumping into what I call his ‘reality-wall’. His thinking is bound by the reality walls of his experiences and paradigms. And they’re made of solid brick. From where he’s standing, he can’t see through, over or around them.
Now I’m confident that my colleague and I will be able to show him the opportunities that he’s created for himself, but it really demonstrated for me the challenges most business owners face: We don’t know what we don’t know, and we often can’t see what we’re not expecting to see.
In this situation the business owner in question can’t see the possibilities literally at his finger-tips.
There are a few antidotes to this ‘paradigm-trap’.
- Read stories about successful people totally outside your industry. Their realities will be different to yours, and their stories will widen your ‘choices’ of paradigms. My favourites are the BRW ‘Top’ lists and the Financial Review magazines.
- Similarly, connect and mingle with people outside your industry. You may not have a lot in common, and in terms of expanding your possibility thinking. That’s a good thing
- Engage in robust, potent, stimulating conversations about your business ideas, projects and ‘wild notions’ with a variety of people. Their different ‘realities’ will help you see things in a different light.
- Allow time to think ‘random’ thoughts – and capture them. I’ve just discovered Evernote which allows me to capture everything from great webpages and articles I come across to half-formed thoughts and ideas. Collecting such things in the one place allows me to generate random connections that would have otherwise eluded me. The point here isn’t about the ‘technology’, it’s about the ‘allowing the possibilities’ and facilitating the possibility thinking.
- Think wild, think weird and think ‘possibilities’ instead of ‘how’ and and ‘why not’.
As Dr Seuss says …
You can think up some birds.
That’s what you can do.
You can think about yellow
Or think about blue.
You can think about red.
You can think about pink.
You can think up a horse.
Oh, the THINKS you can think!!
What do you THINK? What things do you think that hold you back? And when have you shifted your paradigm by thinking a different THINK?
MORE GREAT POSTS BY CAT MATSON
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Cat Matson - AlitoCat Matson ignites the performance of small business owners, their teams and ultimately their businesses through a range of robust mentoring, coaching and education programs. She is a strong advocate for practical, pithy and ‘real’ business advice and loathes the ‘one-size-fits-all’, ‘you-too-can-be-widely-successful-if-you-just-follow-OUR-system’ approach taken by many ’so-called’ business experts. Cat runs Alito with her husband Keith who provides synergistic and smart accounting expertise to their clients who enjoy having streamlined business advice across all key areas. When not working, Cat enjoys spending time with her two young boys and reading interesting business books and biographies.
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Hi Cat,
I can see possibilities for others, but unless they can quickly see them too, I tend not to blow too much energy trying to convince them i.e. timing is critical.
Best, Robin
I find stepping away from the doing and being in the fresh air with the intention of working the body, I discover that I also stretch my thinking and come up with different angles and possibilities.
Thanks for the evernote recommendation, as I am an idea generator, they literally spring out of my pores, but keeping them organized trips me up.
As a result, so many of my ideas, sit in my diary, head, or half baked in documents, tucked away in nameless folders.
Onto it as I write …
Cheers
Catherine
I also spend a lot of time ‘paradigm thinking’ i.e. thinking about thinking. Now there’s a great conversation!
Robin
Great post, thank you for the inspiration, Cat!! And I couldn’t agree more with you.
I really love looking for – and finding – inspiration in other fields. So many people out there with very interesting stories and successes…
For instance, no later than yesterday, I was reading an interview with superstar chef Heston Blumenthal, one of the Top-3 chefs in the world with his restaurant ‘The Fat Duck’ near London. This guy is a SERIOUS creative thinker. Well, believe it or not he was a real inspiration for me around customer service!
He always comes up with new ideas on how to enhance the customer experience, before and during their dinners. For instance, I don’t know if you saw it on MasterChef, but one of his signature dishes is called “Sounds of the Sea” and it’s served with an iPod you have to listen to during the dish, with sounds of ocean waves… In addition to being fun, it’s been scientifically proven to enhance the customer’s perception of the “sea” flavours. Anyway, in this interview he was discussing all sorts of things he does to get his clients excited before their dinners, with mini-websites, quirky bags of lollies sent to their homes, etc. Many industries could pick up customer relation ideas learning from chefs, I’m telling you!