We need to face the issue of where great ideas come from. Their foundation is deep insights about customers–that part we know. But how do we get from insights to ideas? This is where we step into the process of invention.
As businesspeople, we tend to be well-versed in the identification and analysis of constraints. We have also developed fairly robust tools, such as scenario planning and options theory, for trying to deal with uncertainty writ large. But what about possibilities? If the ability to envision new possibilities lies at the heart of growth, what do we know about state-of-the-art possibility thinking?
Not much, it seems, because we have tended to see business as a largely analytic endeavor, with relatively little attention paid to its more creative aspects.
Research suggests that breakthrough feats tend to emerge from eight different ways of illuminating new possibilities: challenging, connecting, visualizing, collaborating, harmonizing, improvising, reorienting, and playing. Let’s look at how these might be applied to the search for growth.
1. Challenging
Challenging assumptions and defying convention are often the first steps. To produce something original, raise questions about the way things are done and entertains doubts about what is assumed to be necessary, natural, or customary. In the realm of business growth, we see much the same process at work when managers challenge mental models and industry assumptions. New possibilities emerge when they refuse to accept existing paradigms and constraints.
2. Connecting
