Have you ever been asked to consider a new opportunity, to innovate, to grow, to think outside the box, or better yet, think like there is no box?
Think about it: How would you go about doing that? What would happen if you did?
The answer to these questions is far more sophisticated than the answer that’s currently being accepted.
While this approach is far too common, thinking inside the box only presents obstacles to growth and the reaching of maximum potential. In a paper entitled, “Breaking Free From The Box: Thinking Inside The Box Is Unnecessary,” Amy Reid, who is a professor of applied psychology at Humber College in Toronto and the author of two books on confidence, writes, “Inside the box (that is, staying inside the box) means that you see some problem and believe that the solution to that problem lies inside the box.” To break free from this box, Reid says you need to look outside the box and also ask, “How might the problem be solved outside of the box? A recurring problem facing many business leaders is they think that business challenges are confined to existing boundaries.
Contrary to what you might assume, we aren’t actually taught to think outside the box. But, if you think critically about how you think, why you think what you think, and how you can change your thought process, you’ll find that it’s the perfect antidote to the futility of overused business clichés.
Let’s take a closer look at the thought process that one should think outside the box. The fact is that most people tend to live within a limited spectrum of possible thoughts, experiences, ideas and so forth. Because we can do this, we tend to go with what we know, what we’ve seen and what we feel – which is a natural extension of our animal nature. However, most people still spend an awful lot of time with the same physical, social and historical experiences.
By questioning the things that are right in front of us and taking a 360° approach to business opportunities, we’ll be able to more easily think outside the box, and recognise and capitalise on more win-win opportunities that are right in front of us.
While thinking outside of the box is credited for helping businesses and individuals generate breakthrough concepts and find clever, unexpected solutions to issues, it can also create a self-limiting trap or boundary that conceals possibilities and stifles the creativity and innovation needed for continuous growth and success.
In other words, there are definite disadvantages to assuming that all solutions can be found outside the box.
When we all, as individuals, organisations and societies, start assuming that certain outcomes are not within the box, or are strictly outside the box, we limit ourselves in terms of innovation and growth, and we perpetuate our own confusion and lack of control in a sea of uncertainty.
If you look at companies who think like there is no box, you will see a number of great examples of innovators knocking down barriers and creating brand new pathways to economic growth and innovation. Amazon was able to reinvent the retail industry and change the way people shop, Netflix mastered video streaming and launched an internet revolution, Tesla created the electric car, and Ikea created flat-pack furniture.
What they all share in common is a strong focus on thinking like there is no box. All of them were not afraid of looking for innovation in new areas where they didn’t exist or weren’t considered before.
There are thousands of leads, opportunities and challenges (product solutions, services or business strategies) that are right in front of us, but most of us tend to focus on the two or three that we’re actively seeking or that we’ve been told by others we need to pursue to be successful. Yet, what we don’t do is view all of the opportunities simultaneously in all of their facets. Instead, we focus on those that directly relate to the issues or problems we’re experiencing and pursue one solution or avenue.
The key is to think differently and in a new way. What we need to do is make a critical shift in mindset and adopt a new assumption—there is no box.
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