Devesh 🐝 Bhatt

7 years ago · 3 min. reading time · ~10 ·

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THE 4 MYTHS ABOUT INNOVATIVE THINKING - by Devesh Bhatt

THE 4 MYTHS ABOUT INNOVATIVE THINKING - by Devesh Bhatt

LID= ASSUMPTIONS

2=KNOWLEDGE

WALL 4= EXPERIENCE
WALL1=PURPOSE

FLOOR=PERSPECTIVE


MYTH 1 – THINK OUT OF THE BOX/THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX

The mind wanders and it can think anything and everything. The box is an illusion, a self created framework with the walls of Knowledge, Experience, Ability and Purpose. The lid is made up of our Assumptions that relate to our Fourth Wall, the Wall of Purpose. [I would get down to the Floor in MYTH 2].

The moment we have Purpose, we find ourselves in a closed Box. Any attempt to claw our way out (through Knowledge, Experience, Ability or Purpose] eventually leads us to relieve ourselves of our assumptions, hence open the lid and get out of the box. Once we are OUT OF THE BOX, it becomes a brick in one of our 4 walls in a New Found Box. (box within a box so to speak)

The first thought after this thought was “This is terrible”. It is an ever –repeating recursive loop. The more I try to understand this Box as an illusion, the more it persists in my mind keeping me confined.

I do not think I can ever “THINK OUT OF THE BOX” or "THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX AFTER HAVING CREATED THE LIMITATIONS OF MY PROBLEMS WITHIN THE BOX".

Firstly I am not sure whether it is your box or my box.

Secondly, I think my only concern should be  “HOW TO GET OUT OF MY BOX” and I would have found the solution.

MYTH 2 – THE BOX IS AN ILLUSION

Indeed, this is a myth, the box very much exists (in our minds). It exists because it is real for each of us, defining our thoughts and actions.

What is an illusion for you , is a real framework for me, a framework that helps me learn new things. E.g. an illusion created by an adult is real enough for a child to believe in and help the child learn.

Another important point in this regard is this, every time I get out of my box, I find myself in a new box [So-called Enhanced walls of Knowledge, Experience and Ability + a Wall of New Purpose and a lid of new Assumptions]

The floor , so to speak, is another form of assumption upon which our 4 walls stand – I would term this floor as perspective [I would avoid saying practicality, logic, wisdom, sensibility etc as these things are frequently subject to an external scale of judgement/measurement or they are not absolute… perspective is intermittently absolute as it ceases to exist upon our own choosing or demise].

Therefore, we are all enslaved to the habit of creating frameworks, and with each learning, we change our master, promoting ourselves to the task of creating a new framework, a new box of temporary confinement. (Don't worry, this is just a myth--- everyone is free to ditch it in its entirety).

MYTH 3 – INNOVATIVE THINKING IS RARE

Innovation is nothing else but ways and means to get out of our box. It is a framework for quantifying and limiting our capacity and then surpassing it to make new frameworks (either for ourselves or for others).

We as humans constantly innovate, create our own frameworks, get out of the box and create new frameworks. The real question is , which aspect of our lives is subject to this innovation. If it is personal, what kind of frameworks are emerging that help us refine our lives and if we are aware of the ways we are being innovative in our professional life, is the framework worthy of realization as a new business /competitive advantage.

Being on a professional network, lets see innovation in a professional context.These frameworks become beneficial to career/business when they help create new frameworks of comfort for the consumer [i.e. a framework of a comfort zone that liberates the customer from the habit of creating frameworks but enslaves him/her/it to a comforting experience within the framework/box. [Now this is just a thought, not the blueprint for world domination].

By the same correlation, it maybe said that we innovate most in that aspect of our lives where we are most comfortable. At some stage or the other, we reach a comfort zone where we wish to reside forever, no more frameworks now. This is the mother fortress of comfort and if this is a stage achieved in our profession, then no one can move us out, even the boss will hand us “comfortable work” with a smile on his/her face.

Personally, I would rather seek such a fortress of comfort as my place of refuge, not anywhere near my quest for professional and personal growth. Having a comfort zone isn’t a bad thing, it’s like a small nap/a break before the next big leap of progress.

Then another thought occurs, priority must be to create such a refuge first, before any progress and then the dangers of being sucked into a recursive loop of seeking comfort.

Hence, only two choices exist, the recursive loop of creating frameworks or the recursive loop of sustaining comfort and being easy in an ever changing environment which demands  ever changing frameworks.

MYTH 4 – THE MYTHS ARE NOT MYTHS BUT THEY ARE DEFINITE FRAMEWORKS

These myths (1,2,3 & 4) are not definite frameworks. They are a figment of my imagination. An illusory construct (which at the moment seem real to me) created for the purpose of satisfying my urge to write about Innovative Thinking.

This urge being deeply rooted in the fact that Innovative Solutions are equated with Innovative Thinking by the following :

  • Clients demanding Innovative Solutions (Desirous is good, demanding is a bit challenging)
  • Service providers promising Innovative Solutions
  • Advisors/Coaches/mentors and aspiring mentors claiming that they can motivate others to develop Innovative Solutions.
  • CURIOUS AUDIENCE WHICH ASSUMES THAT THEY ARE VOID OF INNOVATION AND NEED TO BE TAUGHT ABOUT IT. (NO YOU DON'T --- YOU HAVE ALWAYS BEEN INNOVATIVE , YOU JUST HAVEN'T COME ACROSS THE RIGHT PROBLEM TO SHOWCASE IT OR YOU HAVE UNDERVALUED A DESIRABLE OUTPUT AND GIVEN IT AWAY AS A DELIVERABLE --  ITS A PROBLEM OF EXPERIENCE & CONFIDENCE, NOT CAPABILITY)
ADDITIONALLY 

Innovation and Innovative thinking are an everyday occurrence to all of us, but Innovative Solutions are rare – merely because it is an exercise to find a unique solution to a pre-defined problem. Usually problems seeking innovative solutions are rare because they are unique in nature and cannot be serviced by normally. If you have discovered a unique problem, that qualifies you to even solve it.

What I feel – Innovation is not a word meant to be thrown around as a pre-defined must have for a professional engagement. It is a criteria for evaluation and one of the best possible outcomes in any form of engagement, be it personal or a  professional engagement.

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Comments

Devesh 🐝 Bhatt

6 years ago #30

#53
exactly

Devesh 🐝 Bhatt

7 years ago #29

#50
what can be a good yardstick?
For sure "Maybe the problems or the self-imposed limitations are real and aid in caution or focus." But they become barriers during the brainstorming phases. Ideas get discarded prematurely without fully exploring the possibilities. It's important to hit the pause button and then when a variety of ideas and options have been generated, there will be plenty of time to evaluate and do a critical assessment.

Devesh 🐝 Bhatt

7 years ago #27

#48
Thank you for the informative response. Food for thought, maybe logical correctness may limit functionality, maybe "100%" correctness may be an assumed limitation maybe when it comes to teams the term "our", the ownership factor could overweigh the functional aspect. Maybe the problems or the self imposed limitations are real and aid in caution or focus. As an individual, the illusion concept serves as a source of exploration. How can this avoid being a limitation in a team, because we cannot help but evaluate each other on the scale of "illusion". I still have t think on this but in case of team/collective effort i am assuming thag barriers be seen objectively and not as a source of illusions while we are problem solving. When the solution has worked, it is only then that we restrospectively ponder on its nature being an illusion. These are thoughts that emerge from your comments, not a critique in any sense but an attempt to see it in the light of teamwork . Thannks again, specially for adding another dimension to the "box" :)
You are 100% right. People forget that the origin of the expression "think out of the box" is the 9 dots challenge. How do you connect 9 dots with 4 straight lines without lifting a pen. People get stuck and can't solve it due to a self-imposed box. There is no box. It is, as you point out, an illusion. In order to solve the puzzle, you have to move past the illusion, realize that no box exists and then you can solve it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epR-NvH6YLE The myth is that there is only one solution. There are actually multiple solutions: http://www.archimedes-lab.org/How_to_Solve/9_dots.html When executives or teams are trying to resolve issues, a good starting place is to ask "What is the our "box"?" In other words, "What are our self-imposed limitations?" Recognize the fact that they are an illusion. Set them aside, move beyond them, and brainstorm alternative solutions.

Devesh 🐝 Bhatt

7 years ago #25

#45
the box can be anything. Everyone does manage the mind eventually but does it serve the desired purpose. The three box solution seems useful in that regard for that purpose. Thanks for the link.

Devesh 🐝 Bhatt

7 years ago #24

#44
it is a great box . Thanks

Devesh 🐝 Bhatt

7 years ago #23

Vibeke Vad Baunsgaard

Devesh 🐝 Bhatt

7 years ago #22

#41
only if we believe that the nox exists :)

Devesh 🐝 Bhatt

7 years ago #21

#37
thanks for reading . You posed very contemplative questions and the comment. Makes me wonder, everyone has a refuge, but how do we get their.. through the liberty of creativity or the denial of activity? Also can they be one in the same?

Liesbeth Leysen, MSc.

7 years ago #20

#32
bless you Devesh Bhatt

Devesh 🐝 Bhatt

7 years ago #19

#33
have read and enjoyed it when you posted it.Thank You.

Sara Jacobovici

7 years ago #18

I didn't see this buzz when it was first posted @Devesh Bhatt. I was happy to read it now but I needed to respond "Out of the box". Please see, https://www.bebee.com/producer/@sara-jacobovici/it-s-all-about-perspective Thank you.

Devesh 🐝 Bhatt

7 years ago #17

#31
great to get it from a good writer.

Liesbeth Leysen, MSc.

7 years ago #16

such a great article Devesh Bhatt, proud of your work!

Devesh 🐝 Bhatt

7 years ago #15

#29
we isolate to understand but integrate for functionality, after all parts of the same brain which must utilise all options. I can think, I can feel, I can assess with sensory inputs almost instantly. Why suppress one for the other, unless I presume them in conflict.

Devesh 🐝 Bhatt

7 years ago #14

#27
additionally to justify a thought? I think that usually both processes work simultaneously and in coherence. One preceding the other is a way of prep work for uncertainty, On the other hand maybe I am using the process that you state.

Devesh 🐝 Bhatt

7 years ago #13

#25
I have a lot to read on, specially across your links. I said logical because you have designed things. I haven't designed anything except for writings and business proposals. Now I am trying to crawl back to the simple. You were not IT, but you are. I am not IT, I just got interested from the client side. I am interested in product design specific to a particular product, a specific concept , the dream concept among many utility based ideas . I still have to grasp an understanding for all that you have written, I just wanted to understand if I started ok. Initially I tend tend to have a biased point of view, courtesy the limitations of my understanding.

Devesh 🐝 Bhatt

7 years ago #12

#20
has to be assessed by trials of deliverable add ons to see whether consumer assessment is correct. If the evaluation is correct...The desirable maybe introduced as a standard add-on or a separate product altogether. Since non IT companies have less risk appetite, this was the safe route I got conditioned too, but it limited the transcendence into core technology segments.

Devesh 🐝 Bhatt

7 years ago #11

#20
you started from the logical point of creation. I was thrust into comparatives and competitive intelligence. Plus , unlike the common Indian attraction to IT , I was in non IT. So let me understand your article with some points of reference. Maybe I can start from their. It all boils down to utility,basis of your standards and basis for my deliverables (as an observer of current feasibility and competitiveness). You state innovation as infrastructure...Governance standards. I view innovation as utility + scalability... There maybe a 1000 solutions that serve a utility but the infrastructure standards and governance actually additionally provide for scalability. From the point of view of market sustenance, scalability is contd

Devesh 🐝 Bhatt

7 years ago #10

#17
www.bebee.com/producer/@devesh-bhatt/truth-by-devesh-bhatt

Devesh 🐝 Bhatt

7 years ago #9

#16
points of reference become limits of relevance. True, the positive paradox gets one to surpass the limit and realise it to be a starting point.

Devesh 🐝 Bhatt

7 years ago #8

#14
exactly. They re just myths :)

Lisa Gallagher

7 years ago #7

#9
Great points!

Devesh 🐝 Bhatt

7 years ago #6

#10
as a service provider you must be well aware, the obsession with complications and logical consistentcy of senior management and the vulnerability of a simple proposal which is picked up for free :) This serves that purpose.

Devesh 🐝 Bhatt

7 years ago #5

#8
the idea was this. I can sell an idea and I can convince people and earn money. I really want to solve problems, do stuff and improve outcomes. People still see me as a good sell talker, but talk and walk are not exclusive, why divide them just for the sake of margins?

Lisa Gallagher

7 years ago #4

Wow this was quite deep Devesh Bhatt. For me, "thinking outside of the box," might consist of something personal. For example, I have never sky dived and have always felt I'd be too afraid to do it. One day I wake up and say, 'worries be gone,' I'm going sky diving LOL. Ok, that really won't happen. Much food for thought here. To be innovative and think outside of the box is to leave a person's comfort zone or to go against the establishment per se and create change or innovation. We have a lot of cliches, don't we? :))

Devesh 🐝 Bhatt

7 years ago #3

#5
Donna-Luisa Eversley.... its always nice to break the box.. always works either from the inside or outside. Irene Hackett.. you got the overthinking satire right on. These are just myths :)

CityVP Manjit

7 years ago #2

#1
I looked at the comments from the original airing of this piece so you are free to add to them - but essentially I really don't want to read this and unless my prof tells me that this is my homework assignment - this falls outside what I want to pay attention to because a man's gotta know his limitations as good old Clint once famously said. Finito. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/4-myths-innovative-thinking-devesh-bhatt

Devesh 🐝 Bhatt

7 years ago #1

#1
Aurorasa Sima, may i get to know what you think?

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