Posted Mar 3 2009 3:57 PM by Matt Ellis
Lifehack.org offers some thoughts on thinking differently:
In 1954 the British Government held an auction for commercial television regions. Many companies were interested in bidding for the franchises. They analysed the demographics of the regions to identify which were the wealthiest regions that would produce the most advertising revenues. The result was that they focused on London and the South-East of England. Sydney Bernstein was Managing Director of a small chain of cinemas, Granada Cinemas. He wanted to compete in the auction. He told his people, ‘Don’t look for the richest region, look for the wettest. Find me the region with highest rainfall.’ This turned out to be the North-West of England. Granada bid for this and won it. Bernstein’s idea was that it was better to have a region where it rained so much that people stayed in and watched TV. He succeeded by approaching the problem from a different point of view. He thought what no-one else thought.
...How can we force ourselves to take a different view of a situation? Instead of looking at the scene from your view try looking at it from the perspective of a customer, a product, a supplier, a child, an alien, a lunatic, a comedian, a dictator, an anarchist, an architect, Salvador Dali, Leonardo da Vinci and so on. Challenge all the common assumptions. If everyone else is looking for the richest region, look for the wettest. If everyone else is facing the bar then turn your back on it.
I've been thinking about this in terms of ministry. What would we do differently if we approached our ministry entirely from the point of view of someone who needs a ride to the doctor? Someone without health insurance? Someone with limited mobility?
While it's true we often consider these needs, I think this goes one step further. What if we designed a program only from their point of view, without any other considerations? Would we do things the same? Are there ways we can incorporate these ideas into our existing programs? Think different! Who knows what will come of it?
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