Have you ever noticed that the moon appears so much bigger when it’s on the horizon than when it’s up in the middle of the night sky?
Against the silhouette of the night skyline the moon appears as if it’s hovering over buildings and trees and almost so close you could reach out and touch it. But as it reaches its zenith in the night sky it appears more distant and smaller.
Guess what – it’s not! If you measure it at both positions it’s exactly the same size.
I didn’t believe it so I checked and the moon doesn’t change size as the night progresses. The size of the moon - thankfully - doesn’t vary.
So why does it appear different? Well, there are many theories but they all come down to one thing really - it’s a matter of perspective. The main consensus is that when the moon is on the horizon we view it in relation to other things such as buildings and trees – all of which are closer to us than the moon itself and so we’re tricked into thinking the moon is closer. But when the moon is at its zenith we have nothing to compare it to except for the stars, which are very small from where we stand, and as a result the moon appears further away and much smaller. In other words, it’s all in the way you look at it. A different perspective gives you a totally different view and a different way of seeing things. Which can lead to whole new areas of discovery, innovation and opportunity.
Take Play-Doh for example – the children’s modeling clay we all know so well. Play-Doh was originally a wallpaper-cleaning product called “Magic Wallpaper Cleaner” which you would roll across a dirty patch of wallpaper and the grime and dirt would stick to it. Owned by Kutol Chemicals, a family business of the McViker family, Magic Wallpaper Cleaner wasn’t doing so well. In the 1950s people were decorating less with wallpaper and more with paint so the wallpaper industry was receding and business wasn’t that great.
Enter a kindergarten teacher named Kay Zufall who was sick and tired of how ineffective and messy the modeling clay was that the kids used - either too dry and brittle or too moist and sloppy.
Over a dinner one evening our frustrated teacher mentioned this to her good friends the McVikers, when somehow someone said something like “why don’t you try this” and handed our teacher a tub of Magic Wallpaper Cleaner. It was a matter of seeing the possibilities of the product from a completely different point of view – from a totally different perspective.
Of course it was a huge success and fortunately for us Play-Doh was born and fortunately for the McViker family they became very rich.
Seeing things differently is what being creative in business is all about. It’s about seeing the world, projects, problems and opportunities in fresh and unique ways. It’s about being open-minded, spontaneous, inquisitive and hungering to explore new possibilities.
So next time you’re working on a project or an idea force yourself to see things from alternate viewpoints.
Put yourself in someone else’s shoes and see things from their perspective. What if you see it as from the point of view of your client, your competitor, or your boss? What if you saw things from the point of view of someone who knows nothing at all about it such as a complete stranger, your best friend, your children? What if you looked at it from the point of view of a mentor or someone you admire? How does that change your thinking?
Also put yourself in a different place and see things from outside the traditional and conventional way of looking. What if you break the project or idea down and focus on its different elements? Can you look at it purely from a budget perspective, a delivery perspective, a sales or design perspective?
What if you force yourself to see it as something it’s not – what if it’s not wallpaper cleaner – what else could it be? Being creative is all about generating fresh ideas and the more we view things from different perspectives the fresher and more unique our ideas we will be.
Nigel injects creativity into companies through workshops, keynotes and consulting and is author of Think BITS. More information can be found at www.nigelcollin.com.au or contact Nigel at nigel@nigelcollin.com.au.
Top
|