Your Team’s Not Out of Ideas. They’re Trapped in the Same Perspective.

This newsletter marks the beginning of the second year of the newsletter: issue 53.

Over the past year, I’ve tried to address not only constructing a brand, but what to do after you’ve got one.

Because that’s often the hardest part: putting the brand into action, every single day.

And doing it both consistently and creatively. Staying true to the brand while still making it feel fresh and relevant to your customers.

One reason this is so difficult is because of how we’re taught from an early age.

We’re taught how to follow instructions. But we’re rarely taught how to create.

That’s the real problem with creativity.

From grade school to boardrooms, we are trained to seek a correct answer, as fast as possible. And when we try to break the mold later in life, we realize we were never given the tools to do it well.

In school, you’re rewarded for regurgitating someone else’s interpretation.

In business, you’re rewarded for minimizing risk.

So it shouldn’t be surprising when companies default to the way things have always been done:

• Campaigns that copy competitors.

• Positioning that could belong to anyone.

• Strategies that are the same as last year’s.

When we all look at something from the same, safe angle, we all see the same thing.

It’s a lot like a group of people looking at an apple tree.

The Apple Tree Problem

Picture this:

A group of people stands around a tree.

No one knows botany, so they describe only what they see.

One says, “It’s tall, with green leaves.”

Another, “There are brown spots on the bark.”

They step closer.

They describe the veins in the leaves. The creases in the bark.

The descriptions get more detailed. They can better describe the things they already know. But no one sees anything new.

Then one person does something different: they walk around the tree.

And on the far side, they spot something the others missed entirely: a red, spherical object.

An apple.

Same tree. Different angle. Brand new insight.

Most companies keep stepping closer to the tree, hoping that proximity will give them clarity. But all they get is a better description of what they already know.

Breakthroughs don’t come from getting closer.

They come from shifting perspective.

Why Most “Creative Thinking” Falls Flat

At the other end of the creativity spectrum is what people call “out-of-the-box” thinking.

Let’s go wild! Let’s brainstorm without limits!

When you think outside of the box, anything goes.

That doesn’t work either.

Because when anything goes, it tends to block people from generating any ideas as they don't know how they should start thinking about a problem.

When anything is possible, people get stuck.

There’s no starting point. No direction. No useful tension.

People get stressed. And when people get stressed the natural tendency is to default to the ways things have always been done.

Stress forces people to retreat to safety.

And end up with the same ideas they had before.

Creativity doesn't blossom when it's a free for all. Creativity needs constraints.

The Creative Paradox

Real creativity sits in a sweet spot between exploration and constraints.

It requires an odd blend of open idea generation. But with the restriction to a specific problem with specific constraints.

It forces new ways of seeing the same problem.

To do this in your organization:

• List out all the information you have about a problem.

• List what you’ve tried in the past.

• Come up with a constraint that will force you to look at the information in a new way without being able to use any solution you tried before.

This isn’t easy to do.

It may even require more than one constraint.

The key is to force your team to look at a problem from a new angle.

That way, they don’t keep examining it more closely from the same angle. And they don’t get overwhelmed by too many angles and naturally default to the same angle.

P.S. If your team’s stuck in the same patterns, let’s talk. Schedule a 15-minute call with this link to see how I can help your team unlock a whole new perspective.