‘I was gratified to be able to answer promptly, and I did. I said I didn’t know.’
MARK TWAIN
Solving problems can be extremely enjoyable.
Seizing on opportunities can be extremely rewarding.
Innovating means people start referring to you as ‘Brains’.
And there’s always a better answer out there.
The cleaners at a school complained to the head that students using the girls’ toilets were leaving lipstick kisses on the mirrors. They’d put up notices asking them to stop but that hadn’t worked. If anything, the problem was getting worse. And the grease in lipstick meant it was a pain to remove, day after day.
So the head called a group of girls, as representatives, to the toilets. She pointed out the lipstick kisses on the mirror. Many of the girls couldn’t hide their smiles.
‘Removing lipstick isn’t easy,’ said the head. ‘It’s designed to stay on your lips, after all. So wiping it off every day is something of a problem.’
A couple of girls sniggered.
‘Luckily, we’ve found an effective method that we’ll be using from now on,’ said the head. And the cleaner who was with her took a sponge, dipped it into the toilet bowl … and wiped the mirrors with it.
The lipstick problem disappeared overnight.
I hope you found the background in Insight interesting and the session tips in Inspiration useful. But most of all, I hope you find the 12 creative thinking tools of Innovation to be boons you’ll turn to again and again.
I’ve worked with banks, technology companies, car companies, tourism companies, food companies and charities. All felt their problems were unique. Yet the methods for solving their problems were common to all. And they’re all in this book.
PROBLEM-SOLVING TIP
Think positively, be enthused and generate energy. Believe in yourself, believe in the team. Know that you are creative and you will succeed. Keep things stimulating (important), maintain focus (very important), and give yourselves time out to let your brains reflect on what you’ve done (really important). And remember: there is always a better answer out there. It has not ‘all been done’. Just adopt the attitude of the world’s most famous Belgian.
‘What other explanation can there be?’ Poirot stared straight ahead of him. ‘That is what I ask myself,’ he said. ‘That is what I never cease to ask myself.’ (Agatha Christie, Murder on the Orient Express)
And, as I’ve said before, these tools will be dynamite for your ideation too. Dynamite that’s been dipped in popping candy, wrapped in Semtex and tied to a firework.
So, there we are. Let me finish with one more story, of how Gandhi turned a problem into an opportunity.
He was getting on a train when his shoe came off, falling down the gap between the train and the platform. He couldn’t retrieve it …
… so he took off his other shoe and dropped it down after the first one. His travelling companions looked at him somewhat confused. At which point Gandhi explained that a poor person who finds a single shoe is no better off.
What’s really helpful is finding a pair.
Best of luck with your problem solving and bear in mind the words of André Gide: ‘Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.’ And next time you achieve a tremendous breakthrough using the tools in this book, please let me know at [email protected]. And cut me in.