Here is a post by one of my all time favourite ad men – Dave Trott. I believe that this ability to engage in corkscrew thinking (as Dave puts it) or non-linear or non-obvious thinking is a necessary but not sufficient condition for disproportionate success in any endeavour.
My podcast is called – Pushing Beyond the Obvious for a reason 🙂
In his blog, he lists out some of the results of corkscrew thinking and the impact they made on the world as we know it – Bletchley Park, Sten guns, anti-shipping mines, planes made of wood, inflatable tanks and many more.
If you have followed my writing in any way, you would realize that for the past few months, I have been attempting my own version of corkscrew thinking or non-linear, non-obvious thinking.
I have been thinking about how can one become a leader worth following from different angles or perspectives, looking at non-obvious sources of insights – from improvisational comedy to the field of memes and memetics, from genes, genetics and epi-genetics to exploring insights from the field of strategic foresight, from facilitation to coaching, from swarm intelligence to the CIA (yes, that CIA), from play and what it can teach us, to systems thinking and emergence, from music conductors to evolutionary biology and many more.
The point that i am trying to make is simple. We can learn just about anything from any source, if we have the right intention, put enough attention and are ready to do some reflection and top it off with clear communication or concrete action.
The ability to deploy this kind of non-obvious thinking is a muscle. Like all muscles, the more we use it the stronger it gets.
As leaders, it is our responsibility to find safe spaces for our teams to practice this muscle on a regular basis on low stake things so that we are ready when the high impact opportunity comes along.
I am aware of the obvious objection – most organisations don’t actually want non-obvious thinking. They want predictable execution, consistent reporting, and minimum surprise.
Creating space for such non-obvious thinking inside a straight-line culture requires deliberate acts of protection, which is our responsibility as a leader.
While we may need good technical, strategic, predictable and consistent executional capabilities to be successful, we can’t achieve out-sized, disproportionate success without this ability to think in non-obvious ways. And the only way for any team to be able to do this is when they have the full support of their leader.
Are you that leader? Do you expect, recognize and reward non-obvious thinking? Do you hold space for your teams to experiment and develop this muscle? Do you protect them from the organizational antibodies that try to enforce compliance and tries to crush out everything else?
If you do, then my friend, you are a leader worth following!
