the
innovative LEDGER
An e-Newsletter from The Innovative Edge™ Inc.
Vol.
9, No. 10 - October 2009
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Managing (New Ideas) by Wandering Around
By Jeff Govendo
Citing
a number of recent studies of brain wave activity during problem-solving,
reporter Robert Lee Hotz noted in a recent Wall Street Journal that
"our brain may be most actively engaged when our mind is wandering
and we've actually lost track of our thoughts."
We've
all experienced it. Try as we may to attack a problem directly with
all the facts, figures and other pieces of evidence we can bring to
bear, the answer simply eludes us. Then, when we least expect it,
the "aha" moment comes. Well-known historical examples
include August Kekule's dream of snakes devouring each other's tails
in a circle, leading him to conceptualize the benzene ring, the basis
of carbon molecule chemistry. Archimedes first imagined his theory
of density and volume while in the bath. According to legend, he jumped
out of the tub and ran naked through his neighborhood shouting "Eureka!
I've got it!" (though it is doubtful "Eureka" was part
of the ancient Greek lexicon). More recent instances include the invention
of Post-its, Velcro, Polaroid instant photograhy and modern plate
glass production methods.
In
classes I teach, I draw upon the file cabinet metaphor. Our brain
is like a giant roomful of file cabinets containing the sum total
of all we have learned and experienced in life. When faced with a
problem, our natural tendency is to only go to the one file drawer
containing the specific information we have on that subject. We may
add to it by reading up on related material, doing further experiments,
asking experts, etc., but essentially we stick with what's in that
drawer. In this logical, analytical approach, we ignore all the other
cabinets surrounding us, which are literally crammed with clues for
solving the problem.
It
is only when we finally shut the one cabinet and let information from
the others become available to us -- by letting the mind wander: daydreaming,
listening, observing, just living -- that a solution by sudden insight
becomes possible.
What's
creative about this process is the human mind's ability to make connections
between these less direct clues and the problem itself. Swiss
engineer George de Mestral was bird hunting when he started picking
off the burrs sticking to his dog's coat, enabling him to come up
with the idea of a hook and loop system for joining fabrics, sought
by NASA for its spacewear. Alistair Pilkington was staring at a grease
slick floating on dishwater when the idea came for manufacturing large
panes of optically perfect glass, heretofore unattainable by glassmakers.
And
you, dear reader, on one or more occasions, were doing something unrelated
when you came up with the solution to a vexing problem. I say this
because it's happened to all of us. And it's why I can state with
confidence that we are all creative -- every one of us -- whether
we think of ourselves this way or not.
The
human mind is wired to do this connection-making, both figuratively
and, it turns out, literally, as Hotz points out in his article. Recent
experiments in the U.S. and Europe are pointing to surprising amounts
of brain wave activity while the mind is supposedly at rest or in
a daydreaming state. And it is during these moments that we are
most likely to conjure up sudden flashes of insight (also visible
as unique electical patterns on scans) that can yield solutions to
some of our toughest challenges.
So,
what does this all mean? If you have problems, stop thinking about
them? Quit drawing upon your expertise to find solutions? Forget what
you learned in college?
Not
really. But it does suggest that the combination of "left
brain/right brain" thinking is a very powerful way of dealing
with our most daunting business challenges. Yet we Westerners,
steeped in the traditions of analytical, linear approaches to problem-solving,
often overlook the latter. As well, invoking the right brain happens
by engaging in some decidedly "unbusiness-like" types of
activity that may be difficult for some managers to get behind. I
don't believe the practice of paying employees to daydream is prescribed
in most MBA programs.
So
next month we'll look at several ways to encourage those "eureka"
moments among employees (while keeping their clothes on), as well
as what to do when a sudden insight is more the suggestion of a solution
than the actual solution itself.
It's
something to look forward to. But don't think too much about it.
