Let Ignorance be Your Advantage

How to Become a Wise Man (Wise-ard)

Ignorant people aren’t stupid but merely uninformed; a marvelous advantage when you need a perspective from “outside the box.”

The truly naïve are so thoroughly “outside” they’re not even sure what you mean by “the box.”

When you consult specialists within your industry, you’re talking to the builders of the box, the guardians of the box, the faithful defenders of THE BOX.

So when specialists fail to provide the innovative thinking you need, ask the opinions of intelligent people who have no experience in your industry. This is the second quickest shortcut to successful innovation. (I’ll tell you the quickest shortcut later.)

Each suggestion you hear will tempt you to say, 

“But you don’t understand…”

Bite your tongue. Don’t say it. The goal of this exercise isn’t to drag people into your box but to get a fresh perspective from outside it, remember? So just listen and ponder all that would have to change if you were to implement the suggestion made by your naïve friend.

The naïve suggestion won’t be workable. What you make from it will be.

Frank Kern is senior vice-president of IBM Global Business Services. On May 19, 2010, he released a new survey of 1,500 chief executives conducted by IBM’s Institute for Business Value. Are you ready for this? According to that survey, today’s CEOs identify “creativity” as the most important leadership competency for the successful enterprise of the future.

“That’s creativity—not operational effectiveness, influence, or even dedication. Coming out of th

e worst economic downturn in their professional lifetimes, when managerial discipline and rigor ruled the day, this indicates a remarkable shift

in attitude.”

– Frank Kern, IBM Global Business Services

BUT we’re not getting more creative. As our society moves deeper into this Civic cycle (2003-2023) we’re becoming more deeply committed to following the rules. We’re becoming more regulatory, less tolerant of divergent thought. Under the guise of “working together for the common good,” our young men and women are choosing to become guardians of the status quo, especially when it comes to problem solving. In short, we’re “playing it safe.”

When it comes to advertising and marketing, “playing it safe” is the least safe thing you can do.

A report just released from M.I.T. reveals a surprising connection between progress and “playing it safe.”

When bonuses were given for increased performance, the bigger the bonus, the better the performance when only mechanical skills were required. No surprise here, right?

But when bonuses were offered for cognitive skills, even rudimentary ones, higher incentives led to poorer performance. I swear I’m not making this up. 

“These findings have been replicated over and over and over again by psychologists, by sociologists, and by economists.”

– Prof. Daniel Pink

Watch the video.

Daniel Pink speculates that we respond most strongly to offers of 1. autonomy, 2. mastery and 3. purpose. 

I agree with Pink but I interpret the M.I.T. data with a slightly different twist; it seems to me that the higher the reward, the greater the tendency of respondents to second-guess their creative right-brain impulses.

In other words, they over-thunk it and “played it safe.”

Fear is a terrible master.

It is by attempting the ridiculous that we accomplish the miraculous.

“If you will expand your world, you must crawl on your hands and knees, get on your belly and squirm under the fence that surrounds your insulated life.” – Inside the Outside, Wizard Academy Press

Rita Mae Brown says it more colorfully. “As a woman, I find it very embarrassing to be in a meeting and realize I’m the only one in the room with balls.”

Rita Mae would love Wizard Academy.

Wizard Academy is a school for brilliant misfits, people who have achieved success in the mainstream but never bought into its values. 

“It’s like the wizard sent out the mating call of the albino monkey and we’re the strange people who answered.”

– Keith Miller, adjunct faculty and bestselling author of The Taste of New Wine.

Wizard Academy: America’s Island of Independent Thought.

Come. We’ve got a room for you in the student mansion and we’re not afraid of your creative, crazy ideas. 

That Fastest Shortcut I Mentioned? Read Mark Fox’s book on the 40 lenses of TRIZ, Da Vinci and the 40 Answers, or take Mark’s class at Wizard Academy June 30 – July 1.

Engelbrecht House awaits. 

Roy H. Williams