Thinking in New Boxes Quotes

“The beginning of wisdom is found in doubting; by doubting we are led to question, and by questioning we arrive at the truth.a1 —PETER ABÉLARD, medieval French philosopher To have doubted one’s own first principles is the mark of a civilized man.2 —OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES,”
― Luc de Brabandere, Thinking in New Boxes: A New Paradigm for Business Creativity

“Albert Einstein is reported to have said, “If I were given one hour to save the planet, I would spend fifty-nine minutes defining the problem and one minute resolving it.”14 That may be extreme, but the importance of using an effective question cannot be overstated. Of course there is no single “correct” question—but a useful question will be one that meets all of these criteria:”
― Luc de Brabandere, Thinking in New Boxes: A New Paradigm for Business Creativity

“boiling frogs” and “elephants in the room”—combine them with your list of trends and spend some time pondering how you could exploit them. Ask yourself, • Which of these would be the most disruptive? • For which ones are we least ready? • Which ones are right in front of us, yet we are hesitant to admit they’re there? • What about our competitors—why are they ready for some more than others? • How do these future events, whether likely or unlikely, influence the kinds of new ideas we want to generate during Step 3 divergence? • How do they change our central line of inquiry?”
― Luc de Brabandere, Thinking in New Boxes: A New Paradigm for Business Creativity

“because”
― Luc de Brabandere, Thinking in New Boxes: A New Paradigm for Business Creativity

“A megatrend is a large social, economic, political, environmental, or technological change highly likely to have major impact across a wide range of areas. Megatrends will affect your company, your customers, your competition—as well as your family, your neighbors, and your community. Examples of megatrends include the rise of alternative energy sources, which are expected to meet 8 percent of the world’s dramatically increasing energy needs by 2030 versus 6 percent of a smaller base in 2010, driven largely by wind and solar,5 the rise of rapidly developing markets like Brazil and China, and increasing connectivity through the Internet and mobile technology. Megatrends are not fads. In spite of what she may think, Lady Gaga does not qualify as a megatrend; however, the rising tendency of consumers to purchase music and many other forms of entertainment from the Internet does. Broad economic shifts, whether long recessions, labor shortages, or the rise or fall of different industries or sectors of the economy,”
― Luc de Brabandere, Thinking in New Boxes: A New Paradigm for Business Creativity

“This chart contrasts predictive and prospective thinking: Predictive Thinking Prospective Thinking Mindset Forecasting, “We expect …” Preparing, “But what if …” Goal Reduce or even discard uncertainty, fight ambiguity Live with uncertainty, embrace ambiguity, plan for set of contingencies Level of uncertainty Average High Method Extrapolating from present and past Open, imaginative Approach Categorical, assumes continuity Global, systemic, anticipates disruptive events Information inputs Quantitative, objective, known Qualitative (whether quantifiable or not), subjective, known or unknown Relationships Static, stable structures Dynamic, evolving structures Technique Established quantitative models (economics, mathematics, data) Developing scenarios using qualitative approaches (often building on megatrends) Evaluation method Numbers Criteria Attitude toward the future Passive or reactive (the future will be) Proactive and creative (we create or shape the future) Way of thinking Generally deduction Greater use of induction”
― Luc de Brabandere, Thinking in New Boxes: A New Paradigm for Business Creativity

“This chart contrasts predictive and prospective thinking: Predictive Thinking Prospective Thinking Mindset Forecasting, “We expect …” Preparing, “But what if …” Goal Reduce or even discard uncertainty, fight ambiguity Live with uncertainty, embrace ambiguity, plan for set of contingencies Level of uncertainty Average High Method Extrapolating from present and past Open, imaginative Approach Categorical, assumes continuity Global, systemic, anticipates disruptive events Information inputs Quantitative, objective, known Qualitative (whether quantifiable or not), subjective, known or unknown Relationships Static, stable structures Dynamic, evolving structures Technique Established quantitative models (economics, mathematics, data) Developing scenarios using qualitative approaches (often building on megatrends) Evaluation method Numbers Criteria”
― Luc de Brabandere, Thinking in New Boxes: A New Paradigm for Business Creativity

“When you use predictive thinking, by contrast, you’re usually foreseeing events that are considered to be highly likely. It can work well if 1) you are very familiar with the parameters of events likely to occur relatively soon; 2) those parameters are fairly constant, stable, and easy to measure; and 3) you’re able to use established algorithms to make decisions about short-term outcomes. Predictive thinking prioritizes your deductive mind. An example might be the way in which traffic control experts at airports are able to decide when to ground planes and when to allow them to fly. Long-term weather patterns are not easy to anticipate but meteorologists can predict short-term hour-by-hour weather with relative accuracy and thus traffic control officers can use”
― Luc de Brabandere, Thinking in New Boxes: A New Paradigm for Business Creativity

“Prospective thinking is about anticipating long-term changes, including highly disruptive ones (some known, and others entirely unknown), and responding to them early. Prospective thinking—which relies a lot on induction—is at the heart of practical creativity. It’s about acting rather than waiting.”
― Luc de Brabandere, Thinking in New Boxes: A New Paradigm for Business Creativity

“chapter 9). Senegal-born industrialist Gaston Berger,d a noted pioneer of the prospective approach, once said, “If you’re driving on a road that you know really well in pitch darkness, you’ll only need a lantern. But if you’re driving down a road in unfamiliar territory, you’re going to need powerful headlights.” Prospective”
― Luc de Brabandere, Thinking in New Boxes: A New Paradigm for Business Creativity

“FIRST, CREATE A CLIMATE OF DOUBT”
― Luc de Brabandere, Thinking in New Boxes: A New Paradigm for Business Creativity

“SECOND, ENUMERATE AND CHALLENGE YOUR CURRENT RULES, ASSUMPTIONS, PARADIGMS, AND OTHER BOXES”
― Luc de Brabandere, Thinking in New Boxes: A New Paradigm for Business Creativity

“Suppose you are told there is a rule for producing sets of three numbers, and the set 2, 4, 6 fits the rule. How would you determine what the rule is, and provide other sets of numbers that fit the rule? Almost everyone will immediately say that the rule is about subsequent increasing even numbers, and so another set is: 8, 10, 12 or 20, 22, 24. Although this rush to judgment—that is, wherein you say to yourself, “I should continue along my first hypothesis, the pattern of even numbers based on the factor 2”—is normal, it leads you to overlook the full range of possible answers. The rule could be only about increasing numbers (so 3, 5, 7 could work), or only about even numbers (so 6, 4, 2 would be a good answer, too).”
― Luc de Brabandere, Thinking in New Boxes: A New Paradigm for Business Creativity

“profound: Hard as you may try to anticipate uncertainty and the randomness of future events, opportunities, and hazards, you will probably underestimate just how chaotic and unpredictable these things truly are and can become. You need to actively doubt the way you think about what could happen tomorrow, because the amount of chaos and uncertainty at play is (on average) more than you expect. All of these examples demonstrate the importance of doubt and can help you realize that even when you try to use your most rational, deductive skill sets, you are still prone to biases and errors.”
― Luc de Brabandere, Thinking in New Boxes: A New Paradigm for Business Creativity

“THE FOSBURY FLOP At the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City, a twenty-one-year-old American named Richard Douglas (“Dick”) Fosbury shocked the judges and eighty thousand spectators at a session of track and field by winning a gold medal and setting a new Olympic record”
― Luc de Brabandere, Thinking in New Boxes: A New Paradigm for Business Creativity

“how”
― Luc de Brabandere, Thinking in New Boxes: A New Paradigm for Business Creativity

“Rothberg’s story is a powerful reminder that relying on the status quo is not a viable option in a changing world. People will either develop new ideas on their own (Eureka!) or others will do it for them (Caramba!).”
― Luc de Brabandere, Thinking in New Boxes: A New Paradigm for Business Creativity

“They are moments of sudden recognition—moments of shock—in the face of revolutionary change (Caramba!) or a brilliant new possibility (Eureka!).c Both can eventually lead to success (Eureka can lead to a brilliant new idea; Caramba can spark a fantastic reinvention of your boxes) or failure (not capitalizing on a Eureka moment, not recovering from a Caramba moment). And so avoiding Caramba and achieving Eureka is not merely a function of having more or even better ideas. Most Caramba moments are not due to a lack of ideas; rather, they are due to the way ideas are processed. They happen when people don’t move to a new box in time.”
― Luc de Brabandere, Thinking in New Boxes: A New Paradigm for Business Creativity