Step Out Of The Box And Imagine!

Clara Brown

"Thinking outside of the box" is a phrase that was made popular largely by management professionals. According to Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, this catchphrase was widely used throughout the 1970's and into the 1980's in the business environment, especially by the highly-paid management consultants.

Admittedly, I have this 'signage' as the screen-saver on my laptop.  However, having listened to the term being bandied about recently, I am taking a little time out to really examine its meaning and accuracy. 

My early conclusion is that there is nothing 'novel' about  "thinking outside of the box." - not in the 70's, 80's or now.

Image: history.howstuffworks.com

Our history books teaches us that the Spaniard, Christopher Columbus, 'discovered' parts of the New World in 1492.  He used limited and very unconventional, to his time, navigational ideas and skills to chart his course.  Columbus obviously was employing what management consultants centuries later tout as "out of the box thinking" to set sail. Despite the ridicule of many, he did not allow that to limit his capabilities or define his destiny.

As far as we know, Columbus knew of no "box."

Today, those subscribing to a box concept feel they require superb leadership, be extremely innovative and have excellent problem-solving skills to succeed. While these things are important, my thoughts on this led me to Deepak Chopra's provocative quote:

"Instead of thinking outside of the box, get rid of the box."

We meet situations in our daily lives that call for use of adjustments to conventional rules and norms. Sometimes, when you are losing at a game, you have to stop playing by those conventional rules and switch things up to change the outcome. In other words, get out of the box!

The thing about thinking out of the box is you have to first know that there is a box.  One my talents lies in finding and defining it, then jumping out of it to the solutions.  To my mind, the 'box' is a composite of all the rules and structures we are given to work with or live by.

Those who do not see a box, like Columbus, behave very differently. What we are called to do, as he did, is to use what we were born with in the first place - our imagination!

Christopher Columbus, my pick for the original "Thinking Out of the Box" practitioner, used his imagination and engaged his creativity to make history.

"Logic will take you from A to B. Imagination will take you anywhere." Albert Einstein

In hindsight, I now wonder why someone needed to ask me to think outside of the box? Was my imaging faculty asleep?

Imagination is the most powerful tool that all humans possess. We do not need to be told to think outside of the box.  Yes, at times we will need a little nudge here and a kick there to get our creativity in motion.  We are not always at the top of the creativity mountain as our minds do not have the capacity to necessarily come up with great ideas one after the other. Sometimes, it requires stepping away from the situation and the idea will come to us when least expected.

Our imagination is never lost. Contained or boxed maybe but always retrievable.  If there were no limitations or constraints in the first place and we had the freedom to think creatively, then there would have been no need for millionaire management consultants!

Image: weliveunbound.com

If our children are encouraged to use their imagination rather than our suffocating their creativity, we can look fowars to more thinking citizens around the world, greater tolerance among diverse communities and more vibrant industries and eco-friendly economies.

It seems that what is needed more than ever then is a return to Imagining! Would you agree?

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Do imagine and set sail today!