The week between Christmas and New year’s is often a slow one, and I always enjoy it because it gives me a chance to clean out my “read” file. Yesterday, I finally had an opportunity to read a very informative article article about innovation. It was part of the Knowledge@Wharton series and the article was entitled ”Finding That Sweet Spot: A New Way to Drive Innovation.” It was really an interview with Larry Huston—formerly the vice president of knowledge and innovation at Proctor & Gamble and now the managing partner of 4INNO.
One aspect of the article, in particular, captured my attention. Huston was talking about creativity and he said “current mental models are a big barrier” to innovation. To help break out of these models, Huston suggested that people have to learn to ask new questions. (I would add that they also have to ”unlearn” old ways of doing business.) One strategy he offered was the idea of “setting discontinuous goals.”
As an example, Huston offered the analogy of a higher jumper. If you told a high jumper whose previous record was 7 feet to set a new goal of, say, 7 feet, 2 inches; the jumper would probably just work on improving his kick or leg strength. If, however, you set a discontinuous goal and told the jumper he had to jump 10 feet, the person would likely begin thinking completely differently. For instance, the jumper might ask if he could use a ladder, a pole vault or perhap even a trampoline.
The key point is that once a discontinuous goal is set, people get out of their old and incremental ways of thinking and instead begin to consider totally different datasets. In other words, they would move outside of their existing mental frameworks.
I really like this way of thinking because if there is one thing that is clear to me it is that in today’s economy—as a result of the exponential advances in computers, bandwidth, data storage, robotics, nanotechnology, biotechnology, brain scanning and an assortment of other fields—so many new “datasets” will soon be available to executives and businesses that it will be relatively easy to find new and innovative ways reach the discontinuous goals you set.
Who knows, setting discontinuous goals, might even help you do the impossible.
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Jack Uldrich is a writer, futurist, public speaker and host of jumpthecurve.net. He is the author of seven books, including Jump the Curve and The Next Big Thing is Really Small: How Nanotechnology Will Change the Future of Your Business. He is also a frequent speaker on future technology and future trends, nanotechnology, innovation, change management and executive leadership to a variety of businesses, industries and non-profit organizations and trade associations.
