Creativity Central [Marty Baker]

Perhaps we have a hernia to thank. 

In 1942, Eric Hoffer attempted to enlist in the armed forces in San Francisco was rejected because of a hernia. A former migratory worker and longshoreman, Hoffer received laudatory notices in 1951 for his book The True Believer.  .

Of his early life, Hoffer has written: “I had no schooling. I was practically blind up to the age of fifteen. When my eyesight came back, I was seized with an enormous hunger for the printed word. I read indiscriminately everything within reach—English and German.”

Occupying a prized position on my desk is his book “The Passionate State of Mind.” It is a  collection of 280 aphorisms – ideas and insights on everything from passion to the art of living.

# 58 is one of my favorites. “Far more crucial than what we know or do not know is what we don’t want to know.  One often obtains a clue to person’s nature by discovering the reasons for his or her imperviousness to certain impressions.” 

At my Inotivity Seminars, I often ask the question “What don’t you want to know? Or what does your company not want to know?”

Nell Merlino, Founder, President and CEO of Count Me In for Women’s Economic Independence, recently talked at BIF5 (Collaborative Innovation Summit) in Providence and talked about some of the barriers women face in growing their business “Some women believe that if they pay attention to numbers, their dreams will die.”

What didn’t they want to know? They didn’t want to know that the effort and motivation they were investing in a dream wasn’t paying off. (Merlino added that the opposite is actually true.)

It is a great question to inspire creativity and deeper thinking.  There are always easier questions to ask.   What do you know? What don’t you know or need to know?  But what don’t you want to know?  Or what are you avoiding or clouding or ignoring may be a strong key to solving your biggest challenge.

Here is an example in a larger organization.  The answer to What don’t we want to know may be “our business model or product” may be obsolete.  (Think the brick and mortar DVD or music store vs. broadband downloads and streaming).  But that very question could be the catalyst to transforming your model or finding new ways to deliver value.  That’s where an innovation initiative is critical. 

So 58 it once in a while.  Check out Hoffer’s The Passionate Mind for more.