READY, FIRE, AIM! The Counter-Intuitive Path to Innovation
I've seen this visual all over the internet--from Facebook to Twitter.
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
Here's the idea.
Success path #1. Straight and focused.
Success path #2. Whimsical and and playful (although some might call it random and misdirected).
But at the heart of this commentary was the notion that creativity lives in the more random pattern and that the path to success is never a straight line. Ok, so much for that.
THE ENDPOINTS ARE THE SAME!
The magic of the unbridled path is really two fold. First is the path itself. This magical journey takes you to the Disneyland of imagination with stops along the way that include a bit of hell and a bit happiness. But along this uncharted course you can often find new insights, unexpected learnings and even unimaginably wild endpoints that were never on your map! So revel in the journey...it's often better than the destination itself.
The second, and most bothersome error in this graphic, is the sad expression of result. Both paths find their way to the very same spot. Yikes! The bean counters would love this and leverage this "pathway" as proof positive that all the creative musings are just a waist of time!! They would argue that you simple just need to get from A to B and the straight forward approach is both economical and efficient! Heaven help creative thinkers who clearly understand the role of imagination and contemplation.
Ready, Fire, Aim!
My inclination is to jump off the ledge and build wings on the way down. And while most rational thinkers will tell you that the flight from that ledge is predictable--straight down, I beg to differ. My cognitive wings come in all sizes and shapes and help me take flight far from that ominous bottom where bean-counters stand and look up with disdain and confusion. Watch out below!!!
Robert Frost knows...
The Road Not Taken
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
;
;
Pingback: READY, FIRE, AIM! The Counter-Intuitive Path to Innovation | The Jazz of Innovation | Scoop.it