Nonsense At Work

Believing differently creates insight:

A long, long time ago two shoe-salesmen went to Africa.  Soon the one wrote to his boss, “Coming home.  People don’t wear shoes.”  The other telegraphed his office, “Urgent.  Send shoes.  Huge untapped market.”

Both were looking at the same market, but seeing it differently.

Peter Drucker once wrote that selling refrigerators to Eskimos to keep food cold is one thing.  But selling fridges to Eskimos to keep food from freezing is creative.

Unless you understand the relationship between people, objects and the environment, you will believe that Eskimos don’t need fridges.  And you will believe that people who don’t wear shoes don’t need shoes.

Do you think that seeing is believing?  Don’t.  Scientific evidence shows that if you believe something, chances are you will see it.  No doubt, seeing differently creates insight.  But you won’t see differently unless you first open your mind to different ways of believing.

I’m James McIntosh at nonsenseatwork.com

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