IMAGINE this...
You are driving along in your car on a wild, stormy night. It is raining heavily, when suddenly you pass by a bus stop and see three people waiting for a bus:
1.An old lady who looks as if she is about to die.
2.An old friend who once saved your life.
3.The perfect partner you have been dreaming about.
Which one would you choose to offer a ride to, knowing very well that there could only be one passenger in your car?
You are driving along in your car on a wild, stormy night. It is raining heavily, when suddenly you pass by a bus stop and see three people waiting for a bus:
1.An old lady who looks as if she is about to die.
2.An old friend who once saved your life.
3.The perfect partner you have been dreaming about.
Which one would you choose to offer a ride to, knowing very well that there could only be one passenger in your car?
This moral/ethical dilemma was once used as part of a job application. The options you have are:
Pick up the old lady, because she is going to die, and thus saving her Take the old friend because he once saved your life, and this would be the perfect chance to pay him back. However, you may never be able to find your perfect mate again
Take your perfect mate and live with the guilt of abandoning the sick old lady and letting a friend down
The candidate who was hired (out of 200 applicants) had no trouble coming up with his answer. He said `I would give the car keys to my friend and let him take the old lady to the hospital. I would stay behind and wait for the bus with the partner of my dreams'. What won him the job was his ability to think beyond the obvious. He displayed proficiency in what is generally called, `Thinking Outside of the Box'.
Let it go!
Gone are the days when sticking to tried-and-tested practices yielded dividends galore. Today, innovation occupies centre stage, calling for a divergence from the well-trodden path. Creative thinking is a critical competency for securing a job, completing assignments, conducting research and developing new concepts. To quote the popular aphorism, `If you only do what you always did, you will not even get what you always got'.
Lighting the bulb
Stephen Covey remarked, `To be successful, we must live from our imaginations'. Indulge your fantasies. Let your imagination run wild.
Build on that niggling idea at the back of your mind. Do not dismiss it as a waste of time. Sometimes the most ludicrous ideas do work out to be wonders.
Always remember the Einstein formula, `Question! Question!' Be inquisitive; ask questions. Ask yourself `why' and `what if' continuously to broaden your perspective, stimulate creative thoughts and generate new insights.
For example - Edward Land was taking pictures of his family on a vacation when his young son asked him why they had to wait so long to have the pictures developed. `Good question!' Land thought.
He sketched some ideas that he tried out when he got back to his lab in Boston. The result was the Polaroid - Land camera and the science of instant photography.
A word of caution
Creative thinking makes mundane work exciting and gives you the cutting edge over others. But, you cannot wait indefinitely for that flash of insight.
Do keep your feet grounded and do not seek to be different just for the sake of being different.
All said and done, we will definitely gain more if we are able to give up our traditional thought limitations.
So what was your answer to the conundrum above? Are you still trapped inside the box? Remember, when you dare to think out of the box, the box goes away.
Pick up the old lady, because she is going to die, and thus saving her Take the old friend because he once saved your life, and this would be the perfect chance to pay him back. However, you may never be able to find your perfect mate again
Take your perfect mate and live with the guilt of abandoning the sick old lady and letting a friend down
The candidate who was hired (out of 200 applicants) had no trouble coming up with his answer. He said `I would give the car keys to my friend and let him take the old lady to the hospital. I would stay behind and wait for the bus with the partner of my dreams'. What won him the job was his ability to think beyond the obvious. He displayed proficiency in what is generally called, `Thinking Outside of the Box'.
Let it go!
Gone are the days when sticking to tried-and-tested practices yielded dividends galore. Today, innovation occupies centre stage, calling for a divergence from the well-trodden path. Creative thinking is a critical competency for securing a job, completing assignments, conducting research and developing new concepts. To quote the popular aphorism, `If you only do what you always did, you will not even get what you always got'.
Lighting the bulb
Stephen Covey remarked, `To be successful, we must live from our imaginations'. Indulge your fantasies. Let your imagination run wild.
Build on that niggling idea at the back of your mind. Do not dismiss it as a waste of time. Sometimes the most ludicrous ideas do work out to be wonders.
Always remember the Einstein formula, `Question! Question!' Be inquisitive; ask questions. Ask yourself `why' and `what if' continuously to broaden your perspective, stimulate creative thoughts and generate new insights.
For example - Edward Land was taking pictures of his family on a vacation when his young son asked him why they had to wait so long to have the pictures developed. `Good question!' Land thought.
He sketched some ideas that he tried out when he got back to his lab in Boston. The result was the Polaroid - Land camera and the science of instant photography.
A word of caution
Creative thinking makes mundane work exciting and gives you the cutting edge over others. But, you cannot wait indefinitely for that flash of insight.
Do keep your feet grounded and do not seek to be different just for the sake of being different.
All said and done, we will definitely gain more if we are able to give up our traditional thought limitations.
So what was your answer to the conundrum above? Are you still trapped inside the box? Remember, when you dare to think out of the box, the box goes away.
Get creative! If the door is locked, try a window!
PAYAL AGARWAL
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