Today I attended a leadership event, named “Go Beyond MBA”, which stated that in this time the MBA way of thinking isn’t enough anymore. It is based on a linear and logical way of thinking, but the world we live in today is far from linear. What kind of leadership is effective in the current volatile economy?
One of the speakers, Harry Starren (former CEO of de Baak) talked about radical re-conceptualization. What if you would play with the concepts behind problems we now face. Can you come up with new perspectives if you re-conceptualize the problem. For example: The reduction of carbon dioxide emissions from cars. Now thousands of people are working on this problem. The problem remains and reduces slowly but surely. What if we radically re-conceptualize the problem into a situation like: Cars should purify the air (the more cars, the cleaner the air). It might not be realistic, but it opens up new ways at looking at cases. Think about it for a moment? How would this look like? Can you imaging what would happen If these thousands of people would focus on this concept?
Now let’s expiriment with some more:
You are here for your company <–> Your company is here for you
A manager should control their employees <–> A manager should trust their employees
You should pay in order to learn <–> You should earn money when you learn
Developing countries need help from us <–> We need help from developing countries
In order to earn money you should work hard and behave professionally <–> In order to earn money you should play and have fun.
….. What kind of re-conceptualizations can you think of? They don’t have to be realistic, just enjoy the images the you’ll get out of them. Maybe you’ll accidently come up with a briljant new concept like “fast food should be healthy ;)”
Let's play Innovation! 