A Marketplace of Ideas

Okay, so we had a little snow to clear yesterday. And true to my suggestion on my previous post, I went out to shovel with the idea of using physical activity to help solve a problem—what to write for my next blog entry.

I started shoveling and I let my mind wander. At first it was just a sense—and then a conscious realization—that the piles of snow I was clearing were at eye level.

I couldn’t remember seeing snow that high since walking to C. Ray Gates School in Grand Island, Nebraska with my brother, Jeff. In my adult life, I had always maintained that it didn’t snow as much today as it did when I was growing up in Nebraska. Yet, here the snow was as high as when I walked to school. One catch: when I was walking to school, I was under five-feet tall. Today, I’m 5-feet, 9-inches.

So, I thought, perhaps I’ve been sharing dogma (it used to snow more) from an outdated perspective (that of a short grade-schooler).

Then I realized that as creative leaders, we need to continually revisit the perspectives from which we form our world views. Are they still relevant within the current environment or are we stuck in an old paradigm? And we must recognize that others who have strong beliefs may fall for the same trap. Being mindful and open to considering new perspective is how we grow as individuals. It’s also how we create and innovate as groups. I wondered what else I could do to challenge my own assumptions.

Then my feet got cold and I had to go inside to warm up.