Thinking Outside the Box: Defining and Tearing Down Your Walls

Think out of the box!

You hear that to be more creative you need to think outside the box, but what box and how do you find it? It is your normal ways of thinking along with all the hidden assumptions that you make. Imagine actually living in a box, with your view of the world defined only through the pictures and descriptions written on the four walls of your box. Even the best pictures and most accurate descriptions could not encompass the totality of the world outside. You would be forced to make assumptions about the world that might not be too useful or true.

This metaphor is great one for understanding how limited our thinking can be and it suggests a solution as well. Your thinking and assumptions are like those pictures and descriptions, forming the “walls” of your box and limiting what you can know about the world. The solution? Stop looking at them and get outside the your personal and organizational boxes!

Tracks: Enterprise Data Center Management, IT Management and zNextGen