The life giving power if Insights…

Lately (well, over three years now) I have become a long distance bicycling addict which unfortunately places me out on the streets together with inattentive drivers driving giganticus SUV’s while on cell phones. If this is not scary enough, now I understand from the latest research, that GPS receivers are the latest distraction toy to complement cell phones. As I deeply believe in the powers of evolution to enlighten us into healthier ways, I hope that we hurriedly are evolving ourselves to accommodate our new, always-on, connected lifestyles. I, and I am sure all my fellow bicyclists out there feel the same way, am praying for this to happen sooner rather than later because the close calls have become too close and in many unfortunate cases, deadly.

What brings me to this latest stream of thinking is not the trials and tribulations of sharing the road with inattentive and arrogant drivers and their vehicles, what has surfaced instead, thanks to this new found love, is an insight regarding the notion of perspectives.

My perspective concerning our incessantly itinerant society has forever changed since riding. My past perspective was that cars are cool and the more horsepower the better. I have been a “car guy” since I was a kid ( it sort of runs in my family). I grew up with my father and me tinkering with cars, motor boat engines and all sorts of stuff of the motor kind. In fact, my dad actually had the audacity of building a pull-along trailer from the ground up. He designed it, built it and finished it with his bare hands (ok, not a car, but close enough and I helped a lot in its completion.). The change in perspective has so drastically changed my attitude about cars that I have actually started to think in new ways to change my lifestyle in order to minimize the use of cars. I am even thinking of ways to eliminate their use from my daily routine and commute. I have almost reached the conclusion that to continue to build a societies around cars is unsustainable. With ever more cars filling the roads in ever shrinking spaces to make knew roads (at least in Northern Virginia, USA) the solution is not cars but hybrid transportation systems that include public transports, bicycling, Segways, yet-to-be-marketed-personal transports, and -yes, that dreaded word- walking.

Ok, so this blog is about innovation. In an innovation practice, changes in perspective are of supreme importance. A change in perspective provides fertile ground for new ideas, solutions and insights. Further, if one is in the business of innovation management one has the obligation to actively pursue changes in perspective. Routine can be paralyzing if one is not cognizant of it.

There are many ways of achieving a change in perspective. The most obvious of all is traveling. Nothing can better open minds and change perspectives than traveling. The key, however, is to travel to new places that challenge preconceived notions and not to places and destinations that are “comfortable.” I have seen first hand the sweeping changes that this can produce. As one that was brought up internationally, I know this already, but for others this may not be so readily apparent.

Not too long ago I witnessed the changes that occurred when my mother in law traveled for the first time to a third World country and had an encounter with a member of the third World. After traveling to those “safe” destinations for most of her traveling life, she finally had occasion to experience a third World country in all its rawness while in a cruise of the Panama Canal. While the encounter was unintended, the experience of seeing the extended hand of a 5-year old beggar through a wrought iron fence asking for coin, was a transcendental experience that changed her perspective forever.

Changed perspectives; they work.