If you want people to sign up for a unique journey, being honest in your help-wanted sign forms a basis for trust. If we hide the difficult parts in our help-wanted advertisement, we might assemble a team that will fracture when we wander off course.
It is easy to think about how to scale when, in reality, we might not comprehend the realities of scale.
Two Starbucks, located across the street from each other, appear like poor business planning; until we recognize that the stores exist in an urban design that prioritizes automobiles. If ease of pedestrian travel were a preference, perhaps one store would be sufficient.
How might we understand ‘who it is for’ before we begin our design and implementation phase? Starbucks does not exist to serve vehicles, but it does serve people. That said, it inhabits an environment that has amplified the needs of motorized travel; therefore, its design model accommodates those arriving in vehicles.
Not all strategies can be BHAGs (Big Hairy Audacious Goals). Sometimes, section hiking or even linking together day hikes might be more productive than trying to complete the entire thru-hike that we aspire to finish.
If you are a donkey that was a companion to a horse, it is a powerful relationship. However, donkeys live a factor longer than horses, so they can find themselves looking for a new function if their companion horse passes away. One Colorado nonprofit runs a donkey sanctuary. To keep the animals engaged and interacting socially, they participate in events, assuming various roles. For last night’s wedding ceremony, they carried around bottles of beer and other beverages. They were adored and celebrated, once again finding their purpose.
When our first thing is done, it may mean a new opportunity is waiting.
When your journey encounters visibility challenges, what gives you the confidence to continue? When we are unsure of what lies around the next corner, are there techniques and mindsets that offer reassurance?
If we build a beacon on top of a mountain, people will naturally climb towards it or use it for orientation purposes. However, if we place a beacon on a ridgeline full of other towers and ariels, we might get lost in the crowd. Our mission is to position our towers as close to the edge of the map as possible, making them useful without being so far off that they are never seen.
The route we take influences our perception of the terrain and the destination.
Encountering a section of barbed wire fence that is coiled and leaning on an old fence post creates a moment of reflection. Does this fence line represent an era that is coming to an end? Or is it an opportunity to repurpose the fence line and generate a new narrative? A finish line can also be a starting line.
I recently completed a site visit for a youth education group. The former tenants of the building ran programs for preschool children. In the expansive community room, preschool furniture worth tens of thousands of dollars was piled high. It reminded me of the scene in the government warehouse from the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark. The preschool provider’s narrative is complete. The question now is whether somebody will start a new story by dispersing the preschool treasure to partner organizations. Will the provable fence line be revived or left dormant?
If your flight disembarks at a remote stand and you are instructed to take the bus to the terminal, it can feel like an unplanned deviation from your itinerary. However, when the pilot tells you that the bus drops passengers off directly at the customs hall, saving them a fifteen minute walk from the jetway that might have been used to reach the same location, it can feel like a bonus. Reframing circumstances can change how we perceive our reality.
How might we recognize that framing a situation can fundamentally change our potential impact?
What-if-concepts 