Master What's "In the Box"

I have had the privilege to work with some great people, both as their boss and as their employee, over the past 4 decades. One term that has consistently been tossed about during that time is “Thinking Outside the Box”. 

In my last Army duty station within a 4-Star Army Command I worked with some amazing DA Civilians who were retired Army Soldiers. One was a retired Gentleman who had served since Vietnam as an Enlisted Army Medic, Warrant Officer and Commissioned Officer Physician’s Assistant. We’ll call him Ron ?? 

At the 4-star command level, issues and initiatives flowed in weekly if not daily.  The documentation accompanying said issue/initiative often came with fairly senior leaders’ suggestion that we "think outside the box on this one" to mitigate issues or support initiatives. 

I would review and then forward to my staff for their review and input before I made my recommendation to the Command Surgeon and Commanding General. Many times Ron, who after some hours of review, would come into my office, and state, “the solution already exists, they just need to read and implement Army Regulation XX-X, or Field Manual XX-X or Technical Manual XX-X”, then he would slide the excerpt across my desk that indeed addressed the situation. I cannot tell you how many times Ron would come into my office and quietly point out that “Good Idea Humma Humma” or “Crisis 323” was something the collective Army “Box” already addressed. 

Now, intent of this is not to beat up on any specific Army Command since this phenomenon is ubiquitous and something I still see/hear in the real world post-retirement. The takeaway is that many people don’t bother to master what is "in the box" before they suggest that we "think outside the box" on issues/initiatives.

So, my senior-self advice to those still in their formative jobs is, if you want to be taken seriously while also keeping quality and innovation moving, make sure you master what is in your respective box and apply the tools within said box before, or, at least in parallel, to telling others to “think outside the box”.