Think outside the "mint" box.

I have a thought experiment I use as an icebreaker – a way to inject energy into a conversation. It helps to identify open minded and lateral thinkers and it's a fun group exercise in problem solving. This is how I introduce the experiment:

"Imagine I place a tin of mints on the table. When I open it, it's full of mints, and everyone can take one. I close the tin and re-open it. Once again it's full of mints. How much you would you pay for this mint tin?"

Before you continue, think for yourself how you'd answer that question.

After I propose the scenario I get more questions before I get answers. How does it work? Is there a trick? Is it magic? I tell everyone that as far as you're aware you have an infinite supply of mints. There's no catch. This isn't that kind of question. At this point someone chimes in with "I don't like mints, so maybe ten dollars?" I let the response sit. Most of the time – but not always – someone gets to the next logical step. "I'd sell the mints. So I'd pay more than that, maybe a thousand dollars."

Now we're at the crux of the conversation. The collective neurons of the group brain are starting to fire. The price people are willing to pay grows as ideas flow. Some people have a difficult time thinking beyond what the value of the tin is to them into what the value may be to the rest of the world. The conversation becomes a miniature design thinking exercise with "how might we leverage a tin of infinite mints" being the statement that drives innovation. And I've heard a lot of innovative ideas:

• Sell it as a curiosity to a billionaire; collect a tidy sum.
• Create a formula for mintcrete; solve the impending sand shortage.
• Rig the tin opening to the crank of a candy machine; become a mini mint magnate.
• Move to Dubai; build mint islands.
• Design a mintelectric engine; the freshest form of renewal energy.
• Become a magician; a literal one-trick pony.

I'd love to hear more creative ideas for this thought experiment. As for me, I'll be in the shop designing my perpetual mint motion machine.