Thinking Inside The Box

"Think outside the box" has become the quintessential metaphor for encouraging teams to devise creative solutions for various challenges, workflows, strategies, or executions. Leaders across multiple industries frequently use this phrase to motivate their staff to generate innovative ideas. Job applicants often highlight their ability to excel outside the proverbial box. So, does this mean those who stay within the box are doomed to the same fate as the dinosaurs? If stepping out of the box is the ultimate differentiator and we are all now outside of it, what then is the true differentiator?

The concept of thinking outside the box gained prominence from psychologist J. P. Guilford, who in the 1970s conducted a study on creativity. This study featured the famous nine-dot puzzle, which challenges individuals to connect all nine dots using just four straight lines without lifting their pencils. The solution to this puzzle requires lines to be drawn literally outside the box. But does solving this puzzle signify belonging to a rare breed? Not necessarily. These individuals are still thinking within a framework; they simply have a better understanding of its constraints. Thinking outside the box would mean disregarding the rules entirely and drawing random shapes. The puzzle remains a box because it imposes constraints—four lines, nine dots, don't lift the pencil. The best thinkers grasp the entire box, including its farthest edges, and understand that not all boxes are square.

Innovation always involves constraints, whether laws, taxes, permits, gravity, or drawing only four lines. These limitations are unavoidable and must be respected. Otherwise, we'd consider Bonnie and Clyde the greatest out-of-the-box thinkers, rather than Steve Jobs or Elon Musk. So, is the issue your company faces an inability to think outside the box, or is it a lack of awareness of the entire box and its borders? Next time you think something cannot be done, study the constraints. Are they true barriers or simply orange cones to navigate around? As you work around the cones, you're still within the box but getting closer to its edge.

Now go, and fully explore your box.

Any opinions expressed herein are strictly those of the author.