"What's inside? Possibilities!"

Inquiring minds want to know.

In an earlier life, I frequently led new product and marketing innovation workshops. One of the most interesting skills we used to develop new ideas is called "subtraction." Subtraction directs innovators to

1. remove all or some of a prominent component of an existing product and
2. massage what's left to see if anything new and exciting presents itself to potential customers.

The VCR, cell phone, and sun roof are all successful subtraction or partial subtraction adaptations of once existing products. The VCR began its virtual life as a TV with the screen removed. The cell phone is conceptually your old heavy desk phone with the cord removed. And your sunroof is the result of partially subtracting some of your car's metal roof. Basically, innovators asked the questions, "What if we removed this component? What would we be left with? What further manipulations would we have to make to provide the user with greater utility?"

Advertisers also use subtraction with startling effect. As we see in the following video, the car company Saturn once produced a commercial that showed people in various driving situations – without a vehicle in sight. The only words spoken were "When we design our cars, we don't see sheet metal, we see the people who may one day drive them." That's a very different message than "Zero to 60 in 4.2 seconds!"

Similarly, FedEx ran a series of commercials a couple of years ago called "What's Inside." It shows people in various walks of life receiving FedEx packages – but we never see what's inside the packages. The contents of the packages have, in effect, all been "subtracted." They're not necessary because FedEx is really selling something else: the idea of what could be shipped. "Possibilities."

And that brings us to this week's "Getting Unstuck" podcast episode and guest, Gregg Brown. Gregg is the Network Coordinator for the Center for Advanced Professional Studies (CAPS).

CAPS helps high school students identify their passions and strengths, and matches them to internship opportunities outside of school. It also helps students develop the technical and professional skills they'll need to work successfully with others. The program gives kids the opportunity to investigate a variety of potential professions before running off to four years of expensive college exploration.

Basically CAPS helps high school students begin to subtract the mystery about who they are, what interests they have, and what impact they want to have in the world.

So, what's inside the CAPS' experience?

Possibilities.

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Jeff can be found at www.queticocoaching.com and [email protected]