Expect Top Possibilities?

Expect Possibilities

What specific dividends do you expect today? Yes, even in the face of problems that defeat people around you. Life tends to take a forward leap – toward new possibilities anticipated, for those who act on what could be. Despite naysayers and doubters, the brain kicks into gear in response to expectations. While it took a solo flight to reach her top prediction, one high school kid Hani, simply ran toward the best and remained solidly in the direction of her dream, until it materialized.

A poor Indonesian girl in dog-eared clothes, waited till she spotted a teacher in the parking lot of an elite Indonesian school. Hani approached the teacher, and in a soft voice asked, "Could you help me with English?" Jamie Winship, an idealistic young English teacher, saw courage in the girl’s approach, especially since she likely knew this school shunned under-privileged Indonesian students.

When Jamie asked why Hani wanted to improve her English, she responded without a pause, …” to attend American university." Moved by the young girl's raw boned dream, Jamie agreed to meet after school. The language lesson extended into months, as Hani refused to waver no matter how much work it took. As soon as she finished her regular school day, she rode the bus for an hour to work on new English lessons that Jamie prepared. Not only did Hani’s study habits outrank top efforts in the elite school, she pushed herself to master the basics in college level English. Hani stuck to a daily grind of meeting every challenge that English raised between her expectations to attend a US college and her underprivileged station in life.

By focusing on possibilities Hani harnessed creativity enough to act on them. In this way she rewired her brain for more of the same. Luckily human brains reshape by what you do in a day, so that regardless of setbacks, a finer big picture can shape and drive expectations.

As customary, new scholarship opportunities arrived in Jamie's mail. As she read vast requirements, Jamie feared Hani had no hope to qualify. She could not list an involvement in clubs or sports. Hani's school had none. Jamie mentioned the scholarship to Hani, and at the same time told her to plan more "realistically" for her future. Hani looked somberly at Jamie as she ran through the fine print, and when Jamie finished, she asked her mentor to submit her name. When naysayers doubt your chances, do your expectations hold?

Jamie didn’t have the heart to turn down Hani, and though she explain the truth about Hani's academic life, she also described on the application, Hani's courage and willingness to work for what she expected.

Jamie then prepared Hani to take an English Fluency test, in Jakarta. That meant Hani needed to learn to use computers, in spite of never having touched one before.

On the test day, a letter from the university arrived in Jamie's mailbox. Jamie thought it was a cruel time to receive a rejection letter, but to prepare Hani for the disappointment, she read the letter out loud. Hani had been accepted! Jamie was ecstatic and leaped for joy around the room. This bewildered Hani, who sat quietly smiling – watching.

Jamie learned something that day, that Hani had known all along.

As I read Hani's story in Chicken Soup for the College Soul, I was inspired and energized by Hani’s reward for sticking to possibilities expected, rather than focusing on problems. Yesterday, as Dr. Ellen Weber and I responded to new contacts, and moved the MITA Center forward, we made top progress. Today, we expect more of the same despite rough spots in the current recession. What do you expect, and what step today would start you in that direction?

Take Problem to Possibility

What if leaders in today's workplaces found creative ways to tap into talent when problems arise? Most dance choreographers would tell a pregnant dancer to take a leave, but not Garth Fagan. Garth retained dancer, Nicolette Depass, though six months pregnant, and featured her in "Phone Tag," to break old paradigms. Along with Norwood Pennewell, who's danced for a startling 30 years, Nicolette "danced vigorously and beautifully as ever" to premier this dance at Joyce Theater in New York on election night and again in the Rochester, NY premier.



"The special radiance of a pregnant dancer of Nicolette's quality," Garth muses, "brings new shape and dimension to dance steps old and new and celebrates my and the company's joy at the union of her and husband Bill Ferguson's superb gene pools."

The dance language of Garth Fagan draws on many sources: torso centered-movement, weight sense of modern dance, Afro-Caribbean energy, precision and speed of ballet and rule breaking precision of post-moderns.

Garth primes his working memory, plus digs from past experiences in his basal ganglia for creative approaches that lead to new possibilities.

How have you recently used a personal capability to develop a unique creation where you work?

How Do Genius's Think?

Interestingly, though you may not be Einstein, and though you may not have college degrees, you can think like a genius... Yes, you and I can. Actually genius is more about making connections that nobody else has made previously... out of your own experiences. And, even if someone did think about the unique possibility, that person just didn't follow through with that insight to market a product. So why not target genius...

Picture Problems and Possibilities Einstein often used his spatial intelligence to see ideas in new ways. Here's just one example...

The wireless telegraph is not difficult to understand. The ordinary telegraph is like a very long cat. You pull the tail in New York and it meows in Los Angeles. The wireless is the same, only without the cat.

"Make a picture of the problem you are trying to solve, or even better, three pictures," advises Scott Thorpe, author of How to Think Like Einstein. Why not try viewing problems from multiple angles? Perhaps you're missing something because you've narrowed your focus too much. Scott suggests that pictures can be in your head, on paper, or built with blocks, but they must be "vivid images."

Trust Intuitions and Insights Jump on your flashes of brilliance. Art Fry, inventor off the Post-It note, simply wanted a bookmark for his church hymnal that wouldn't fall out. Since a colleague, Dr. Spencer Silver, developed an adhesive that left no gummy residue, Fry put some on a small strip of paper and tested it out. Voila, he had what he wanted. And, in his workplace he wanted to stick a temporary note to a work file, so he used the sticky squares of paper at work, too. Coworkers were very interested in this "invention." He understood that he invented a new way of organizing information.

Think about it. Fry didn't invent either the paper or the adhesive. He solved a problem uniquely by combining two ideas... an invention.

Suggestions to transform your thought processes to think more like a genius...

See problems as the flip side of opportunity. Problems can be a gateway to success.

Play with ideas Einstein did. Others might call it daydreaming. "Exploring new areas of thought can seem unproductive in a goal oriented world," according to Michael Powell, author of Mind Games. He notes that a genius spends more time exploring the process rather than trying to find a result. "Lose yourself in an idea. Become so engrossed that you lose track of time. That's the only way to truly create and be instinctive." Seems to go against the grain of today's workplace. But, maybe that's why we see so many folks taking an entrepreneurial path.

Prime your curiosity Simply develop a deep curiosity and wonder at the mystery of life. People can't really explore without curiosity.

Roll out your humor "The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka' but 'That's funny...'" Isaac Asimov

When a tough problem stumps you, a good sense of humor can turn it around. Why? Humor releases a brain hormone, serotonin, that brings about well-being and allows the mind to think clearly. While stressors can shut down the ability to think clearly, a good belly laugh can change that!

Connect two ideas Perceive new connections between two ideas and explore where it might lead. As you think about these comparisons picture similarities and comparisons. Scott Thorpe offers many novel ways to do this as, "Seed Ideas."

See the big picture Look at specifics and think of generalizations as you analyze the structures that lie underneath.

If you're like me, you might not think of yourself as a genius, but it's high time you and I give it our best shot! We are as we think... Thoughts?

Perspectives

What's the story you see from behind a statue?

Difference in view stirs fresh stories. Do you agree that's what makes social media exhilerating?

Getting behind the scene's similar to turning an idea upside down. Changes in approaches stir new possibilities.

Compare to the view of the same statue in my last blog...

Thoughts?

Think Possibility to Unlock Braincramp!

Interestingly, Ellen Weber turned the idea of braincramp upside down. Here's her take...

False predictions over at Essays and Effluvia, remind us that innovation is rarely rewarded when brain cramp strikes. It’s pretty much the same at any organization, and Robyn McMaster’s recent articles on brain cramp show why. Here are 25 famous leaders with brain cramp – after they looked innovation in the face and predicted failure rather than see talent. Does your firm suffer from it? There’s likely one top quote in the list that could jumpstart brains back on track … the next time you present a great idea and support seems small….

1. "Man will never reach the moon regardless of all future scientific advances." -- Dr. Lee DeForest, "Father of Radio & Grandfather of Television."

2. "The bomb will never go off. I speak as an expert in explosives." - - Admiral William Leahy, US Atomic Bomb Project

3. "There is no likelihood man can ever tap the power of the atom." -- Robert Millikan, Nobel Prize in Physics, 1923

4. "Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons." -- Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949

5. "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers ." -- Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943

6. "I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won't last out the year." -- The editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957

7. "But what .. is it good for?" -- Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.

8. "640K ought to be enough for anybody." -- Bill Gates, 1981

9. This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us," -- Western Union internal memo, 1876.

10. "The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?" -- David Sarnoff's associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s.

11. "The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a 'C,' the idea must be feasible," -- A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith's paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service. (Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.)

12. "I'm just glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling on his face and not Gary Cooper," -- Gary Cooper on his decision not to take the leading role in "Gone With The Wind."

13. "A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say America likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like you make," -- Response to Debbi Fields' idea of starting Mrs. Fields' Cookies.

14. "We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out," -- Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.

15. "Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible," -- Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895.

16. "If I had thought about it, I wouldn't have done the experiment. The literature was full of examples that said you can't do this," - - Spencer Silver on the work that led to the unique adhesives for 3-M "Post-It" notepads.

17. "Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You're crazy,"-- Drillers who Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist to his project to drill for oil in 1859.

18. "Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau." - - Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University, 1929.

19. "Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value," -- Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre, France.

20. "Everything that can be invented has been invented," -- Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, US Office of Patents, 1899.

21. "The supercomputer is technologically impossible. It would take all of the water that flows over Niagara Falls to cool the heat generated by the number of vacuum tubes required." -- Professor of Electrical Engineering, New York University

22. "I don't know what use any one could find for a machine that would make copies of documents. It certainly couldn't be a feasible business by itself." -- the head of IBM, refusing to back the idea, forcing the inventor to found Xerox.

23. "Louis Pasteur's theory of germs is ridiculous fiction." -- Pierre Pachet, Professor of Physiology at Toulouse, 1872

24. "The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will forever be shut from the intrusion of the wise and humane surgeon," -- Sir John Eric Ericksen, British surgeon, appointed Surgeon-Extraordinary to Queen Victoria 1873.

25. "There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." -- Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977

Ready to take your best idea to the next stage – in spite of critics where you work? If so – what would that cutting edge idea likely become?

One thing's sure... Ellen focuses on possibilities. Throughout the time I've worked as Sr VP of the MITA Center, I've learned not to doubt. You'll chuckle when I share that Ellen pushed me through a Department Chair's door when I was to have an interview to enter university... At midnight hour I doubled I had the stuff to do it. Ellen helped turn that around with one fell swoop!

Turn braincramp upside down and see what happens... Hmm... do you have yet different ways you unfreeze your brain when it's stuck?