We know that Albert Einstein was a genius and while most of us don’t have the know-how to discover new theories of physics, we can emulate Einstein.
When you come across a problem what’s the first thing you do? The majority of us will immediately start thinking of solutions and then trying them. Einstein did just the opposite. Asked how he’d handle a problem if he was given an hour to solve it, Einstein answered he’d spend 55 minutes defining the problem and 5 minutes solving it.
Innovation consultant and author Jeffrey Phillips says that in this day and age executives have a bad habit of getting to a solution as quickly as possible while mulit-tasking. All this does is create shallow thinking, and shallow thinking isn’t good for business.
As consumed as many of our lives are with technology and efficiency, innovation falls short. With the rapid pace of many work environments and personal lives, things like exploration, stillness, and contemplation get pushed out. Phillips goes on to say that adding meetings and endless tasks is equated with value to managers. The prime focus should be more on innovative thinking, rather than constant doing.
You don’t have to have the IQ of Einstein to think like him, all you have to do is step back and take some time to really think about the problem.
Via Fastcompany