InnovationTools.com suggests you grab a banana and place it in front of you on table. Does it bend to the left or the right?
Now turn it over, you should find that it now bends in the opposite direction. Alas, you do not have magic powers of banana bend reversal, but you have just demonstrated one of the most important characteristics of solving a problem.
You sometimes need the ability to look at it from a new perspective or just turn it on its head!
So next time you are faced with an issue, avoid rushing into the task (unless it really is that simple) and think about what you really want. Turn the problem on its head or try looking at it from a different (or different person’s) point of view.
For example, a new building in France has a steep sloping roof covered in grass. The problem? How on earth to cut it. You could imagine all sorts of elegant engineering or bioengineering solutions but the solution used was to use hover mowers suspended on ropes from above.
Then, of course, we also have that wonderful story of writing in space. The American solution? Develop a hugely expensive zero gravity pen. The Russian solution? Use a pencil!
Photo by brokenarts.