Innovate by Thinking Reverse

Everyone knows the story of the crow trying to drink water from a big jar with very little water left in it. When getting water out of the jar got difficult, the crow thought reverse - putting some pebbles in the jar to increase the water level. That’s how you can innovate by thinking reverse.

High jumpers preferred to jump over the bar with their body facing the bar but a revolutionary change happened during the 1968 Mexico Olympics when a young athlete, Dick Fosbury, crossed a world record height of 7ft 41/4 inches. He changed the way people think by thinking just the reverse of what others think. He jumped over the bar with his back facing the bar. The method of jumping is known as Fosbury Flop which inspired athletes across the world and is accepted as the best method of jumping over the bar.

I asked a group of students to suggest a new theme for restaurants. Restaurant is a place where you find various kinds of delicious cuisines. I asked the students to think just the opposite of what a restaurant is all about. One student suggested the opposite could be a place where food is restricted like a hospital. The answer came almost instantaneously and unaware about the famous hospital themed restaurant in Latvia. Hospitalis is the name of the restaurant where food is served in flasks and operating-room dishes by waitresses in nurse’s uniform. Furniture, utensils and the entire ambience of the restaurant is just like a hospital. Reverse thinking really helps to move out of the box, isn’t it?

Have you heard about reverse painting? It is an ancient art where a painter paints on one side of a sheet of glass and the painting is viewed from the other side of the glass, i.e. through the glass. In this case the painter has to paint in reverse keeping in mind the actual image when viewed from the other side of the glass. It is surprising the way these highly skilled painters use reverse thinking – the mind thinks of the painting and exactly it’s reverse, simultaneously. The mind is so well trained that that it can guide the hands of the painter to do just the opposite of what it thinks. Surprisingly Amazing!!! Want to try?

Great people thought just the reverse of what others thought. People feel that recession is not the ideal time to start a business, but some great entrepreneurs thought just the opposite. Thomas Edison started a small company called General Electric Company in 1876, in the middle of recession which went on to become one of the largest companies in the world. Bill Gates, a Harvard University dropout started Microsoft Corp. during recession. Walt Disney Corporation began during the recession in 1923-24. Hewlett-Packard Corporation began in 1938 during the great depression.