Prior to 1996 Cricket World Cup, in ODIs most teams relied on starting off cautiously and then gradually building up the innings in the allotted fifty overs. Sri lanka captain Arjuna Ranathunga’s came up with an out of box idea and moved Sanath Jayasuriya, who in the initial years of his career since 1989 had batted in the lower order, and Romesh Kaluwitharana to open the innings for the team, revolutionized One Day Cricket. Rest is all history. This move was aha moment in cricket and many other experiments were done after this. Many captains and coaches would be wondering why they didn’t think of this before, how come they missed this simple thing.
How many times we miss the obvious and then afterwards when someone else comes up with a winning formula , we kick ourselves and say it’s very simple how could I have missed this. Over the years I have felt that it’s your power of observation and curiosity that helps in “Out of Box thinking”. It’s nothing but seeing the same things but from a different perspective.
Sharing a simple story (though there are 100s of such stories)that has helped me understand the concept of changing perspective and looking at things in a different way.
In a Girl’s college some students used to experiment with lipsticks and used to kiss the mirror in the bathroom, leaving lipstick marks on the mirror. The principal had a tough time as the maintenance dept. constantly complained to her and asked her to take action. The college fixed fines and various counseling sessions but nothing seems to change. The principal knew that some “out of Box” solution had to be worked out otherwise the problem will not be solved.
The principal recalled a local pizza parlor that had been put out of business because of a rumor spread by some competitor. According to the rumor, the pizza parlor was using sewage water from a nearby ditch to make pizzas in order to save water. Though it was untrue, people refused to eat their pizza after that, and this memory inspired her idea. After conspiring with the school’s janitor, she invited the girls into the bathroom, saying she wanted them to witness the extra work they made for the janitor who had to clean off their lip prints. The janitor came in and stepped into an open toilet stall. He dipped his duster into a toilet, shook off the excess water, and then used the duster to clean the mirrors. This demonstration solved the problem; Simple but impactful.
