In his book, ‘Why We Make Mistakes’, Joseph Hallinan describes an experiment whereby volunteers are given a logic problem involving cups of water. There is a solution, but it’s relatively complicated. In a second experiment, they are given more jugs and cups of water and this time the problem can be solved in two ways: a replication of the first problem’s solution and a second, far simpler, solution. The people who participated in the first experiment nearly all followed the solution they’d found previously. But 95% of a second set of volunteers who hadn’t seen the first problem found the simpler solution.

Hallinan summarizes: “People in the initial experiments had become so set in their ways that they were blinded to the newer, simpler solution. But to those who came to the problem fresh, the simpler solution was obvious.” That is one of the problems with the continuous improvement meme – in your company, you might make a 1% improvement each year. But a new company who is coming to the problem fresh may be able to come up with something completely new. Incremental improvements in laptops are nothing next to the ipad (depending on what you want to use the device for ).

One of the ways to get out of the space you’re in mentally is to explore paradigms outside of your company, industry or country. There’s an article on the BBC website today about the application of the ‘no-frills’ airline business concept to the hotel industry. How many people in the hotel industry thought, when they got on a budget airline, how does this apply to my industry? How does it apply to yours? How does Starbucks or Apple or Amazon or Dell or Expedia apply to a legal firm or a plant manufacturer or a papermill? It’s asking questions like this that allow for more than incremental improvement.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11114802

http://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Make-Mistakes-Without/dp/0767928067/ref=sr_…