No, this is not a manual to enable you to annoy your colleagues and friends. If you have not read Charles Handy’s great book ‘The Age of Unreason’ then now is the time to acquire or borrow a copy.
Basically, Handy applies different modes of thinking to generate what some might call strange ideas e.g. don’t pay hospital consultants more, let them work less (you need to read the book to find out why).
Anyway, the aim is not to apply reason to problematic situations but to apply the opposite – Unreason (or non-traditional thinking).
Much of our thinking and hence rulemaking flows from a simple assumption without this ever being challenged. We take this as a given when in fact it might not be.
Here is an example. I was driving home from the other end of the country and was getting a little frustrated by the traffic.
I have driven around much of the UK at varying times of the day and night and it is fair to say that at certain times the roads are gridlocked and at others, there is hardly a car or lorry in sight.
Why can’t we schedule movement of freight so that it is evenly spread throughout the day, making a more constant demand on our road network?
Aha, you are now thinking but what about cars. They are a problem. Well yes, but mainly because of peoples working patterns.
What if we could arrange for workplaces to be open 24 hours a day or some at night and some during the day so that this places a more even load on our transport network?
Trains and buses could then run 24/7 but less frequently as they would not have to move so many people.
Some people might like to work at night so they could schedule more family time.
If everything worked 24/7 then we have more choices about when to do things rather than the whole world attempting to move together twice during the working day.
As you will realise, this is not a fully thought out idea, but it could be! It could also lead to changing our thinking on other things, maybe used as a springboard.
So this summer, whilst sipping a cocktail or watching clouds float across a blue sky, why not apply a little unreason to some of the issues facing you or your business?
To find out how Derek can help, use any of the contact methods on this page or read about Getting Started With Creativity and Getting Started With Innovation.