Lateral Thinking

Norms talk about "thinking outside the box" as if considering things outside what they're comfortable with is somehow some monumental feat of intellectual achievement.  Me?  I don't have a box.  Everything is up for consideration until there is reasonable evidence to suggest something is reliable.  I always see things that can be changed and improved.  I have things I would stick to and defend, but if evidence or a better argument comes up I let them go and move on always looking to get things better.

The only problem is norms don't seem to like positive change - that's why British Industry have failed to capitalise on all the amazing inventions and breakthroughs made in Britain.  They get complacent that their latest whizzy gadget will never be overtaken and will always have the enormous profit margins it currently does.  Meanwhile some industrious people in somewhere like China, Taiwan or Japan are trying to copy what you do.  They start with something basic and a pale imitation of the "real thing" but they know how to iteratively improve it rapidly and slowly improve quality but with an iron focus on controlling costs.  They're not afraid to invest for the future because they know in 10 years time they'll have overtaken you and because you're so poor at incremental improvement that once they've caught up you'll never be able to keep up...

Norms talk about "thinking outside the box" as if considering things outside what they're comfortable with is somehow some monumental feat of intellectual achievement.  Me?  I don't have a box.  Everything is up for consideration until there is reasonable evidence to suggest something is reliable.  I always see things that can be changed and improved.  I have things I would stick to and defend, but if evidence or a better argument comes up I let them go and move on always looking to get things better.

The only problem is norms don't seem to like positive change - that's why British Industry have failed to capitalise on all the amazing inventions and breakthroughs made in Britain.  They get complacent that their latest whizzy gadget will never be overtaken and will always have the enormous profit margins it currently does.  Meanwhile some industrious people in somewhere like China, Taiwan or Japan are trying to copy what you do.  They start with something basic and a pale imitation of the "real thing" but they know how to iteratively improve it rapidly and slowly improve quality but with an iron focus on controlling costs.  They're not afraid to invest for the future because they know in 10 years time they'll have overtaken you and because you're so poor at incremental improvement that once they've caught up you'll never be able to keep up...