Creativity in Chaos
Disrupting Barriers in Design Solutions
It is no secret that we live in times of extreme social, political, and technological upheaval, of vertiginously rapid change.
The way people buy, do business, socialize, and spend their time is being continually disrupted and re-disrupted. Nothing can be taken for granted in this seismically shifting landscape. Whole industries and technologies rise and fall in months, and opportunities and problems emerge that we couldn’t even imagine yesterday.
It is easy to feel unmoored in these chaotic times, like all the old playbooks are no longer valid and anything could happen.
However, this also means massive opportunities can present themselves at any moment, and there is unprecedented potential for growth.
So how do we survive the upheavals and identify the opportunities? What processes can we actually count on in our Brave New World?
In 1820, somewhere in the Pacific, a massive sperm whale rammed into the Essex, a Nantucket whaler on its first voyage. Thousands of miles away from South American shores, the Essex crew drifted through the open ocean on twenty-foot whaleboats. Their supplies and water soon ran out, and, half-crazed by hunger and dehydration, they had no choice but to roast and eat the remains of those who had already succumbed to starvation.
Eventually, they were driven to the gruesome measure of drawing lots to see who among them would be killed for his flesh. The captain of the ship was forced to eat his own nephew before a rescue ship finally arrived.
Twenty years later, a vessel sailing from Australia to China was wrecked over the Great Barrier Reef. Its crew drifted in boats and starved just like the men of the Essex.
This time, however, when the first sailor died, they used his body as bait to catch fish and sharks instead of eating it. They were able to subsist on shark meat, which lasted them much longer than the grisly alternative, and kept them from having to cannibalize and murder their own friends and shipmates. It seems that the crew of the Essex never thought of this possibility.
What does this strange and horrific 19th-century tale that inspired a young Herman Melville to write Moby Dick have to do with innovation and technology, you ask?
In times of crisis and upheaval, creative thinking matters. Often, it’s the only chance you have. Radical disruption could ram into your industry at any time like a 40-ton whale, leaving you adrift in new waters. Quite probably it already has.
There are no blueprints or ready-made plans to follow in this new territory. To paraphrase the great Mike Tyson, ‘everyone has a plan 'til they get hit in the face.’
To survive and thrive in an era of constant change, upheaval, and even crisis, you need to make bold creative leaps.
The walls and constraints around you that feel solid might very well give way if you push against them. What looks like certain destruction might actually be your greatest opportunity.
Nothing is quite what it seems in times like these, but one thing is certain: the future belongs to the bold and creative.
The way people buy, do business, socialize, and spend their time is being continually disrupted and re-disrupted. Nothing can be taken for granted in this seismically shifting landscape. Whole industries and technologies rise and fall in months, and opportunities and problems emerge that we couldn’t even imagine yesterday.
It is easy to feel unmoored in these chaotic times, like all the old playbooks are no longer valid and anything could happen.
However, this also means massive opportunities can present themselves at any moment, and there is unprecedented potential for growth.
So how do we survive the upheavals and identify the opportunities? What processes can we actually count on in our Brave New World?
In 1820, somewhere in the Pacific, a massive sperm whale rammed into the Essex, a Nantucket whaler on its first voyage. Thousands of miles away from South American shores, the Essex crew drifted through the open ocean on twenty-foot whaleboats. Their supplies and water soon ran out, and, half-crazed by hunger and dehydration, they had no choice but to roast and eat the remains of those who had already succumbed to starvation.
Eventually, they were driven to the gruesome measure of drawing lots to see who among them would be killed for his flesh. The captain of the ship was forced to eat his own nephew before a rescue ship finally arrived.
Twenty years later, a vessel sailing from Australia to China was wrecked over the Great Barrier Reef. Its crew drifted in boats and starved just like the men of the Essex.
This time, however, when the first sailor died, they used his body as bait to catch fish and sharks instead of eating it. They were able to subsist on shark meat, which lasted them much longer than the grisly alternative, and kept them from having to cannibalize and murder their own friends and shipmates. It seems that the crew of the Essex never thought of this possibility.
What does this strange and horrific 19th-century tale that inspired a young Herman Melville to write Moby Dick have to do with innovation and technology, you ask?
In times of crisis and upheaval, creative thinking matters. Often, it’s the only chance you have. Radical disruption could ram into your industry at any time like a 40-ton whale, leaving you adrift in new waters. Quite probably it already has.
There are no blueprints or ready-made plans to follow in this new territory. To paraphrase the great Mike Tyson, ‘everyone has a plan 'til they get hit in the face.’
To survive and thrive in an era of constant change, upheaval, and even crisis, you need to make bold creative leaps.
The walls and constraints around you that feel solid might very well give way if you push against them. What looks like certain destruction might actually be your greatest opportunity.
Nothing is quite what it seems in times like these, but one thing is certain: the future belongs to the bold and creative.