Dan Pallotta at HBR.org argues that, contrary to popular leadership rhetoric, you should pay attention to the constraints you are working in:
You cannot possibly think outside the box unless you understand the nature of the box that bounds your current thinking. You must come to know that nature deeply. You must have real insight into it. You must accept it, and embrace it at some level, before it will ever release you. There’s a Zen saying, “What you resist persists, and what you allow to be disappears.” Thinking outside the box without understanding the box is a petulant exercise in resistance — every idea that comes from the process has the box written all over it. It’s a reaction to the box. It’s fighting the box. It’s a child of the box.
Related articles
- Stop Thinking Outside the Box (blogs.hbr.org)
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