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Creative idea-generating techniques include those that produce
surprising innovations and inventions by forcing thinkers to consider
opposites. Nature teaches us this lesson. Where would we be, after all,
without opposite sexes?
What could be more incompatible than a dog and a cat?
Sure, we hear stories of dogs and cats raised together and getting along.
Sure, it rains cats and dogs sometimes. But in the wild they just don't mix.
Or do they?
Yes, nature puts them together in an opposite wonder. The
fox, the most
successful wild carnivore in the world, is basically a cat-dog. Like a cat,
it stalks, slinks, and pounces. It has long whiskers and cat-like eyes with
vertically cut pupils. Yet the fox is a member of the dog family with a
dog-like snout, ears, and paws. And, of course, it chases cats.
Doing the opposite of what seems most sensible can be a smart way to invent.
Sports fans will recognize the
Fosbury
Flop, the Ali
Shuffle, and the Bengals'
no-huddle offense as winning opposites. Contrarian investors find
success where others fear to tread. The original Volkswagen fascinated and
won over an entire market in the middle of America's 60s, big-car craze.
Then, just when we thought sense had settled on the oil-guzzling nation, the
opposite-oriented SUV burst upon the scene.
We, all of us—not just those we call creatives—wrestle with the opposite
impulses of our Jekyll-and-Hyde natures, which urge us to satisfy our
instincts and achieve our noblest goals. Philosophers ponder the tug of good
and evil and nature's opposite forces in their age-old mind-body debate. The
tension that provides the interest in works of art, music, literature, and
so many creative endeavors arises when yin-yang-like opposites collide.
Why
not put the momentum of opposites together when faced with your next
intractable problem. You just might find a synthesis as interesting as
War
and Peace.
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