Perfect World Principle

Pretending to live in a perfect world is a key to fundamental change. By doing so, we set aside our conventions and preconceived notions. Pretending to live in a perfect reality opens the doors to perfect design. Such an ideal reality is, however, perfectly imperfect. It makes the glass ceiling of limiting beliefs visible that stands in the way of growth and transformation.

PERFECT WORLD PRINCIPLE, the book I wrote in 2011 together with creative director David Smith, has the subtitle: ‘Don’t Fight yourInnovation Dilemmas, Fool Them!’ To achieve a ‘perfect’ organiza- tion and world, we argued, we must set aside or at least deceive our conventions and limiting beliefs.

Many of the Perfect World Principles are ‘mind-expanding’. They appeal to unconscious, naive, even childlike-abil- ities to unleash creative potential. The key to this is ‘pretense’. After all, we are under no obligation to regard an exist- ing reality as an absolute fact. We can just create a new one.

By pretending that we disagree and using play, humor and fantasy—not rea- son—we create new perspectives, turn on the magic, whereby the existing reality is no longer our benchmark. Some of these perspectives will seem so impossible or ridiculous that we don’t have to pursue them as a new reality; others are closer to the current reality, on the edge of that which is possible, within our understanding of the feasible. It is precisely these perspectives which we want to pursue.

Dilemmas and issues? Do not think in terms of direct solutions. Take a heli- copter view of the issue and look at it in context. Look for simplexity. Things may seem complex, but that is just our perception. We observe, interpret and choose confusion or clarity ourselves. We complicate the issue ourselves, adding limiting beliefs which tempt us to overlook alternative realities. To broaden that tunnel vision, we need to dare to improvise, because so many possible realities exist. Do not worry or ponder too much and try not to think and make decisions based on limited and restrictive reasoning. On the con- trary, let naivety and humor happen. Accept that different truths can exist side by side. Argue for argument’s sake. Be a wise guy, like in ‘the Godfather’, who always has the last word. Lie, cheat, brag. After all, you do not approach a dilemma similarly to how it was created, so transcend it and come up with new visions and perspectives. This makes you aware of all possibilities.

Are you familiar with the children’s series Pippi Longstocking (Pippilotta Viktualia Rullgardina Krusmynta Efraimsdotter Långstrump)? It is the film adaptation of the books by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren (1907-2002) about the strongest and most stubborn girl in the world. I remember one scene where Pippi and her friends are at the edge of a lake:

This is an example of enormous opti- mism. What if you can walk on water? Of course, you can. Just wait untill we have a cold winter. Or mix water with cornstarch. When you believe that you can walk on water, you may well conceive of new ways to actually do so.

Living as though—pretending to live in a perfect world in which, for example, you can walk on water—is a key to fun- damental change. Because by visualizing a new, ideal reality, you create some- thing bigger than seemed possible, given the facts. With this ideal image—with a perfect world in mind—you unleash the necessary creativity, vision, strategy and actions with which to raise organi- zations to the next level. Pretending to live in a perfect reality opens the door toperfect design. Designing our lives, our organizations or the world just as we want to, either together or individually. Create new realities and truths: deter- mine and follow a strategy with your whole being and then make it happen in the physical world.

People are social beings. We congregate around a project or a concept—religion, for example, politics or corporate culture—and call it reality. An absolute view of that reality offers security. Our consciousness creates an image of ourselves, our identity and our position within the group. It determines our view of the world. We hallucinate the decor of our reality, after which we set everything in stone with our beliefs. That is the world we live in. Everything is as it is, and change comes via a logical, linear extension. Through brainstorming we continue to creatively construct, but do not question the (alleged) founda- tions of reality. The certainty with which we view reality, however, also creates dilemmas. The way in which we per- ceive reality and the way it can happen to us, may clash.

Our originally created reality can limit our further creativity. Just as our imagi- nation is limited to three dimensions: it (mainly) stops at the cube. Thinking and cooperating from limitations, we do not get much further than the reality which is bound by the same limitations. We stay in flatland, whilst we could easily draw a multidimensional image—line by line—even a ‘four-dimensional’ one, such as the tesseract. Set this image in motion—that is, subtract the elements of time and space—and the initially clear reasoning behind the image turns into amazement. Have we ever been able to foresee how, in time,—a relatively very short time—our world could change and will change?

Thanks to science, philosophy and unprecedented technological advances, we’re gaining conceivable dimensions. We have proof of a quan- tum reality and realize that our physical reality is not as it seems. We are increas- ingly able to visualize the unimaginable. If we are open to other realities and possibilities, then there are myriad cre- ative interpretations. We will no longer be thinking linearly, based on processes, but quantum-creatively: playing with time and space.

We congregate around a project or a concept— religion, for example, politics or corporate culture—and call it reality.

Linearly, Michael Jackson is dead, having died at the age of fifty in a
Los Angeles hospital. Date and time of death: June 25th 2009 at 2.26 pm PST. But thanks to technology he lives on. He performs as a hologram and every day his music is heard around the world. Michael Jackson may have reached the biological end of his physi- cal being, his self-consciousness having been extinguished, we can speculate as to his soul, but his creativity still exists, without any doubt. In fact, he is a source for new creativity. It’s not mystical, but rather quantum-creative.

Is a Perfect World really so easy to imagine and realize or are we just fool- ing ourselves with such an ideal reality? What good is the pursuit of a mirage or an unattainable vision? The answer to the former is: an ideal reality is always perfectly imperfect. And that also applies to the path leading to it. Each new project will encounter objections. Because just imagine a new, ideal organization, free of dilemmas and issues.

Children by nature know how to adapt reality. They will just pretend and believe their self-created reality

As soon as you have imagined such a perfect world, once you have figured out your reality, there will be plenty of arguments to question that image—and especially its realization. More so when you argue and reason traditionally.

You can imagine a Perfect World, but if the road to it is as straight as a ruler— if you think linearly and use the same starting point which led to the problem in the first place—that Perfect World will remain a daydream. For example, if you work backwards starting at a prob- lem, you will arrive at its cause (and its consequence) and not at the underlying reasons. If you then solve the problem from those causes and fight the objec- tions that have been raised against (the realization of) the new reality, you will deal with symptoms and phantoms. The underlying causes which you have not addressed might well lead to a similarproblem in future. So, at best, you have found a temporary solution and the ideal reality remains a glimmer on the horizon.Yet it is precisely the objections, the ifs and buts which can help you remove doubt and find a solution at a higher level: a solution which is not based on linear thinking, one that breaks through the pattern of existing reality, which allows you to see the whole apple, because you’re looking beyond the flat world. The method is simple. Do not seek the straight path to the Perfect World or solutions to problems. Do not look at the past and what may have gone wrong. Just ask yourself a few questions. What do you want to change? What do you find inspiring? Why will it not succeed tomorrow? Look ahead:

1. Where is the challenge? Who, which brands or organizations are an ideal example for whom or what you want to be?

2. In ten years’ time, you will be that person, brand or organization. What will you have changed in the world?

3. Why is this not possible tomorrow?

The answer to the latter yields a whole series of arguments and objec- tions, which in all cases can lead to conflict and stagnation. They can lead to endless discussions and turn a pas- sion into a stalemate. To avoid this pit- fall of disagreement and arguments, we have developed, in the course of years, easy child-like techniques. (Children by nature know how to adapt reality. They will just pretend and are clever in trust- ing and believing that self-created reality.) For example, by disagreeing with everything, we can consciously seek and find as many contradictory arguments and perspectives as possible: not to frus- trate the realization of something ideal, but rather to view the ambition from as many angles as possible. This enables a break-through and helps refine the objections and dilemmas. We can also magnify things by boasting or by lying about the situation.

We have learned that we need to find the pain threshold beyond pretense. Which is where that glass ceiling shatters. We are afraid of pain, but through it we will automatically reach the deeper layers of the unconscious. We will stop arguing, and instead start to feel that we really want to change. We first need to submerge the ball deep underwater to make it surge up to a new reality. It gives a creative flow, stimulates quantum cre- ative images and deceives problem-solv- ing orientation into something really transformative.

The objections, the ifs and the buts which can be so frustrating in other situations are now revealing. What does an organization believe in and what does it not believe in? How much self-confi- dence does it have and where does it see its boundaries? Making a list of limitations shows where tension really lies. It reveals the glass ceiling of limiting beliefs that keeps the organization from growing.

Logical and linear thinking work in line with an existing reality and do there- fore not bring truly innovative solutions, nor that higher level. Rational argumen-tation underpins and reinforces existing beliefs but does not refute them. You can fool beliefs—even your own—or expose them through humor. How? Becausethrough play-acting, humor and imagi- nation, the limitations of rational think- ing are released. That rational thinking only leads to more ifs and buts.

Humor traverses dilemmas and com- plexities. Humor opens serious issues, problems and dilemmas to discussion. Perhaps, you might not yet be able to solve them, but it will certainly take you a great deal further. By definition, a dilemma is unresolvable and with facts you can not destroy convictions. The only thing you can do is to mag- nify the dilemma or the belief until it is absurd, like comedians do. Is an issue too serious to discuss? Try humor. Do you need imagination or freedom of thought? Humor or at least light-heart- edness helps you liberate yourself from the straitjacket of analytical thinking. Humor liberates us from beliefs which hold both our relationships and way of thinking hostage. There are unwritten rules of doing business. Preparatory talks should be friendly and light- hearted, but the final closure of the deal, serious and full of weight. Business and pleasure do not go together, they say. But what about Einstein and Feynman then, who conducted important business and yet were playful and humorous? You can use humor precisely as a means of softening preconceived notions which keep business relations stuck in one place. Light-heartedness can be used to change relationships, to create a common ground and to initiate concepts which would otherwise be held back by shared limiting beliefs. Humor, light-heartedness and play, openness, connection and creativity: they create links, a common ground, set a new course and get things done.

Looking for and finding a solution at a higher level, without the classic limita- tions associated with linear thinking, is what I call quantum creativity. Quantum-creativity starts with really feeling what you have imagined, with play and fantasy. We will fool our linearly thinking, searching minds. We will connect mul- tiple perspectives and revise so-called reality. Such a reality, for example an existing corporate culture, can be a mere fabrication, a lie. Quantum creativity allows (other) possible truths to break through in order to maintain an openness which is not immediately filled with yet another alleged, limited reality. Instead, we enter a virtual reality: a make-believe reality full of unlimited possibilities, which sends the same sensory stimuli to our brains as physical reality does. It enables us to come up with the most brilliant, creative, visionary and strategic insights. And it grants us the energy with which to bring all these new insights into practice and to full maturity. What makes it appealing and easy is that quantum creativity comes so naturally to us.

Because quantum creativity is child’s play: playing with ‘reality’, exploring the area between make-believe and reality. Once the game is understood, we can step outside the boundaries of reality, create an imaginary one, give it form and, if necessary, drop back into the original one, or—from our ideas or intuition—choose the new one, just as we see fit. The boundaries between the original reality and the imaginary one have been mutually agreed upon, just like children do. This childlike view is still free of preconceived notions or assumptions about reality. For example, a family on holiday is on its way to a resort. On arrival they stop at the bar- rier. Daddy says, “great, we are here.” One of the children asks, “are we going to prison...?” The barrier is raised.

Quantum creativity is a form of creativity where you let go of a limiting belief and exchange it for an entirely new reality. To do so, you can remove roles and positions. Or you can have people forget those roles and positions. I remember such a session. As soon as the management of a large insurance com- pany had forgotten its role, it shouted, even during the session: “fire this management!” Which was the best idea that afternoon.

The answer to the latter yields a whole series of arguments and objec- tions, which in all cases can lead to conflict and stagnation. They can lead to endless discussions and turn a pas- sion into a stalemate. To avoid this pit- fall of disagreement and arguments, we have developed, in the course of years, easy child-like techniques. (Children by nature know how to adapt reality. They will just pretend and are clever in trust- ing and believing that self-created reality.) For example, by disagreeing with everything, we can consciously seek and find as many contradictory arguments and perspectives as possible: not to frus- trate the realization of something ideal, but rather to view the ambition from as many angles as possible. This enables a break-through and helps refine the objections and dilemmas. We can also magnify things by boasting or by lying about the situation.

We have learned that we need to find the pain threshold beyond pretense. Which is where that glass ceiling shatters. We are afraid of pain, but through it we will automatically reach the deeper layers of the unconscious. We will stop arguing, and instead start to feel that we really want to change. We first need to submerge the ball deep underwater to make it surge up to a new reality. It gives a creative flow, stimulates quantum cre- ative images and deceives problem-solv- ing orientation into something really transformative.

The objections, the ifs and the buts which can be so frustrating in other situations are now revealing. What does an organization believe in and what does it not believe in? How much self-confi- dence does it have and where does it see its boundaries? Making a list of limitations shows where tension really lies. It reveals the glass ceiling of limiting beliefs that keeps the organization from growing.

Logical and linear thinking work in line with an existing reality and do there- fore not bring truly innovative solutions, nor that higher level. Rational argumen-tation underpins and reinforces existing beliefs but does not refute them. You can fool beliefs—even your own—or expose them through humor. How? Becausethrough play-acting, humor and imagi- nation, the limitations of rational think- ing are released. That rational thinking only leads to more ifs and buts.

Humor traverses dilemmas and com- plexities. Humor opens serious issues, problems and dilemmas to discussion. Perhaps, you might not yet be able to solve them, but it will certainly take you a great deal further. By definition, a dilemma is unresolvable and with facts you can not destroy convictions. The only thing you can do is to mag- nify the dilemma or the belief until it is absurd, like comedians do. Is an issue too serious to discuss? Try humor. Do you need imagination or freedom of thought? Humor or at least light-heart- edness helps you liberate yourself from the straitjacket of analytical thinking. Humor liberates us from beliefs which hold both our relationships and way of thinking hostage. There are unwritten rules of doing business. Preparatory talks should be friendly and light- hearted, but the final closure of the deal, serious and full of weight. Business and pleasure do not go together, they say. But what about Einstein and Feynman then, who conducted important business and yet were playful and humorous? You can use humor precisely as a means of softening preconceived notions which keep business relations stuck in one place. Light-heartedness can be used to change relationships, to create a common ground and to initiate concepts which would otherwise be held back by shared limiting beliefs. Humor, light-heartedness and play, openness, connection and creativity: they create links, a common ground, set a new course and get things done.

Looking for and finding a solution at a higher level, without the classic limita- tions associated with linear thinking, is what I call quantum creativity. Quantum-creativity starts with really feeling what you have imagined, with play and fantasy. We will fool our linearly thinking, searching minds. We will connect mul- tiple perspectives and revise so-called reality. Such a reality, for example an existing corporate culture, can be a mere fabrication, a lie. Quantum creativity allows (other) possible truths to break through in order to maintain an openness which is not immediately filled with yet another alleged, limited reality. Instead, we enter a virtual reality: a make-believe reality full of unlimited possibilities, which sends the same sensory stimuli to our brains as physical reality does. It enables us to come up with the most brilliant, creative, visionary and strategic insights. And it grants us the energy with which to bring all these new insights into practice and to full maturity. What makes it appealing and easy is that quantum creativity comes so naturally to us.

Because quantum creativity is child’s play: playing with ‘reality’, exploring the area between make-believe and reality. Once the game is understood, we can step outside the boundaries of reality, create an imaginary one, give it form and, if necessary, drop back into the original one, or—from our ideas or intuition—choose the new one, just as we see fit. The boundaries between the original reality and the imaginary one have been mutually agreed upon, just like children do. This childlike view is still free of preconceived notions or assumptions about reality. For example, a family on holiday is on its way to a resort. On arrival they stop at the bar- rier. Daddy says, “great, we are here.” One of the children asks, “are we going to prison...?” The barrier is raised.

Quantum creativity is a form of creativity where you let go of a limiting belief and exchange it for an entirely new reality. To do so, you can remove roles and positions. Or you can have people forget those roles and positions. I remember such a session. As soon as the management of a large insurance com- pany had forgotten its role, it shouted, even during the session: “fire this management!” Which was the best idea that afternoon.

You can fool beliefs—even your own—or expose them through humor.