If we want different results we need to take different actions. Different actions require different plans. And to create different plans we need to think differently.
People often say Finn Jackson “thinks differently.” They talk of the clarity and ‘alchemy’ he brings to situations.
Thinking differently is what enables Finn to “strip away the weeds and reveal the essential bones,” “unjam jams,” and “create the paradigm shift our organisation needed.”
This blog is mostly about examples of different thinking.
In 1854, for example, a major outbreak of cholera struck Soho in London. Everybody “knew” that this was caused by bad air (just like mal-aria).
But John Snow mapped the cases of cholera and realised that they were clustered around one particular water pump. He removed the handle from that pump and the cholera cases stopped.
In the short term this ended the cholera epidemic. In the longer term, thinking differently brought the piped water and sanitation that has enabled cities all over the world to grow to the sizes they are today.
Einstein told us that it is impossible to solve a problem with the same level of thinking that created it. Gregory Bateson said that most of the problems we face are the result of a difference between the way we think the world works and the way it actually works.
Thinking differently is not always easy and (as with the cholera example) can often seem ‘wrong’ compared with what we think we already know. But the challenges we face often show us where our past thinking was mistaken and opportunities for new value can be found.
In these blog posts you will find examples of different thinking about a variety of situations. They might not immediately seem relevant to the situations you face today. But they show how thinking differently can lead to often simpler, clearer understanding, and hence simpler clearer plans for taking action and getting results.
Finn Jackson thinks differently and brings a new perspective that can help you get the results you want.