Click here to view the embedded video.

When we look past accepted labels, suspend our judgment, and tap into our creativity… a real world of possibilities emerges. Consider the “Pink Bat” elevator example… and to think it was also considered a problem! Are you surrounded by “problems”… or are they unseen solutions, just waiting for you to see them? The world we focus on is the world we create. Have fun turning problems into solutions.

Easter Island is the most isolated habitable piece of land in the world. It lies in the Pacific Ocean more than 2,000 miles west of South America. According to scientists, when its inhabitants first arrived around 400 AD, they must have thought they landed in paradise. The mild climate, fertile soil, rich vegetation and forests would have provided all the resources needed to build homes, canoes (for fishing), fuel for fire, making rope, weapons, thatching, and so on. Over time these islanders developed a complex social structure, centralized government and religious practices… and at some point, they began creating statues.

But by the time Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen discovered the island in 1722 on Easter day (hence its name), it was far from a paradise. There wasn’t a tree or bush standing higher than ten feet tall. The native animals had vanished and the islanders were raising chickens to survive. According to Roggeveen and others who followed him, these famished natives certainly weren’t capable of producing and moving such massive statues. So what happened on Easter Island? There are many theories. Not only about why and how these statues were made… but what happened to the islanders who made them… and what happened to their paradise?

According to Jared Diamond (Professor of Geography and Physiology at UCLA), “…they began erecting stone statues on platforms, like the ones their Polynesian forebears had carved. With passing years, the statues and platforms became larger and larger, and the statues began sporting ten-ton red crowns—probably in an escalating spiral of one-upmanship, as rival clans tried to surpass each other with shows of wealth and power.”

“In just a few centuries, the people of Easter Island wiped out their forest, drove their plants and animals to extinction, and saw their complex society spiral into chaos and cannibalism.”

Read Diamond’s Article: http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/24/042.html

While some question Diamond’s hypothesis, few dismiss it. Whether he is 100% right isn’t the point. The point is that his hypothesis has merit… it provides insight and serves as a warning. When we destroy ecosystems and deplete natural resources, we endanger our lives and the lives of future generations.

Things rarely happen overnight. There are turning and tipping points along the way. There are always those in society who support the status quo and those who challenge it. No doubt some islanders downplayed the situation and embraced the unsustainable norm. I can imagine them chanting “Cut, Baby, Cut” and mocking those who were concerned over the destruction, while dismissing those brave heroic souls who were searching for alternative solutions.

What if the situation had been acknowledged? What if this society had embraced creativity and innovation? What if rather than doing the same thing over and over… they had tried something new? What if the natural resources had been protected? What if they had conserved resources and worked together toward finding healthy sustainable solutions? What if these people had embraced change? What if they recognized they were part of the ecosystem… not superior to it? Countless questions like these fill my head and I realize they not only apply to Easter Islanders… but to you and me and our world today.

As barrels of oil shoot into the Gulf of Mexico and destroy our environment, some Americans are still chanting, “Drill, Baby, Drill” and mocking those who object to offshore drilling. Many of those supporting this chant fear change and consider innovation and alternative thinking a threat. To me these people are similar to the islanders who were more focused on statues than progress or survival. Instead of using their creative capacity to find sustainable solutions for the greater good, they blindly kowtowed to the power that be. In the case of the islanders, it was the chiefs, bureaucrats and priests. In the case of these Americans, it’s politicians, special interest groups, and big business.

What Erich von Däniken overlooked is man’s ability to create and innovate. This ability should never be dismissed. Creativity is our most powerful asset. Without this capacity we wouldn’t have survived… let alone progressed to where we are today. We don’t need visiting aliens’ “Chariots of the Gods” to teach and guide us… we already have the most powerful force in the universe—creativity. The question is: How will we use it? We can continue destroying our planet by building bigger and bigger statues… or we can work together and create positive change. The choice is ours… where do you stand?

One technique I’ve used to hide a ball in the pool is to sit on it. This seems clever at first, but it’s a bit risky… one wrong move and the ball shoots right out from underneath you and flies out of the water for all to see. This is what happened to Bernie Madoff… he made some bad moves, lost his balance, and the truth surfaced in a flash. Sometimes, if you’re careful and have enough power, you can let the ball up slowly. This is what the tobacco industry did regarding the dangers of smoking. They realized the truth was going to surface sooner than later… so they let it up slowly. Whether it’s a beach ball or the truth, it’s not a matter of if or how it will surface, but when. At some point, even master beach ball hiders need to leave the pool and take a break.

Like beach balls and truth, innovation operates much the same way. Breakthrough possibilities are typically just below the surface… like Apple’s new iPad was until it recently popped up. Sometimes they’re being held under intentionally (people with agendas, special interest groups, etc.) and other times they’re trapped and need some persuading before they can surface. I have found it helps by asking questions, eliminating personal bias, and being open-minded to new possibilities. I have long considered creativity a search for truth… a quest for releasing beach balls, so to speak.

Once something surfaces, it’s difficult to submerge it and pretend it’s not real. Have you ever tried to convince someone they didn’t see what they just saw? It’s not easy. Sometimes, the answer is just below the surface, just waiting for us to let it emerge. Other times it’s deep… and it takes some work. Whether it’s beach balls, truth or innovation, what Archimedes discovered thousands of years ago still applies today… the deeper the buoyant object, the higher it will fly above the surface once it’s released.

A few years back, Deere hired me to design a coffee table book that would capture its rich history and more importantly, convey its core values. The title of the book was Genuine Values. I, along with the CEO and a few senior executives, built this idea around the following values: integrity, quality, commitment and innovation. We felt these words best reflected the core values exhibited by its founder and that have successfully guided Deere up to today.

In my new book, Pink Bat: Turning Problems Into Solutions, I share the John Deere story from a different perspective… from its very inception. It’s easy to talk about the after effects… the success story that followed. But when you realize this international corporation started when one young man saw a “problem” as a solution… the story is even more amazing.

Let me take you back 173 years: For U.S. farmers in the eastern states, a cast-iron plow worked fine. But for farmers who tried using it to cultivate crops in the rich Midwest soil, it was a disaster. In fact, attempting to cut through tough prairie ground with a cast-iron plow was problematic to say the least. Trying to use one in the sticky rich soil without it getting clogged was nearly impossible.

Many knowledgeable people (experts) focused on this problem. Perhaps that was the problem. The more they focused on it, the bigger it seemed to become. In time, most people and experts alike concluded it was too big… they accepted the “problem” for what it was and gave up.

Then a young blacksmith (an outsider named John Deere) moved to the Midwest from out east. He learned of this “problematic” situation. But he was a “Pink Bat” thinker… so instead of focusing on the “problems,” he focused on solutions instead. He tried many different plow concepts and while none of them were successful, he learned from each failure and refused to quit.

One day as he walked to work, a glint of sunlight reflected off an old discarded saw blade. To the sawmill, this old blade represented a worthless, worn out piece of steel… a problem. To young John Deere, it was a beautifully honed piece of smooth steel… a perfect solution. After pulling it from the junk pile, he took it to his shop and created a plow that worked great in the rich (previously considered problematic) Midwest soil. The rest, so to speak, is history.

History is filled with Pink Bat examples (unseen solutions mislabeled as problems). What’s more important is that today’s world is full of them, too. They surround us every day. Often they are mislabeled as problems… but they’re really solutions just waiting to be seen. Like John Deere, we are each capable of turning problems into solutions… the key is seeing things for what they are and what they aren’t… and using our imaginations to see them for what they can be.

This content is based on my newly released book: Pink Bat: Turning Problems Into Solutions, available at our store.

Consider the following example: Professor Daniel Simons and his psychology students asked volunteers to watch a short video. In the video, team members (one team dressed in black shirts, the other in white shirts) passed a basketball back and forth. The volunteers were told to count the number of passes made by the team wearing white. At some point, a person in a gorilla suit appears during the video. When the video ended, researchers asked if anybody saw anything unusual. Only half of the volunteers reported seeing the gorilla. The other half reported to have seen nothing unusual.

Here’s a video based on the original study:

Click here to view the embedded video.

How could people not notice the gorilla in the room? Mostly because they weren’t looking for it. They were focused on something else. Magicians have known about this phenomenon for years… so have politicians.

Here’s another example called the “Door Study”

This helps explain how experts can be more susceptible to perceptual blindness than beginners, and why “outsiders” often find solutions that experienced “insiders” miss. Beginners and outsiders are usually more open to possibilities because they don’t make common assumptions. By extension, they’re often better at finding solutions the experts have stopped seeing.

Perceptual blindness sheds much light on why we miss obvious solutions… especially those we mislabel as problems. By focusing on one thing (a problem), we miss something else (a solution). So why not refocus on solutions? This is one of the topics in my upcoming book: “Pink Bat: Turning Problems Into Solutions.” It should be available for the holiday season… I’ll keep you posted.