Why didn’t they accept it at first? Simple. With a duck-like bill, an otter-like body, a tail like a beaver, and webbed feet, the platypus didn’t fit an established category. So it couldn’t possibly be real! While this may seem funny, the idea of rejecting ideas (new realities) that don’t fit neatly into accepted categories, still happens on a regular basis.

I learned this firsthand while working with Michael Jordan on his book, Rare Air. It was my first retail book experience so I was naive to the process. After working hard and putting a presentation together, I flew to NYC to meet with several prominent publishers. (By the way, when Michael writes a letter on your behalf, asking someone (anyone) to meet with you… they will.) By the end of my first meeting, I learned that since Rare Air didn’t fit an existing category, it couldn’t be “real.”

Like the scientists and the platypus, every publisher who initially saw Rare Air rejected it. By reinforcing each other’s beliefs… they shook ours. When Michael asked whom we had selected to publish his book, we were speechless. We had one last meeting set up in California with Harper Collins. But this time we were prepared… since a category didn’t exist, we decided to create a new one. We called it a “pictorial autobiography” and the publisher bravely (or naively) accepted it. Rare Air went on to become a NY Times best-seller, sold more than a million copies in numerous languages… and established a new publishing niche.

Years later, I reconnected with one of those NY publishing executives on another project. “What were we thinking?” he asked me. He went on to say, “After Rare Air’s phenomenal success, I would often lay awake at night reliving your presentation… it was so obvious! Why on earth couldn’t we see it then?” The answer to his question was… and still is… obvious. He and the other publishers were so focused on the status quo, and established categories, they couldn’t see new possibilities. They chose accepted categories over reality. Categories exist everywhere. They can help us, but also blind us if we’re not careful. Most importantly, they don’t define reality unless we let them.

Before you throw out a great idea, stop and question the existing categories… it might be time for a change. Creativity is constantly exposing reality, and in the process, changing and creating new categories.

On January 13, 1999, Michael Jordan announced his retirement from the NBA—for the second time. I worked with Michael on his book, Rare Air, but truthfully, I was too busy working to care about his first retirement—let alone his second.

For me, July 13th ended around 2 a.m. on July 14th with me sitting at my kitchen table, sleep deprived, having just finished concepts I had to present to a new client later that morning.

As I started off to bed I noticed the newspaper headline: MJ RETIRES!!! screaming across the front page. I opened it up and discovered this seemingly important news dominated many inside pages as well.

Eventually I reached a column about truth and the media’s responsibility to deliver it. Even in my sleep-deprived state, this column seemed oxymoronic. As I thought about this, I prepared a cup of chamomile tea, pulled out my journal and started sketching and writing. Like many pages in my journals, this spread seems more relevant today than it did when I made it.

The day MJ retired, President Clinton prepared his State of the Union speech and the Senate chamber closed so cameras could be installed for his impeachment trial. He also sent a check for $850,000 to Paula Jones’ attorney that day to end the sexual harassment lawsuit.

While you might think accusing the president of perjury and obstruction of justice was important news, MJ’s second retirement trumped it.

Further down the news ladder was an article about someone who few Americans knew about or paid much attention to at the time. His name…Osama bin Laden. The small article said the U.S. had hit what it called terrorist training camps in Afghanistan. Officials said they came close to killing the man blamed for bombing two U.S. Embassies in Africa, but he escaped. Interestingly, MJ and Osama bin Laden both came out of retirement in September of 2001.

In rereading this journal entry it became clear—the big headlines were far less important than those little “unimportant” stories tucked deeply away.

I believe this is still the case today—perhaps even more so. When we look back at the current issues—financial bailouts, healthcare reform and so on—we will discover the talking (screaming) heads and big headlines were all focused on the things that matter least.

The most important information is either missing or being whispered somewhere in the background, waiting for a truth seeker to look past the big noise to find it.