The High Line was built in the 1930s to provide freight service to Manhattan’s largest industrial district. Back in the day, the High Line moved freight cars through the center of blocks, connecting them directly to businesses, factories and warehouses. In addition, by elevating the tracks, the number of pedestrian deaths caused by train accidents was greatly reduced. The High Line, so it seemed, was a successful solution on many levels.

Starting in the 1950s, the growth in interstate trucking caused a drop in rail traffic. This trend continued into the 60s, when due to lack of demand, the southernmost section of the High Line was demolished. In 1980, the High Line was shut down. In the eyes of most people, this historic solution had become a major problem.

Citizens and property owners lobbied for the removal of this abandoned relic. Mayor Giuliani adamantly agreed… it was indeed a serious problem. If progress was to be made, this eyesore must go. The High Line was slated for demolition.

Like all great Pink Bat thinkers, freelance writer Joshua David and artist Robert Hammond remained open-minded. They knew that a “problem” is often a mislabeled solution… just waiting to be seen. The two first met in 1999 at a community meeting slated to discuss the High Line’s future.

“I was in love with the steel structure, the rivets, the ruin. I assumed that some civic group was going to try and preserve it, and I saw that it was on the agenda for a community board meeting. I went to see what was going on, and Josh was sitting next to me. We were the only people at the meeting who were interested in saving it,” Hammond told Paul Goldberger, Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic and writer. (read “Miracle Above Manhattan”)

After convincing railroad officials to let them visit the site, these two citizens were overwhelmed by its potential. By focusing on the possibilities, they took action and created the community group, “Friends of the High Line,” and by extension, turned a perceived problem into a real solution.

Today, the High Line is a beautiful elevated park similar to the Promenade Plantée in Paris. Its designers, architects and developers also gleaned inspiration from another urban “Pink Bat” solution, Millennium Park in Chicago. At 25 feet above the streets, New Yorkers and visitors experience beautiful landscapes, plantings, views of the city, the Hudson River… and much more. The High Line, once considered a major problem, has created a renaissance of sorts in the surrounding neighborhoods. It’s spurred new business and real estate development all along the line.

What was standing in the way of progress wasn’t an outdated elevated train line, but a serious case of perceptual blindness. When we label something a problem, we stop seeing it for what it is… or what it can be. How many of your “problems” are actually mislabeled solutions?

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.

It’s late. The final Pink Bat manuscript is due tomorrow. From my office I can see several Chicago landmark buildings lit with pink lights. It’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Amidst this pink glow—the posters, the ribbons, and special events—we are all reminded of the search for solutions to save lives. The color connection to this cause… and my book title… is obvious. Less obvious, but more relevant, is the thinking found inside.

For every problem, there exists a solution… and at the very least, an opportunity. Breast cancer is no different. But it takes an open mind… imagination, purpose and passion… to find it. In time, this “problem” will be viewed differently… and an unseen solution will appear. Perhaps an outsider will see what experienced insiders have missed. Someone less influenced by perceptual blindness… an unlikely suspect.

My reasons for writing Pink Bat were to plant some seeds, capture imaginations, and inspire people to see the world in a new light. I hope I’ve accomplished these objectives in some way.

You can live each day in a world filled with “problems,” or rise each morning and embrace a world filled with unseen solutions… eager for you to find them. The decision is yours… both worlds exist. The one you choose is the one you will create.

A year has passed… and much has changed.

According to the American Cancer Society, about 1.3 million women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and about 465,000 will die from the disease. This is unacceptable.

On a personal note, my mom was diagnosed with colon cancer a few months ago and my father-in-law with bladder cancer. They are both currently in treatment. Hopefully these cancers were caught in time. Whether it’s breast cancer or any other kind of cancer, prevention and early detection are key.

As I write this post, Pink Bat is back at press—again. It has done well and I have received many positive responses—personal stories, examples and insights. Thank you. In light of all that’s happened since releasing it, and all that remains, I’m discounting Pink Bat this month to $11.95 and donating a portion of the proceeds to cancer research for every book sold.

Be inspired! Watch the Pink Bat video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

“What if I stood at a real whiteboard and you actually filmed me drawing?” I suggested. Ryan agreed to give it a try but stressed, “We won’t be able to refine or manipulate your drawings to look perfect… like those in the UPS commercials.” After purchasing a 4’ x 8’ sheet of whiteboard material, we set up a makeshift studio in Ryan’s living room and did a few quick tests. Before long, we concluded while this approach was somewhat problematic—and not real plausible—it was possible. That was all it took.

After writing an outline and creating visuals to support my words, I had another friend, Megan Kearney produce my drawings in Adobe Illustrator for reference… and then I flew to San Antonio to deliver a 90-minute keynote to an audience of educators, followed by a Q&A session with the leadership team. Feeling somewhat exhausted, I arrived back in Chicago late Thursday night only to realize we were scheduled to make this video in the morning.

Running on few hours of sleep and many cups of coffee, I arrived at Ryan’s house Friday morning to find him bright-eyed and ready to go. “I’ve been thinking, I really like the idea of making this video in the spirit of early recording artists,” he said. “What do you mean?” I asked, trying to appear awake. He cited numerous songs, examples and musicians including Robert Johnson, Aretha Franklin and Bob Dylan. “They just went into the studio and performed. They didn’t rely on digital manipulation, special effects or post-production tricks to make the work appear ‘perfect’… like most current artists and the UPS commercials do. They’re real, spontaneous, unique, authentic and unrefined… and that’s what makes them great.”

I knew Ryan was being sincere… I also knew he was aware of the fact I can be an extreme perfectionist at times. Additionally, not being a professional cartoonist… he didn’t want to spend hours recording me, making refinement after refinement. By connecting words like “real”, “spontaneous”, and “unrefined” to “being great”, he established our paradigm for the shoot.

“Okay, Ryan, your idea resonates with me,” I said, reflecting the “unique” and “unrefined” but “great” garage bands I played in when I was younger. Besides, I didn’t have any extra energy to debate him.

“Great… let’s do it. One camera and one take—you and me—start to finish!” Ryan announced. That’s exactly what we did. While I would have liked a do-over (or two or three), we agreed that “keeping it real” was more important.

After all, “Pink Bat” is about “Turning Problems Into Solutions”… and that sheds much light on the making of this video. I hope you enjoy it. Click here to purchase the book.

While labels simplify the world, provide context and help us organize our thoughts, they don’t define reality. In business, people are given titles to describe a role or position. These labels don’t describe who they are, or what they’re capable of doing. The same holds true with children. Have you ever heard a conversation along these lines?

“My daughter is gifted… she’s in all the advanced classes!”

“That’s wonderful, my son is LD… actually, he’s ADD… and in special classes.

“My oldest son is ADHD and he went on to college. My daughter is average… she’s getting by in regular classes… if she worked harder she could be in AP courses.”

On and on it goes, label after label, never recognizing that these limiting labels don’t define their children. These labels help institutions and adults organize, categorize and contextualize their thoughts and objectives. Furthermore, adhering to these labels is not only limiting, it can skew a person’s real potential. Embracing labels keeps the “experts” responsible for coining them in business. And this promotes more label making. Most “experts” have special titles themselves. These special labels are valuable to those who wear them. They say, “I’m qualified and smart”… regardless of whether it’s true or not.

It’s easy to be fooled by labels. We see it regularly in politics. Someone is labeled a liberal, moderate, conservative… and so on. But when you study their actions (not their words), you realize that many labels don’t align with reality. Regardless of the subject matter, once you start looking beyond labels and focusing on reality, the world appears very differently… and the door to new possibilities swings open.

In my book, “Pink Bat: Turning Problems Into Solutions” I discuss a psychological phenomenon we all suffer from called perceptual blindness. In essence, our mind filters the world around us… and what we let in becomes our reality. This is what makes labels dangerous… they can prevent us from seeing the big picture… the “real” world.

For the next few weeks, take note of all the words and labels people use to describe you. Think about the words and labels you use to describe yourself. Do the same with your children, family members and peers. Once you become conscious of labels, you will begin to see how limiting and often skewed they can be. Labels don’t define reality… and they certainly don’t define us… unless we let them.

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.

In 1951 a new team of researchers rediscovered the formula. But this time, rather than reject it, one of the scientists was intrigued with its bonding properties. By viewing it for what it really was (and by contrast, seeing it for what it wasn’t), he set his imagination to work and saw it for what it could be.

His solution? Cyanoacrylates made for an amazing SUPER GLUE! In fact, it could bond almost anything you could imagine. The stickiness problem became the solution… or so it seemed.

Paradoxically, when it was discovered that the formula really did bond nearly anything, including human skin, its strength quickly became its perceived weakness. For the company planning to produce this new product, the potential legal issues and dangers far outweighed the benefits. Once again, cyanoacrylates became a problem.

That is, until the U.S. military heard about it. At the time, doctors in Vietnam were looking for a quick way to suture wounded soldiers. This “problem” substance once again became a great solution and saved many people’s lives in the process. Cyanoacrylates in one form or another are still being used today in medical applications around the world.

By adding a warning label to the tube, Super Glue quickly became a household solution. In addition to fixing broken items, mending wounds, cyanoacrylates is a solution for many other things as well… including a forensic tool to capture latent fingerprints on non-porous surfaces like glass, plastic, etc.

And to think it was once considered a problem! How many solutions have you mistakenly rejected and shelved as problems? Maybe it’s time to revisit some of them—through new lenses. The key to finding solutions is to see things for what they are… and not what they’re labeled… or what we want them to be. By keeping an open mind, and applying our imaginations, we can create a world filled with new solutions and endless opportunities.

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

Since our brain filters through volumes of random data each moment, selecting and rejecting evidence to support our beliefs, we need to consciously define and focus our attention on what it is we are seeking.

Look at the following words and quickly say the actual color aloud (not the word).

If you’re like most people, even this simple challenge requires effort to reprogram your brain. With practice, this task becomes easier once you focus more on the color and less on the actual word.

What we believe and focus on… becomes our reality. If you go out looking for trouble, you’ll find it. If you focus on happiness, it will appear. Once you decide what you’re looking for, your brain will go to work to find it and make it your reality. Whether you’re focused on problems or solutions, it doesn’t matter… your brain will subconsciously gather evidence and make it your reality.

Remember, evidence that could disprove our beliefs is marginalized or blocked by our brain filters, while weaker or even false evidence is distorted or enhanced to support them.

Since labeling something helps make it so, why not start by labeling a “problem” as a “solution”? While this may seem counterintuitive at first, successful people have been seeing problems as solutions since the beginning of time.

The next time you’re faced with “problems” consider this… unseen solutions (Pink Bats) seem to emerge more frequently when “problems” are abundant. In math, when you multiply negative numbers, you get a positive solution. The same often holds true with problems (negatives). As they multiply, “Pink Bats Solutions” appear… the key is to suspend our judgments, use our imaginations and remain open-minded enough to see them.

This content is based on my newly released book: Pink Bat: Turning Problems Into Solutions, available at our store for a special introductory price of $12.

Subconsciously, our brain selects what we believe is possible, plausible and “real,” while ignoring or blocking everything else. Have you ever been in a noisy room with many conversations going on at once when out of nowhere you hear your name mentioned?

That’s your filter at work. Since you consider your name to be important, your brain filters out the less important information and focuses on your name. It’s this selection and rejection process that establishes your sense of reality. It also establishes what you consider a “problem” and what you consider a “solution.”

Modifying our brain filter isn’t easy. It’s even harder when those around us share similar beliefs and expectations. It’s hard to see a new solution when it has been labeled and accepted as a problem… but it is possible.

Mislabeling happens everywhere. You can see it in business, education… actually you can find it in every aspect of life… once you start looking. When we learn to see beyond labels, new realities start to emerge. This is where enormous potential exists.

It’s difficult to find new solutions when we override reality with misguided labels and beliefs. It’s like being lost… yet continuing to follow a flawed road map. Sometimes it’s a good idea to look out the windshield to see where you really are… the map (and label) is never the territory. When we believe how things should or shouldn’t be, rather than how they are, we are living inside an illusion.

The more we accept illusions, the more we block out reality. Likewise, when we focus on problems, we block out solutions. We can become so focused on “problems,” we can’t see anything else.

Look at this series of geometric shapes:

At first they appear meaningless. That’s because most people focus on the black shapes and ignore the white shapes in between. When you focus on the white shapes, the black shapes become less important and suddenly, “SOLUTIONS” appear.

Many “problems” are mislabeled, unseen solutions… and at the very least, new opportunities just waiting for you to recognize them and take action.

This content is based on my newly released book: Pink Bat: Turning Problems Into Solutions, available at our store for a special introductory price of $12.