Creativity's Crevices

The article in Forbes on the idea of renewable energy professor Willett Kempton that we may be able to use our cars as rolling power stations to produce clean energy keeps drawing me back to the question of creativity.

Kempton looked at energy-gobbling cars and conceived a way of not just neutralizing or removing their effect but turning them into energy producers. You can imagine the enormous impact if he and his colleagues are able to create a workable version of that approach.

We know that the problem is often hidden in benefits but Kempton's theory is a jarring reminder that the benefit may be tucked away in the problem. We stare at or simply accept certain problems and don't turn them on their heads, possibly because we are hesitant to consider what appears to be outlandish. We are chained by our assumptions.

I've often seen this in organizations, particularly with regard to their personnel policies. Some assumptions that should be explored:

• That losing employment complaints or lawsuits is inherently bad;



• That employees must be steered or restricted to the human resources department when it comes to getting HR-related advice;



• That the best way to measure progress is to review the results;



• That progress will accompany each generation;



• That organization charts cannot be wildly fluid;



• That employers hire employees instead of the other way around; and



• That we hire individuals instead of relationships.