Covid-19 was not in any of our boxes. At least not in the proportion of a pandemic. When we move towards a future world that offers increasing challenges, we have to sometimes question conventional knowledge and wisdom and think without a box. That is what freaks do.
by Dr. Ruwantissa Abeyratne in Montreal
Freaks are more fun…We need freaks. Especially in freaky times ~ Tom Peters
Freaks are considered to be non-traditional thinkers. The author of the aforementioned quote says that when interesting things happen, one can be certain that they were done by a freak. When it comes to challenging times, one cannot think of a more appropriate example than the present, where conventional thinkers have been swept off their feet by an unseen enemy, the likes of which and the ferocity of which has not been seen in a hundred years.
As the saying goes, freaks are fun. Some of the innovations devised by freaks are virtual reality, where you could realistically visualize being in Hawaii while jogging on a stationary machine in your basement, and food delivering robots in a vast university campus, as happened in the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Freaks just think laterally, like the case of RVs for doctors, where recreational vehicles are used by doctors who would effectively preclude the risk of bringing home a virus to their home from the hospital. They drive home after work, park in their compound and engage with the family whilst being in the vehicle. The World Economic Forum in its publication acknowledges the urgent innovations of a Covid -19 ravaged era “from hands-free door openers that can be 3D-printed, to basic ventilators. It's reminiscent of the inventions of the Second World War - when the first digital computer and rocket technology came to the fore”. Be that as it may, the prize might go to the remote controlled mask invented in Israel where one can open an aperture in the mask (to put food in the mouth), which is controlled by a hand held device which can also close the aperture after every bite.
Freaks are antifragile, non-traditional, lateral thinkers who take existing usage and change the way things are. The mind of the freak is not a one-time solution provider. It is constantly active and therefore introduces a dimension that goes beyond adaptability. Nassim Nicholas Taleb, the author who introduced the concept of anti fragility says: “ Antifragility is beyond resilience or robustness. The resilient resists shocks and stays the same; the antifragile gets better”. Freaks are not disruptive innovators who are in search of new markets. Freaks are not interested in discovering hidden potential and proclivities in humans by thinking outside the box to exploit latent potential in opportunities, but are more focused on questioning the obvious. In other words, they think without a box. First off, they are anti fragile, meaning they find ways to adapt to change. For example, if the status quo requires the wearing of a mask in public they would neither accept the status quo nor reject it in toto. Instead they would find a way to adapt the requirement to the circumstance by offering a better product. However, they are not happy with being stagnant, but endeavour to constantly improve the status quo.
Freaks think laterally. Wikipedia sums up lateral thinking as “a manner of solving problems using an indirect and creative approach via reasoning that is not immediately obvious. It involves ideas that may not be obtainable using only traditional step-by-step logic”. Lateral thinking goes against the usual “vertical logic”. Edward de Bono, widely acclaimed as the father and guru of lateral thinking, explains clearly with what he calls “the intelligence trap”: “a highly intelligent person can construct a rational and well argued case for virtually any point of view. The more coherent this support for a particular point of view the less the thinker see any need actually to explore the situation. Such a person may then become trapped into a particular view simply because he can support it”.
Freaks see through the obvious and question the vertical thinking of traditional intelligence. They have a knack of upending conventional wisdom and predictability. The authors of the book “Super Freakanomics” who give numerous examples of hidden factors that were shrouded by a façade of obvious features of an issue argue that the modern world, despite a surfeit of obfuscation, complication and downright deceit, can still be fathomed and the acts of our fellow beings can be attributed to a pattern of ambivalent and maundering human reasoning. The trick is, to use the words of the authors, “to see through all the clutter”. A good example is the closure of universities throughout the world in response to the pandemic, where traditional thinking portended the lasting effect of a paralysis in learning. So too with the suspension of air travel which predicted the death of business transactions or at least the fate of trade rapidly becoming moribund. Undoubtedly, both were seriously affected by the pandemic but with the advent of Zoom, both have been revived to a tolerable extent that would be sustainable until a complete revival of the status quo ante.
Most of us, including this author, are more adept at traditional vertical thinking. In an interview conducted by Harvard Business Review, reproduced in the journal in an article titled: Looking to the Future of Air Travel by Eben Harrell published on May 04, 2020 one of the interviewees, on the subject of revenue generation said: “What will be more interesting will be how airlines approach revenue creation when demand returns. What add-on features and services will they offer? Perhaps they will allow customers to book out a middle seat more easily for distancing. Or add some sort of “peace of mind” product that guarantees the airline will take care of you if flights are cancelled or quarantines are put in place. The trick will be determining what customers will be willing to pay for above the ticket price and what they will expect as part of airlines’ delivering a safe experience”.
One could successfully argue that this was an informed and intelligent answer, but hardly one coming out of the mouth of a freak. A freak may have upended traditional thinking, perhaps imagining the introduction of a new product that would bring the airline home to the consumer. Jeremy Gutsche, one of the most astute strategists in innovation says in his book “Innovation- A Handbook” “to be creative, individuals need to feel that their environment allows change. In large organizations where structure and process define so many rituals, it can be difficult to foster this kind of creative flexibility… Even the most bureaucratic organizations can spark creativity by creating the perception of openness to change”.
Covid-19 was not in any of our boxes. At least not in the proportion of a pandemic. When we move towards a future world that offers increasing challenges, we have to sometimes question conventional knowledge and wisdom and think without a box. That is what freaks do.
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