Innovators are able to see life through a different set of lenses and bring focus to what is unclear to others. That is exactly what some unknown inventor did back in Italy sometime around the late 13th century. Spectacles or eyeglasses as they are called have changed the world for millions if not billions of people since that time and all they do is bring focus to what is unclear. Sometimes more than one lens is needed for different situations, such as bifocals to help near and far sightedness. For innovation to take place we really need help getting more perspective. If we can help our eyes with something as simple as a pair of glasses couldn’t we help our brain gain more perspective as well? Innovators are made not born, just like not everyone is born with 20/20 vision but can get it with corrective lenses. Binoculars for the brain are really just an exercise in curiosity. Every time we learn something new and different we are gaining perspective and building more detail into our blurry pictures that wasn’t visible before. The further away from what is familiar we get, the more diverse and disruptive our ideas and thinking can be. So traveling to Vietnam or Uganda will add far more to our ability to think different than reading about it in a book (or traveling from Omaha to North Platte Nebraska), it's so different that our minds catalog detail better and pay better attention. Another advantage comes from learning through all of our senses rather than just through the visual sense. New learning, new discovery and making connections are what thinking different is really about and that is something we all can do. So, next time you sit down to solve a problem or create something new, stop what you are doing and go to a trade show in an industry you know nothing about. Invest your time and money in building a "perspective" database to draw from!
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