I WAS BLIND

You can only ever experience what it’s like for someone else when you walk a mile in their shoes. So steal someone’s identity (and, if required, their shoes) so you too can truly find out what they think.

Epiphanies are moments of clarity, where the clouds part, the angels sing, and the inspiration strikes. Have more of them by downing a Soylent Smashed Avo Smoothie laced with LSD every morning before work.

Routines are to creative thinking as ivory hunters are to elephants. So break out of your routine by escaping from the police at high speed and taking them on a long and perilous journey to a rural hideout, before eventually surrendering in a hail of bullets. You will then be placed in jail and, after your long but strangely rewarding time is done, you will have been reformed and learned not to take your success for granted.

You may think you are liked and good at your job, but there’s only one way to get an objective view: fake your own death. If the eulogies are positive, come back from the dead immediately. If negative, haunt their asses by setting up an elaborate speaker system in your old workplace and playing ghost sounds.

Research shows that those who are in close contact with nature are much happier (but, conversely, more likely to be eaten by bears). Research also shows that creative bursts often happen in the shower. So to truly change your perspective, combine those two things and go outside for all team meetings and hope that it rains. They don’t call them brain storms for nothing.

Change happens at the speed of a Professor’s Death. Only when the old guard disappear can new ideas gain a foothold. Why do you think it took electricity so long to take off? Old bastards, that’s why. So take a number of pre-eminent professors hostage, muzzle them and let the new perspectives flow. Or, just hire lots of kids to work in your business. Wisdom comes from the mouths of babes (and efficiencies come from the intern economy).

Art can transport you to another world. But who’s got time to go to the art gallery? Just slap on a set of VR goggles and take a therapeutic rollercoaster ride. And if real life isn’t working out, get a new perspective by completely retreating from society and living vicariously through your avatar.

Humans are used to being at the top of the food chain. But pride comes before a fall. Our arrogance is making us complacent and complacency creates average ideas. So break out of that dominant position by challenging the status quo and seeing what it’s like inside the lion enclosure.

The GCHQ in the UK was one of the first organisations to hire for skills, rather than for demographic. That meant people from all walks of life, with particular problem-solving talents interesting predilections and limited social skills, were brought in to crack the Enigma code. It understood the importance of diversity of thought. So head to the looney bin, offer the patients a couple of jobs/board positions and see how the perspectives of you and your colleagues change.