WEBVTT

00:00:24.415 --> 00:00:27.200
Sometimes, easy means difficult.

00:00:27.200 --> 00:00:30.520
Have you ever been assigned an easy task,

00:00:30.520 --> 00:00:33.400
which for you is actually
very difficult to perform,

00:00:33.400 --> 00:00:35.239
and maybe for nobody else?

00:00:35.680 --> 00:00:38.600
That is when you experience frustration.

00:00:38.600 --> 00:00:42.160
I have experienced that
when I started taking singing lessons,

00:00:42.160 --> 00:00:45.440
and my teacher told me
to breathe with my diaphragm.

00:00:45.440 --> 00:00:50.400
That's easy, it's our natural breath,
but actually very difficult to do,

00:00:50.400 --> 00:00:53.690
and it's a secret of the great singers.

00:00:54.120 --> 00:00:56.800
It's similar to what happens

00:00:56.800 --> 00:01:01.360
when a boss comes into a meeting
and tells you to think out of the box.

00:01:01.360 --> 00:01:04.280
Come on, give me your creative ideas.

00:01:04.280 --> 00:01:07.250
Think out of the box. I want to hear that.

00:01:07.250 --> 00:01:08.730
I need innovation.

00:01:09.160 --> 00:01:12.400
Easy, simple, but actually
very hard to do.

00:01:12.400 --> 00:01:13.920
You need to practice.

00:01:13.920 --> 00:01:18.480
You need to know how to get
out of the box, where to go,

00:01:18.480 --> 00:01:22.240
and how to come back inside the box,
because that's where we live.

00:01:22.240 --> 00:01:24.360
We actually live inside our boxes.

00:01:24.360 --> 00:01:26.660
I want to ask these questions.

00:01:26.660 --> 00:01:28.840
I asked those questions to myself.

00:01:28.840 --> 00:01:32.360
This presentation is a little journey
through my answers.

00:01:32.360 --> 00:01:35.520
I hope that some of these
will resonate with yours.

00:01:35.520 --> 00:01:37.920
The first thing is to ask, why.

00:01:37.920 --> 00:01:40.920
Why should you really go out of the box?

00:01:40.920 --> 00:01:43.350
Because inside the box, we feel safe.

00:01:43.850 --> 00:01:46.330
We agree with everybody else.

00:01:46.920 --> 00:01:50.250
And when we go out,
we risk our reputation.

00:01:50.880 --> 00:01:54.360
We worked so hard
for a lifetime to build it up,

00:01:54.360 --> 00:01:56.290
why should we risk it?

00:01:56.800 --> 00:02:01.100
Is this something which is a luxury,
that only a few people can do,

00:02:01.760 --> 00:02:03.920
or is it really a necessity?

00:02:03.920 --> 00:02:05.080
Why?

00:02:05.080 --> 00:02:07.000
Think of our lives today.

00:02:07.000 --> 00:02:09.600
We are really a part of a network.

00:02:09.600 --> 00:02:11.760
We are nodes in a network.

00:02:11.760 --> 00:02:14.090
We share information in a real time,

00:02:14.720 --> 00:02:18.836
and we, in the end,
all possess the same information.

00:02:19.640 --> 00:02:24.200
That's the end of it,
and that is a scary thought.

00:02:24.200 --> 00:02:27.120
If we all possess the same information,

00:02:27.120 --> 00:02:29.470
what makes a difference between ourselves?

00:02:30.080 --> 00:02:34.020
Where does our dignity
as human beings lie?

00:02:34.800 --> 00:02:40.701
It really depends on what we generate
with that common shared information.

00:02:41.903 --> 00:02:46.520
To think creatively, to go out
of the box, is not a luxury.

00:02:46.520 --> 00:02:51.560
It's a necessity for us,
and for our dignity as human beings.

00:02:51.560 --> 00:02:53.840
Which box are we talking about?

00:02:53.840 --> 00:02:56.240
We must have a clear definition,

00:02:56.240 --> 00:02:58.920
so that we are really talking
about something specific.

00:02:59.760 --> 00:03:03.230
It's not our mind;
we cannot think out of our minds.

00:03:03.560 --> 00:03:06.514
It's a boundary within our minds.

00:03:07.280 --> 00:03:10.000
The boundary between what we know,

00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:13.312
and what we haven't still,
or yet, thought about.

00:03:14.560 --> 00:03:15.840
What is our mind?

00:03:15.840 --> 00:03:17.560
What is our knowledge structure?

00:03:17.560 --> 00:03:21.840
It's an emergent phenomenon
out of the complex mechanism,

00:03:21.840 --> 00:03:23.360
which is the brain.

00:03:24.210 --> 00:03:28.240
We start with initial conditions,
our genetic heritage.

00:03:28.240 --> 00:03:31.200
We have boundary conditions,
the environment.

00:03:31.964 --> 00:03:34.200
We have indirect experience,

00:03:34.200 --> 00:03:37.240
years and years spent
in school and University

00:03:37.240 --> 00:03:39.720
to learn what other people have thought,

00:03:39.720 --> 00:03:41.443
what other people have discovered,

00:03:41.443 --> 00:03:42.920
what other people have created.

00:03:42.920 --> 00:03:45.760
Then, we have our own direct experience,

00:03:45.760 --> 00:03:50.160
our successes, our failures
that really make what we are.

00:03:50.160 --> 00:03:54.920
All of this builds the anthill
within which we live,

00:03:54.920 --> 00:03:57.440
and we live very well in that.

00:03:57.440 --> 00:04:02.400
Whatever we think inside that anthill,
that box, we feel safe.

00:04:03.360 --> 00:04:06.000
Whatever is outside, it's invisible to us.

00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:08.400
We don't know what it's outside.

00:04:08.400 --> 00:04:12.511
That is why it's so risky,
because nobody else knows.

00:04:14.396 --> 00:04:17.680
We are faced with something
which is necessary to our dignity,

00:04:18.464 --> 00:04:20.760
but actually it's very difficult to do.

00:04:21.561 --> 00:04:24.800
How do we go out of the box?
How do we do that?

00:04:24.800 --> 00:04:26.360
What are the mechanisms?

00:04:26.360 --> 00:04:30.800
Do we need to wait for an apple
to fall on our heads,

00:04:30.800 --> 00:04:34.040
or are there some specific techniques?

00:04:34.040 --> 00:04:37.200
Reality is out there
for us to perceive it.

00:04:37.200 --> 00:04:40.000
It's beautiful. You see these flowers.

00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:44.960
We have a lot of ideas,
which is our convergent information,

00:04:44.960 --> 00:04:46.680
the dominant ideas.

00:04:46.680 --> 00:04:50.720
Whenever we need to think
about an area, a focused area,

00:04:50.720 --> 00:04:53.560
we have ideas on how things should be.

00:04:53.560 --> 00:04:56.840
We have requirements,
we have specifications.

00:04:56.840 --> 00:04:58.960
We know how things are,

00:04:58.960 --> 00:05:01.840
because that's the way
they always have been.

00:05:02.560 --> 00:05:04.320
But if we want to go out of the box,

00:05:04.320 --> 00:05:08.040
we need to add something more,
a little spice,

00:05:08.040 --> 00:05:11.920
something which goes beyond
the convergent information.

00:05:11.920 --> 00:05:15.400
Something wrong, something absurd,

00:05:15.400 --> 00:05:18.320
something which apparently
is not relevant,

00:05:18.320 --> 00:05:20.920
something which takes us far.

00:05:20.920 --> 00:05:24.280
This is what we call
divergent information.

00:05:24.280 --> 00:05:28.000
We need a little bit
of that divergent information

00:05:28.000 --> 00:05:31.280
to cross the borders within our minds,

00:05:31.280 --> 00:05:35.320
from what we know
to what we haven't yet thought about.

00:05:35.320 --> 00:05:40.440
This is the essential mechanism
that is necessary,

00:05:40.440 --> 00:05:44.880
and it takes us to a place
where we don't really know where to go.

00:05:45.440 --> 00:05:47.120
We are suspended.

00:05:47.120 --> 00:05:49.760
It's like the middle game in chess.

00:05:49.760 --> 00:05:52.440
Where do you go
once you're out of the box?

00:05:52.440 --> 00:05:55.407
You have no preset direction.

00:05:55.880 --> 00:05:59.383
It's really a potential situation

00:05:59.710 --> 00:06:04.720
that brings us to a feeling
that we should immediately go back.

00:06:04.720 --> 00:06:06.400
This does not make any sense.

00:06:06.400 --> 00:06:10.760
Let's go back to safe place.
Let's go back inside the box.

00:06:10.760 --> 00:06:14.520
That's a temptation
that we need to resist.

00:06:15.433 --> 00:06:18.920
We need to value long thinking.

00:06:18.920 --> 00:06:21.840
Normally,
we talk about brilliant thinking,

00:06:21.840 --> 00:06:24.600
fast thinking, deep thinking,

00:06:24.600 --> 00:06:27.020
but here we're talking
about something different,

00:06:27.020 --> 00:06:28.800
long thinking.

00:06:28.800 --> 00:06:30.240
What does that mean?

00:06:30.240 --> 00:06:34.000
It's some thought that takes us far.

00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:37.680
It's as if you were reading poetry
or listening to music.

00:06:37.680 --> 00:06:40.740
You don't judge the single notes.

00:06:40.740 --> 00:06:43.200
You don't judge the single words.

00:06:43.200 --> 00:06:48.000
It's the ensemble that gives you
a feeling, and takes you far.

00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:51.760
We must do the same thing
with our concepts.

00:06:51.760 --> 00:06:53.320
We need to go far.

00:06:54.200 --> 00:06:57.360
We can use association of ideas,

00:06:57.360 --> 00:07:01.320
combination of ideas,
extraction of principles,

00:07:01.320 --> 00:07:03.520
and application of those principles

00:07:03.520 --> 00:07:06.560
to areas where they were
never applied before.

00:07:06.560 --> 00:07:10.880
We need to be open-minded.
We need to be fluent.

00:07:10.880 --> 00:07:14.748
Look for alternatives,
and not for the correct answer.

00:07:15.990 --> 00:07:20.160
Because when you think creatively,
there's no single correct answer.

00:07:20.160 --> 00:07:23.000
There are many possible alternatives.

00:07:23.852 --> 00:07:25.480
Suppose now that we are lucky.

00:07:25.480 --> 00:07:28.721
We land upon a new idea in our travel,

00:07:29.320 --> 00:07:31.990
in the exploration out of the box.

00:07:31.990 --> 00:07:34.120
What is the value of that?

00:07:34.120 --> 00:07:37.240
How do we assess the value of a new idea?

00:07:37.240 --> 00:07:42.000
It's very difficult if it's really new,
because you've never seen that before.

00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:44.600
Nobody else has seen that before.

00:07:44.600 --> 00:07:50.880
It's as if we landed on a new planet,
totally undiscovered territory.

00:07:51.566 --> 00:07:54.800
It's difficult to understand
the value of something new.

00:07:54.800 --> 00:07:59.040
First of all, because we don't feel
entitled to be inventors.

00:07:59.040 --> 00:08:02.520
Who am I to be the generator
of that new idea?

00:08:02.520 --> 00:08:05.840
Probably this has been
thought about before.

00:08:05.840 --> 00:08:10.000
If this is correct, somebody else
would have done it before me.

00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:15.320
These are all natural mechanisms
with which we kill our own ideas.

00:08:15.320 --> 00:08:16.960
We have to resist that.

00:08:17.350 --> 00:08:21.600
We have to look for the match
between the new idea

00:08:21.600 --> 00:08:24.280
and our initial drive, our initial focus,

00:08:24.280 --> 00:08:29.480
or evaluate the idea per se,
for its own value

00:08:29.480 --> 00:08:33.520
and maybe see that that's something
that solves another problem,

00:08:33.520 --> 00:08:35.440
which it was not yours.

00:08:35.440 --> 00:08:38.919
Serendipity happens all the time.

00:08:38.919 --> 00:08:41.840
We just need to have the eyes to see that,

00:08:41.840 --> 00:08:44.120
to notice the difference.

00:08:45.450 --> 00:08:48.080
Ok, but we are social animals.

00:08:48.080 --> 00:08:49.360
We live in an environment,

00:08:49.360 --> 00:08:52.040
so to think out of the box,
bring in new ideas,

00:08:52.040 --> 00:08:54.460
is going to challenge that environment.

00:08:54.460 --> 00:08:59.120
When is it a good idea
to challenge everybody around you

00:08:59.120 --> 00:09:00.760
in your working environment?

00:09:01.210 --> 00:09:02.280
You have a boss.

00:09:02.280 --> 00:09:05.000
You don't really want to upset him or her.

00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:08.280
When is it a good idea
to think out of the box?

00:09:08.280 --> 00:09:13.560
First of all, if the environment
punishes mistakes,

00:09:13.560 --> 00:09:17.320
you will never be really tempted
to go out of the box.

00:09:17.320 --> 00:09:21.270
You will remain safely
in a known environment.

00:09:21.880 --> 00:09:25.880
If you want to stimulate
an environment which is creative,

00:09:25.880 --> 00:09:31.200
you need to allow the existence
of divergent information.

00:09:31.200 --> 00:09:35.080
You need to allow
irrelevant information to come in.

00:09:35.080 --> 00:09:38.120
You have to mix and match
different disciplines.

00:09:38.120 --> 00:09:41.680
You have to use metaphors
in the organization.

00:09:42.200 --> 00:09:46.020
Only in that case,
you will allow the environment

00:09:46.020 --> 00:09:50.258
to be really prone
to the generation of new ideas.

00:09:51.660 --> 00:09:55.080
I want to end my talk
with a little experiment.

00:09:55.080 --> 00:09:57.160
We wanted to do this
interactively with you,

00:09:57.160 --> 00:09:58.800
but the time is scarce.

00:09:58.800 --> 00:10:01.600
I have indeed prepared a little thing,

00:10:01.600 --> 00:10:04.600
but if you believe me, and to be honest,

00:10:04.600 --> 00:10:07.840
this has been generated
in the space of few minutes.

00:10:07.840 --> 00:10:11.960
The generation of ideas,
this travel outside of the box,

00:10:11.960 --> 00:10:14.240
is something which happens very fast.

00:10:14.240 --> 00:10:16.720
Where should we experiment?

00:10:16.720 --> 00:10:22.360
Let's say that we want to generate
new ideas about TEDx Conferences.

00:10:22.360 --> 00:10:26.880
We are here, so that's a focused area
which is very clear to all of us.

00:10:27.800 --> 00:10:33.600
Let's start from the convergent
information about TEDx Conferences.

00:10:33.600 --> 00:10:38.920
What is needed to make
an excellent, good TEDx conference?

00:10:38.920 --> 00:10:42.400
You need the brilliant speakers
that will come up.

00:10:42.400 --> 00:10:45.520
You need an excellent theme.

00:10:46.660 --> 00:10:51.080
You need fast
speaker to speaker transitions.

00:10:51.360 --> 00:10:53.880
You need grand settings.

00:10:53.880 --> 00:11:00.080
The list can go on, and all I'm saying
is things that you already know.

00:11:00.080 --> 00:11:02.960
This is all convergent information, safe.

00:11:02.960 --> 00:11:06.920
I'm not generating anything new.
I'm inside the box.

00:11:06.920 --> 00:11:08.920
Now I want to go out,

00:11:08.920 --> 00:11:11.697
so I apply a divergent modifier

00:11:12.280 --> 00:11:15.280
to any of these convergent elements.

00:11:15.480 --> 00:11:18.280
Start from the last one for example,
the grand setting.

00:11:19.232 --> 00:11:22.520
A divergent modifier,
for example, is to exaggerate.

00:11:22.520 --> 00:11:24.240
Bring it to the limit.

00:11:24.240 --> 00:11:28.600
Instead of thinking
of a TEDx conferences in a theater,

00:11:28.600 --> 00:11:31.560
think of a TEDx Conference in a stadium.

00:11:32.360 --> 00:11:34.960
Does this make any sense, in a stadium?

00:11:34.960 --> 00:11:38.280
Very difficult to organize,
even more difficult than in a theater,

00:11:38.280 --> 00:11:40.920
and how do you fill the place?

00:11:40.920 --> 00:11:42.400
How do you fill the stadium?

00:11:42.400 --> 00:11:45.200
It's too difficult.
It doesn't make any sense.

00:11:45.200 --> 00:11:48.040
I'm tempted to reject that idea.

00:11:48.040 --> 00:11:50.760
But then I move, and I say,

00:11:50.760 --> 00:11:54.880
ok, maybe the stadium
is already filled with people.

00:11:54.880 --> 00:11:57.760
From that, you can get the idea

00:11:57.760 --> 00:12:03.240
of having a TEDx Conference
at half-time of football matches,

00:12:03.240 --> 00:12:09.840
a network of speeches which happens
at half-time of football matches.

00:12:09.840 --> 00:12:13.600
Good idea, bad idea?
I leave it for you to assess.

00:12:13.600 --> 00:12:17.320
Take another element:
good speakers, brilliant speakers.

00:12:17.320 --> 00:12:20.760
That's the most fundamental element
of a TEDx Conference.

00:12:20.760 --> 00:12:22.240
Let's take that away.

00:12:22.240 --> 00:12:25.480
We eliminate the good, brilliant speakers.

00:12:26.590 --> 00:12:30.720
Does this make any sense?
No, we're out of the box.

00:12:30.720 --> 00:12:33.760
Does this lead to anything useful?

00:12:33.760 --> 00:12:37.160
I could say that,
OK, I don't need the speakers,

00:12:37.160 --> 00:12:41.200
but I need the speeches,
the talks, the scripts.

00:12:41.200 --> 00:12:43.280
From this comes the idea

00:12:43.280 --> 00:12:48.400
of one speaker delivering
the speech of somebody else.

00:12:48.400 --> 00:12:50.460
We exchange speakers.

00:12:50.920 --> 00:12:54.320
So it's a cooperative TEDx Conference.

00:12:54.320 --> 00:12:58.000
Maybe we have duets on stage,
instead of a single element,

00:12:58.000 --> 00:13:02.400
or we have people that speak about,

00:13:02.400 --> 00:13:03.760
somebody has this topic.

00:13:03.760 --> 00:13:06.280
In that way we have
one advantage at least.

00:13:06.280 --> 00:13:08.960
We take away the element of the ego.

00:13:08.960 --> 00:13:10.280
There's no ego anymore,

00:13:10.280 --> 00:13:13.360
if you're speaking
with somebody else's script.

00:13:13.360 --> 00:13:16.400
These are just examples, just examples,

00:13:16.400 --> 00:13:20.960
to show you that it's possible
and not too hard, actually,

00:13:20.960 --> 00:13:22.680
to think out of the box.

00:13:22.680 --> 00:13:26.440
I hope this journey, in a way,
was interesting for you,

00:13:26.440 --> 00:13:29.042
and now you want to do more of that.

00:13:29.042 --> 00:13:31.390
Thank you very much for your attention.

00:13:31.390 --> 00:13:34.418
(Applause)