Dan Heath: Thinking Inside the Box

Dan Heath started out his story by asking us to write down as many things we can think of that are white. Then he asked us to write down the things in our refrigerator that are white. His claim is that the second is easier, because you can get more done inside the box; that the box is more liberating than we usually give credit for. He gave the example of high-concept pitches: Quebec City (Like France, without the attitude); Atoms (Like the solar system, but really small). Even though this level of specificity seems constraining, Heath says that it's not. Consider Alien (Jaws on a Spaceship). Before Alien, most movie spaceships were immaculately clean, with everyone running around in lycra. But that wouldn't have worked for Jaws on a Spaceship: even though the pitch frames the concept, the framing is what gives rise to the innovation.

He found this to be true when he was pitching investors on his company, Thinkwell. A friend of his told him he was in the wrong box: instead of pitching a new approach to textbooks, he needed to be pitching an investment. Being in the right box is important.

Posted October 10, 2007 01:39 PM by Brian Jepson | Permalink