Think "Out The Box"

Think "Out The Box" Many hundreds of years ago in a small Italian town, a merchant had the misfortune of owing a large sum of money to the moneylender. The moneylender, who was old and ugly, fancied the merchant’s beautiful daughter so he proposed a bargain. He said he would forgo the merchant’ debt if he could marry the merchant’s daughter. Both the merchant and his daughter were horrified by the proposal. The cunning money lender suggested that they let providence decide the matter. The moneylender told them that he would put a black pebble and a white pebble into an empty bag. The girl would then have to pick one pebble from the bag. If she picked the black pebble, she would become the moneylender’s wife and her father’s debt would be forgiven. If she picked the white pebble she need not marry him and her father’s debt would still be forgiven. But if she refused to pick a pebble, her father would be thrown into jail. They were standing on a pebble strewn path in the merchant’s garden. As they talked, the moneylender bent over to pick up two pebbles. As he picked them up, the sharp-eyed girl noticed that he had picked up two black pebbles and put them into the bag. He then asked the girl to pick her pebble from the bag. The consequences of the girl pointing out that the moneylender was a cheat would have been severe as he was a harsh man, so the girl had to take the less logical approach and think very laterally. The girl put her hand into the moneybag and drew out a pebble. Without looking at it, she fumbled and let it fall onto the pebble strewn path where it immediately became lost among all the other pebbles. “Oh, how clumsy of me,” she said. “But never mind, if you look into the bag for the one that is left, you will be able to tell which pebble I picked.” Since the remaining pebble is black, it must be assumed that she had picked the white one. And since the moneylender dared not admit his dishonesty, the girl changed what seemed an impossible situation into an extremely advantageous one. My Message Take a moment to ponder over this story, it's used with the hope that it will make us appreciate the difference between lateral and logical thinking. The girl’s dilemma could not be solved with traditional logical thinking. At times the most complex problems do have a solution, some­times we have to think about them in a different way, we have to think outside the box. While its important to live by the book it's more important to exercise independence and to go beyond the more 'logical' approach. Yes every now and again people will be against you, but hold onto your independence and view life's problems in a way no one else does. This is what separates today's innovators and visionary leaders from the rest. Apple quoted this perfectly in their advertising campaign in 1998 "…While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do."  click here to see Apple's "Think Different" Advert…. it never gets old May you have an outstanding week. Darren Zwiers The Quote: Intelligence is something we are born with. Thinking is a skill that must be learned. - Edward de Bono