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DEVELOPING NEW BUSINESS IDEAS148

If you cannot see the wood for the trees, it often pays to enter the forest
from a different direction. By changing direction, you change
perspectives. Instead of being blocked by your initial, unproductive
perspective, you will discover new ways of seeing your business
opportunity, allowing new ideas to flow unfettered.

do not just wait for the muse You may be blocked or you may just
be unable to get started. As de Bono elegantly points out: ‘Unless one is
going to sit around waiting for inspiration, the most practical way to get
moving is to work on what one has.’116 Upside-down thinking is an
excellent way to start with what you have.

With rule reversal, you take the over-arching product or market
situation as it is and then turn it upside-down in a provocative search
for new ideas. Under the assumption reversal method, you overturn the
key assumptions within a market to reveal new avenues to explore. We
will discuss each technique in turn.

rule reversal Rule reversal gives you licence to play the role of

court jester, a historical role of such importance that British Airways
offered BA insider Paul Birch the formal role of ‘corporate jester’. A
large part of his role involved turning reality on its head so that others
might discover understanding and develop creative solutions.

Despite the venerable tradition dating from the 13th century that the
court jester is immune from political punishment, the power of rule
reversal to unsettle is revealed by the wry remark attributed to Birch
that ‘Whilst anyone can be a fool, it helps if you’ve a great future
behind you’. The purpose of the rule reversal technique is quite
literally to turn things on their head so that you escape from the
conventional way of looking at a problem or opportunity. Birch is
credited with challenging industry thinking on seat allocation, which
led to customers who thought that they had pre-booked seats
sometimes having to queue to get a seat on the plane alongside other
customers who had paid less than them.

the purpose of the rule reversal technique is
quite literally to turn things on their head