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DEVELOPING NEW BUSINESS IDEAS150

by being seen to kill him, the Russian authorities sought to look after
him extremely well. It is widely thought that by making available
inexhaustible quantities of high-fat food and high-tar cigarettes, the
Russians hoped to trigger a heart attack in Walesa.

By turning this objective upside-down into how they would not kill
Walesa, the Russians could discover the opportunity to exploit to their
advantage his well-known penchant for life’s good things.

what’s waste to one is profit to another The application of the
rule reversal technique to conventional waste products can be equally
productive, as evidenced by the creation of Blu-tack, the all-purpose
adhesive which began life as the dregs of a polymerisation process. By
the same token, the Waterford Crystal Factory in Waterford, Eire,
derives significant turnover from repurposing glassware with air-
bubbles in it as novelty products.

the steps to reverse rules The simple steps for effective rule
reversal are as follows:

1 State in clear and simple terms the market or product situation as is.

2 Reverse the direction of the statement.

3 Write down each reversal as a new opportunity statement.

4 Use each reversal as a stimulus for new ideas.

assumption reversal A sibling of rule reversal, assumption

reversal is also a distant relative of some of the boundary-examination
techniques which we discussed in the previous chapter. Rather than
reverse the current market situation, this technique reverses the
assumptions underlying the current market situation.

This technique was developed by consultant Steve Grossman, who
recognised that the assumptions we make about opportunities and
problems often affect our ability to solve them.118 Reversing these
assumptions can sometimes produce unique perspectives which, in
turn, can trigger creative ideas.

Dell reversed the computer market assumption that computers were
packaged goods which could not be sold direct to customers. This
assumption reversal led Dell to create a direct channel of communication
to the consumer, offering reliable and customised products.

Ryanair and easyJet reversed the market assumption that airline travel
must involve high service levels and airports close to major city centres.