Everyone has been told to “think outside the box.” Of course, the person using the phrase is themselves an “in the box thinker” otherwise they would not be using a tired cliché. While the juxtaposition is comical, the demand on workers to be creative and innovative is a real concern since these are not things one can do on command as one needs the right space, time, resources and skillset to do so. With limited time, and with attention being pulled in too many directions to maintain a line of thought for longer than a TikTok video, creativity and innovation can seem like stretch goals more than necessities. But to succeed in a competitive landscape, and to be able to pivot when the landscape changes, creativity is a necessity and those individuals and companies that cultivate it are best positioned to succeed.
ALIEN is the acronym the authors use for Attention, Levitation, Imagination, Experimentation, and
