The Four Lenses of Innovation: A Power Tool for Creative Thinking

What’s wrong with

our brains?

The problem is that most of us are not using our perceptive powers in the way that innovation demands. Although every human mind is equipped with the capacity for creative thought, we tend to stop taking full advantage of this ability long before we even leave school.

Our creativity is usually very evident in kindergarten where we all seem to be natural artists, inventors, explorers, and investigators. It’s a glorious time when we let our imaginations run wild without inhibitions, rules, or regulations. We paint the sky green and the grass blue, and everybody thinks we’re a genius. We turn empty cardboard boxes into castles, and plastic containers into space rockets. We look at everything from a childlike perspective, full of curiosity and wonder. We ask a lot of questions that begin with “How?,” “Why?,” or “What if?” and we think that any problem in the world can easily be solved. We dream up all kinds of magical uses for technology because everything seems possible.

But somewhere along the line—generally between the ages of 6 and 12—something changes. We learn at school that there’s a right way and a wrong way of doing things. We learn what can and can’t be done. We learn to put limits on our imaginations, and not to ask “dumb” questions. We learn to memorize facts, figures, and formulas, and to use books or the Internet to find all the existing ...