Getting outside of the box

How often have you heard the request, “We need to think outside of the box.”? At the start of the new year, we traditionally pause to reflect and set new goals. But how many of the goals from last year do we even remember?

As I considered this dilemma, I was challenged to get “outside the box” and do a thought experiment by Ron Ashkenas, a blogger at HBR. He suggested firing myself and reapplying for my job. Here are his questions that I asked myself along with a couple of my own:

What are your qualifications?
What would you say in an interview about the changes you would make and the improvements you would engineer?
What unique “stamp” would you put on this new job?
How do you feel about the business strategy and the quality of the leadership team?
What would you change?
What are your strengths? What will you do this year to grow and increase your strengths?

While this is not at the level of the thought experiment that allowed Einstein to come up with e=MC2, the experiment allows me to challenge myself and survey the organizational landscape around me in a different way.