Thinking Your Way Out of an Impossible Situation

In one of the early episodes of the orgional Star Trek, a young Captain Kirk is at the Star Fleet Academy taking a simulator test of his leadership skills. The Kobayashi Maru test is designed to put intense pressure on the Captain and his crew and has no acceptable solution. Realizing there was no answer that would allow him, or/his crew, to survive, Kirk, simply re-programs the simulator. With the perceived constraints removed, the solution to the problem was ridiculously easy, and Kirk became the only cadet in Star Fleet history not to fail the test.

That’s the way it often is when you think your way out of the box, as great leaders always do. It’s the basic ability to continually ask the “what if” questions. To think three-dimensionally and to challenge existing notions, beliefs and constraints, especially your own.

If you don’t like the constraints in place on the problem you are trying to solve, change them!