Time Travel

Greetings.  Have you ever thought about traveling back in time?  To another era in human history when things were different and probably a bit simpler.  Maybe ancient Egypt or ancient Greece?  Maybe on a journey across the northern lands with Leif Erikson and his merry band of Vikings?  Or maybe to experience the wonder of Florence during the height of the Renaissance?  It's certainly a fun way to spark our imaginations and make the past come to life.  Not to mention the super cool stories you'd be able to tell at the weekly staff meeting.  But what if it were possible, as author Sean Carroll ponders in the brand new issue of Discover magazine, on sale now at a newsstand near you.  In his intriguing article, titled "The New Rules of Time Travel," Carroll suggests that going back or forward in time might actually be possible.  The bigger issue is the philosophical challenge of whether or not we could go back in time and change the course of history.

But that shouldn't stop us from changing our "history" as we move ahead.  And if you're really committed to innovation, you might want to use this article and idea as a wonderful starting point for sparking your genius.  To do this, think about a couple of things.  First, what can you and your organization learn from the past that will enable you to reach your full potential in the future?  What ideas, possibly discarded, make amazing sense today?  And what "old" ways of doing business would have new appeal in our internet-centric world?  Second, what if you could invent the future?  How would you and your business be different than it is today, and what "new" and more compelling value would you offer to those you serve?

In fact, whether we can physically travel back or forth in time, we have the ability in an important sense to always be time travelers–people and companies open to learning and acting based on insight from other eras.  The real challenge is to be curious about what others have known in the past or might know in the future.  And, to get a quick sense of the power of this idea, simply pick a period in history that you are interested in and commit to thinking about all the things that made it remarkable–in culture, science, exploration, business, and so on.  Then take some of these "breakthroughs" and try applying them to reinvent your company.  You might be surprised at the new insight you discover.

We win in business and in life by casting a wider net in our search for new ideas and inspiration.  Just because we live in the present doesn't mean we should be limited by it.  Maybe there's more to time travel than meets the eye.  Why not open a history book, visit a museum, or rent a science fiction movie…and prepare to be amazed!

Cheers and have a different time this weekend!