Awhile back I blogged about 'linking health to geography' based on an article I read. What I did not do was to check the meeting that released the report. It was from the 2010 Technology, Entertainment, and Design in Medicine (TEDMED) conference. I just went to their website (www.tedmed.com) and was impressed with the purpose of the organization. It networks people to think outside of the box. Just the title of the group implies that they do not foster linear thinking, nor support business as usual conversations. Having worked on developing training courses on Creative Thinking (with a right-brain focus) and Strategic Exploration (with a left-brain focus), this is encouraging to me that there are such groups engaged to help us think better for the future.
When I was engaged in setting up conferences for emerging biomedical sciences, I liked to schedule a speaker that was outside the field under discussion. For example, when we had a conference about a new set of discoveries called liposomes (lipid vesicles used to deliver drugs and such to living cells, now commonly used in cosmetics), I invited a surface physicist to be a speaker. This person was clearly not involved with living cells and was not part of the discussion around liposomes and their interactions with living cells. Yet, his presentation was well received as it brought new ideas and new possible approaches to the development of future liposomes interacting with cells.
This simple means of mixing ideas is one way to help a discipline think beyond their usual constraints, hence, out-of-the-box thinking. So if you want to consider a new idea, maybe go to some activity or presentation that is totally outside of your normal range of interest. It can be fun and may help you find that important ah-ha moment!
© Baldwin H. Tom CMC
www.tbgroupconsultants.com
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