In the box thinking may have its purpose after all according to training and consultant Jimbo Clark.
Table of Contents
What is the Box?
We often hear entrepreneur innovation advice in idioms like “seize the day,” “make it happen,” and “thinking outside the box.” Well, what is this box everyone talks about?
In short, the box is all things of normal convention. It is the stuff that comes with the phrase, “That is the way we always do it.” Thinking outside of the box means thinking beyond those conventions to overcome a problem, beat the competition, or create something new.
There is a time and place for that level of creativity, and there isn’t. What if in the box thinking had a time and place as well? To decide this, we need to first know what defines our own box, and when it serves its purpose to our dreams, vision, and goals.
In the Box Thinking
Thinking outside the box is great when it comes to competing. You want to disrupt the space you’re in and gain an advantage. History books note all the ways convention was broken in order to create a win. What is often ignored are all the components of thinking inside the box that were present as well.
One example of in the box thinking Jerry recalls is Operation Desert Storm in August 1990. Troops were built up along the border between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Conventional wisdom believed that the plan was to drive into occupied Kuwait to push the Iraqi army out of that country.
On the eve of the ground assault, General Schwarzkopf has the entire coalition except for a small force serving as a distraction moved west and pushed into Iraq instead of Kuwait and headed off the elite Republican Guard in the open desert of Iraq who were caught off guard and annihilated. That was outside the box thinking. It was supported by a lot of in the box thinking on a micro-level.
People who have served in the U.S. military know that there are certain behaviors and functions that are carried out no matter what. Some of those include general orders of guard duty, preventive maintenance and checks (PMCS,) weapons maintenance, must-do tasks the moment you pull into a camp or stopping point, and so on.
Responsibilities in a Successful Marriage – Bonus Content
Many of us desire to have a family. Divorce is not in the original plan when we get married and have children. Jimbo Clark also discusses the levels of priority that have brought him and Anita happiness in their marriage as well as establish a vision in their children on what is possible for themselves.
The Hierarchy
This is the box that Jimbo and Anita shaped their marriage priorities listed in order of importance. Selfish is not always bad. Selfish is important as the announcement from an airline safety briefing on how you should put the oxygen mask on yourself first before putting one on your children.
- To Ourselves – living my own dream
- To Each Other – partners with each other
- To the Children – fight against the urge to make them #1
- To the Extended Family
- To the Communities You Care About
- To the World – make it a better place
Resources and Links
Jimbo Clark’s program In & Out of the Box can be found at Innogreat.com/box
Connect on LinkedIn with Jimbo.
Follow Jimbo on Instagram.
Listen to these past episodes:
- 3 Crucial Must-Haves Before Leaving a Job and Living in Asia – Jimbo Clark – BtR 187
- Getting Beyond Your Usual Perspective – BtR 116
- Go Home and Go Big – BtR 043
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Music Attribution
“Oceans Apart” is our theme song composed and performed by Scott Ian Holmes.
