How To Be An Imaginist
Imagination may help us create a better reality.
Major global events and crises often precipitate enduring shifts in society, creating new needs, attitudes, and habits. For the first time in a while, no one knows what the future holds. According to Boston Consulting Group (BCG), imagination-—“the capacity to create, evolve, and exploit mental models of things or situations that don’t yet exist”—is the vital factor in navigating the new reality. This is because imagination can help us thrive by shaping new environments instead of merely adapting to them.
In past recessions, 14% of companies invested in new growth paths requiring imagination. Those companies outperformed themselves historically and also competitively. This year, BCG surveyed more than 250 multinational companies to understand the measures they were taking to manage the COVID-19 pandemic and found only a small percentage to be at the stage where they’re re-shaping visionary and strategic schemes. BCG has outlined seven imperatives for companies to develop their capacity for imagination and find the seeds of opportunity:
1. Carve out time for reflection.
2. Ask active, open questions.
3. Allow yourself to be playful.
4. Set up a system for sharing ideas.
5. Seek out the anomalous and unexpected.
6. Encourage experimentation.
7. Stay hopeful.
By inventing and nurturing new ideas, we may be able to shape a future that’s brighter than any of us have even imagined yet.