'Working Wounded': Thinking Outside the Box

— -- D E A R R E A D E R S: Have you ever been told to "think outside of the box"? And how do we get stuck in boxes in the first place?

For answers, we interviewed Gordon MacKenzie, who formerly held the title of "creative paradox" at Hallmark Cards. His job was to stimulate innovation. He's also the author of Orbiting the Giant Hairball (Viking, 1998 ), a creativity primer for today's workplace.

Q: Can you give me a few practical tips to stimulate thinking out of the box?

A: Think in metaphors, fantasize, anything that might bring broader perspective. When I worked at Hallmark, I used to fantasize that I was the founder of the company. I didn't share this fantasy with my boss — that would have created unproductive turmoil. But by secretly pretending that I was Mr. Hallmark, I assumed responsibility for seeing what most needed tending to, and I attended to it.

Q: Where did the notion of the "box" come from?

A: Eons ago, Oog Puk Sham, the world's first CEO, issued an order: "I want a list of our whole staff, in descending order of importance, with me at the top followed by my direct reports, then all the slaves at the bottom. To keep things tidy, let's draw a box around each grouping. And since there are so few of us and so many of them, let's spread our list out sideways at the bottom. That way the boxes will look sort of like the stone blocks of the holy pyramid." Zoom to this century. We still have the boxes. Some employees even like the boxes they're stored in, because they seem like good places to hide.

Q: If bosses "store" their employees in boxes, why do they then tell them to think outside of them?

A: A boss' request to employees to think outside of the box probably stems from a longing for the fruits of original thinking; the untainted insights of "beginner's mind" (thinking uncontaminated by the biases of the box). But the direction of a beginner's mind is unpredictable. This creates a conflict: The boss often wants the rewards of his or her employees' original thinking, but may be intolerant of the resulting behaviors.

Q: So what should an employee do when he or she is told to think out of the box?

A: First of all, realize what the boss really wants: for you to think like a genius, but behave like a servant. With that in mind, know that if you really get out of the box, you will immediately become a high-profile player. Be sure you're ready for the game; both the risks and the rewards will increase. You will be held to a higher level of accountability, and you will taste the rare ecstasy that comes only from not holding back.

Q: On the other hand, what is the biggest mistake that someone can make when they are told to get out of the box?

A: To take the command at face value.

Online Ballot and Contest

Here are the results from a recent workingwounded.com/ABCNEWS.com online ballot: What is your strategy for dealing with difficult transitions?

I avoid them, 6.4 percent I honestly haven't had a tough transition, 7.6 percent My life is nothing but tough transitions, 28.2 percent I deal with them, 57.6 percent

Winning Strategy

Our winning strategy for dealing with a tough transition comes from a retired U.S. Air Force captain: "I had two advantages when I was told to retire from the military. The first was, when you have no control over your life, you learn to take things as they come and to take advantage of free time when you have it. The second was I've always liked to read, and one thing I read was David McCullough's book on Harry Truman. When Truman was 48 years old, he had only accomplished two things: He had fought in the Great War, and he had failed in every business he had started. He could have written himself off and never been noticed. But he didn't quit. He found something he was good at and kept going. As one of my favorite military sayings goes, 'The great thing is not to lose your nerve.' "

List of the Week

Bob Rosner is the author of the Wall Street Journal business best seller, The Boss's Survival Guide (McGraw Hill, 2001), a speaker, and founder of the award-winning workingwounded.com & RetentionEvangelist.com. E-mail him at bob@RetentionEvangelist.com.

ABCNEWS.com publishes a new Working Wounded column every Friday.