– Hericlitus

I just read a good post about leadership. Here’s the juicy bit:

You can’t step into the same river twice.”

I believe there’s a creative strategy in this insight: “Escape from obsolete ideas.” Follow along, and see if this applies to anything you are currently doing.

Like a river, the world is constantly changing. New laws are enacted and others are no longer enforced. New styles of behavior and expression become fashionable and others are relegated to the dust-heap.
Thus, the strategies we employ need to be appropriate to the problems and opportunities before us.

For example, it’s said that the Prussian King Frederick the Great (1712-1786) lost the Battle of Jena even though it was fought in 1806. This means that for twenty years after his death, the Prussian army perpetuated his successful organization instead of adapting to meet the changes in the art of war. Had his generals questioned Frederick’s military tenets, they might have fared better against Napoleon.

Remember: every right idea is eventually the wrong idea.

Innovation means not only generating new ideas, but escaping from obsolete ones as well.

As you think about a current problem or issue, you might ask yourself these questions: “What assumptions should I update? What is no longer true and should be discarded? What’s now possible?”

(emphasis mine)

from CreativeThink via jonnybaker