Shake up your Thinking with Dr Ken Hudson

The new Prime Minister of Australia should be congratulated for his latest initiative to host a summit of what he calls the 1000 ‘best and brightest’ minds to discuss and create new ideas for the ten most pressing issues facing the nation in the next ten years. There are three conditions that need to be created for this summit to be a success. These are:

 1. A diversity of mindsets.

By this I mean that you need to attract a cross-section of people with different life experiences that ’see’ the world differently. As someone who has facilitated literally hundreds of idea workshops over the past few years it is not enough simply to have a mixture of say, male and female participants if they all have the same mindset. People who ’see’ the world the same as their peers leads to a similarity of ideas but real creativity emerges from the dynamic tension of completely different worldviews. It also helps if participants actively listen and value each others perspectives.

 2. People with imagination.

If the new Australian Government really wants to develop breakthrough ideas and solutions it needs to ensure that it has people with imagination at the summit. Participants have to imagine new possibilities. People with imagination are more interested in what ‘could be’ rather than moving forward from what exists at the moment. It needs people that are able to paint an ideal solution then design back to the current rather than being locked into the current situation. In short, it needs people who place a premium on being able to imagine rather than analyse. To value what is original in an idea rather than what might be wrong with it. These types of people are more likely to be found in the ranks of the architects, painters, poets, entrepreneurs, inventers, scientists and writers rather than the consultants, bureaucrats and technocrats that are the usual suspects for many a government summit.

Most of all, be wary of so-called experts. Many experts spend a great deal of their time defending their expertise rather than being open to new insights and ideas. A criterion for the conference should be a demonstrable ability to create something from nothing and a curiosity to explore other areas in addition to your specific expertise.

3. People with courage

The third requirement to ensure a successful summit is courage. It is not a physical form of courage but rather the courage of your convictions. It takes internal strength to go against the perceived wisdom or scorn of the critics or experts. Independence of thought in the face of ‘group think’ is a rare quality. Yet that is what is required if big, original solutions are to be developed. 

This is a fabulous opportunity to engage people with passion and ideas. Hopefully the summit can design solutions that can really make a difference to our lives.

Dr. Ken Hudson,

Founder, IdeaSpace

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