Travel Widely

The last few notes have been about various aspects of Pay Attention…the first attribute of success.  Since writing Power Blinds I’ve been in Orlando giving a talk at the Product Development and Management Association Global Conference on Innovation.  I met quite a few extremely interesting people and even got invited to give a talk at an event Microsoft is sponsoring at their New York City office.

I ended Power Blinds by talking a bit about traveling.  After this recent trip it occurred to me that the value of travel needs some additional explanation.  It turns out that travel not only expands the mind, it actually leads to better thinking…or at least more creative and strategic thinking.

Julia Sloan, world renowned expert in strategic thinking and author of Learning To Think Strategically, has interviewed many CEOs of major corporations and discovered that they all mention significant travel as a key to their success.  Travel really does broaden the mind…and lead to new insights and ideas as well as a better understanding of the commonalities and differences among people.  If you Pay Attention.

Julia Sloan    

Staying in one place strengthens the blinders and group think, blocks out competing opinions and ideas, and strengthens feelings of us versus them.  Interestingly, you can travel quite a bit and still never leave your group…think CEO who travels in the bubble of sycophants and never sees anything but their own facilities.

The travel I’m talking about is travel for variety, for difference, for diversity.  Travel to expand your view rather than confirm your beliefs. Travel where you…by design…get out of your comfort zone and experience new adventures.  Travel where you ignore that you most often see, and seek out and Pay Attention to that which assaults your views. 

Innovative strategic thinking comes from being assaulted by the variety of the world…and gathering it in rather than blocking it out.  From quieting the voices of agreement and listening to the voices of difference.  From knowing how to Pay Attention effectively, and where to place that attention.

Of course, you then need to escape the tumult, tumble it all around in your head…and gut, and then have the fortitude to take action.