Reimagining Reality

In my last post, I threw out the Innovation Challenge: What did the top 10 most creative people (according to Fast Company) do to change their industries.

Here is the answer: Reimagine Reality.

Dan Elliott, from Tyndale House Publishers, is our winner with this answer, "each of these innovative leaders did something unexpected, combining multiple disciplines to create a product that is remarkable, worth talking about."

This lesson is so critical for us as innovators. An innovative leader has to do two things to change the rules and think in new ways:

1. Accurately Define Reality:
First an innovator has to define reality accurately. So many times we see people flounder because they do not correctly define reality. What does this mean? This means that we have to be brutally honest about the circumstances in which we find ourselves. If your church is shrinking each month, you have to look at the reasons. If your ministry project is stuck in the mud, you have to ask the tough questions. Only when we define reality accurately can we think creatively about solutions.

2. Reimagine Reality:
What each of the 10 people that I shared with you did was to clearly understand reality and then turn it on it's head. Whether they redesigned how we listen to music, rethought the infrastructure to power electric cars or reimagined comedy, each of them took that clear view of reality and then got creative with it.

Ministry Application
In ministry we are afraid to look at reality clearly because of the many challenges we face. And so, when we try to brainstorm and think creatively we are usually doing it from a faulty understanding of our surroundings. It is only when we take the time to really understand the forces at work and the dynamics of our situation that we can truly be innovative.

This means that you have to take time before the brainstorming sessions and they consultants to understand your world with it's blessings and it's challenges. Once you understand it and accept what God has given you to work with, then you are in a position to reimagine it.