I think we might have gotten off on the wrong foot.
In my two previous blog entries, here and here, I provided examples of the kinds of ideas that anyone could submit to the ImagineX Challenge – an air conditioner that has no adverse health or environmental effects and a mobile app that contains all you’d need for a K-12 education. And I made it clear that either of these ideas could be taken by anyone, copied and pasted into the ImagineX submission form and then that person would have a chance to win one of ten $1000 prizes.
But maybe I was getting ahead of myself.
Let’s remove the expectation that any idea worth submitting needs to somehow save the world. Saving the world could simply be an unanticipated side effect. So let’s not even worry about it.
You do not need to save the world. There’s that challenge solved.
Instead, let’s reach to the other end of that scale and invent a completely mundane challenge that in no way contributes to the benefit of humanity.
Everyday things. Everyday, I wake up. I get out of bed. I take a shower. It’s fair to say that bathing is a common activity for most people. In some parts of the world, it’s a luxury; in other parts, it’s never given a second thought.
Now let me ask you a very serious question… Are you satisfied with your current brand of shampoo?
If you’re a consumer – and everyone is – and you’re not happy with your current brand of shampoo, there is something you can do about it. And it will only take a few minutes.
It’s a three-step process.
Step 1:
Identify what you don’t like about your current brand of shampoo.
Step 2:
Imagine the opposite of what you identified.
Step 3:
Submit the idea you imagined to the ImagineX Challenge.
Of course the shower and the shampoo are completely metaphorical.
Your activity could be filing things in a cabinet, taking a dog for a walk, mowing or watering a lawn, putting the kids to sleep, printing something with a computer, picking fruit, making a to-do list, using a screwdriver or a hammer or a wrench, filing up a gas tank, listening to a radio or music player, shopping for a gift, making a phone call, interacting with a bank or a utility company or a registration office, making appointments, having drinks with your peers, or mailing a letter to your grandmother because that’s how she likes to receive her correspondence.
Whatever the activity: What don’t you like about it? What’s the opposite of that?
Before change can occur, it needs to be caused. If I don’t like my current brand of shampoo, I can cause it to change. I don’t have to switch brands. I can demand more from my current brand. Decisions get made by those who show up. If I put a stake in my current brand, I can cause it to change.
And who knows? One of the innovators who takes on the Shampoo Challenge might invent a manufacturing method that leaves less of a carbon footprint. Another might create a method for product testing that involves no animals. A third might develop a means of composition that refines the potency of the product, so its owner can do more with less. Or someone might generate a solution that doesn’t necessarily address this challenge but might perfectly complement some other challenge.
All these solutions are made possible by my dissatisfaction with my current brand of shampoo.
What’s your current brand of shampoo?
