So, let's try breaking down a problem,

maybe a more everyday problem,

into pages so that we can think about changing some of those pages to

generate new avenues for solving new problems, doing new things.

So I thought we'd –

Think outside the bag, right?

Think outside the bag.

So, our good friends at SC Johnson, right?

Some Ziploc bags, right?

So we'll keep it simple.

So look, let's think about a Ziploc bag, right?

So, let's see, what are the parts?

So there's a box, right?

There's an opening.

There's an opening, right? There's an opening, there's a,

there's a, there's some is for a mechanism for closing it.

There's a seam at the bottom,

there's a bag with some plastic.

Wrap.

Transparent plastic. So parts.

So I think about changing those parts. Right?

So.

Yeah.

Reading and thinking about ---

Yeah, so you can think about ---.

new parts.

Yeah. So what's the new part so ---

I can think of glass rather than plastic.

Absolutely.

And then it could be an artistic display. Right?

Right. Absolutely. Yeah. Or it could be colored.

So you could have blue and green and pink or whatever colors

to it so you can color code your whatever you're doing.

Yes, exactly. And we've seen all kinds of openings, right?

So this one has this little tab thing on top to make it a little easier to open the bag.

That was apparently an innovation.

Right.

But then there are slidey things to close them. Right?

Bags with sliders.

And perhaps the shape itself could change.

Right.

Depending on what you want to store in it.

Yes. So they can be longer.

Happens to be a square.

Or bigger.

Right.

Right. I mean.

Packing a big sandwich for lunch.

So what's the next element here?

OK. So the next is actions.

Actions. Right.

So what can you do with this?

Right. Well you could store things.

You could store things.

You could hide things.

Well, it's hard with a clear one,

but if it's not clear...

Exactly.

You could hide something in it.

So, each step builds on the other, right?

Exactly.

So, I can actually make unique combinations depending on what I did earlier.

Right. So if I change the coloring then maybe

the action is....or I change the opening the action is different.

Yeah.

Right? So if it's a slider opening it may not hold liquid so well,

but one of these openings you can turn it upside down and carry a gold fish.

Right.

All right. Would be it actually,

so you can put things in it,

you can open it, you could blow it up.

I don't know, you could maybe suck the air out of it.

Yeah, right. Which could be useful.

Could be useful.

Freeze drying something.

Yeah, yeah. All kinds of things, so the, actions.

Right.

Goals.

Goals. So what might we do with one of these things?

So I might want to store something in it, right?

Yup!

Organize.

Some organize, right, put things into different bags.

Right.

Yup, yup.

What other goals might I have?

Well, you can also think about,

I'm going to carry food in it.

Right.

I'm going to organize parts in it.

I'm going to put a gift inside of it. Right.

So goal might be organization.

You might think about ---. Yes.

I'm in the mindset of trying to organize something.

I could be in the mindset of trying to entertain people so I could use the bag,

right, as a source of entertainment. Toss it in the air. I don't know.

We don't get out much.

I can ---. I thought it would be fun.

That sounds fun to me.

I'm stuck here, you know,

playing with plastic bags all day.

I love it. So goals.

Right.

And then event. Right? What's the,

what's the overarching event that we're dealing with?

Am I, you know, making the kids lunch? Right. Am I ---? It's a

birthday party.

Is it a birthday party?

I could use it to store, you know,

the gifts that you give kids on the way out.

Right, yeah. Party favors. Yeah, yeah.

So maybe these could be decorated with,

you know, designs or drawings. Right?

Right.

Rather than being sort of very functional and not maybe so decorative.

You could have a decorative version...

Right.

And then it could just be given right away.

The event is a crime scene.

I could store fingers in it.

That's... It's different.

Or traveling, or traveling.

We could put clothes inside if it was larger.

That's right.

But we're playing with possibilities.

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

And then self-concept. Right. Who am I.

Right? So, so, you know,

we just talked about, you know,

a party host ---.

Right. Or a gift giver but...

I'm a nice person.

So I think about I'm gonna give gifts in that bag.

Right? So my goal motivates what I think about.

If I'm not a nice person that opens up another area of possibility, right?

I could put it over your head.

I don't want to listen to this guy anymore.

That's right. So, so,

well, so, so, so with,

the intuition you're having is exactly right which is

that when you change one of these aspects the parts,

the actions, the goals,

the event, the self-concept.

It might cause a change to another one.

Right.

And what we've been noticing is that a part or

action change tends to have smaller effects.

Whereas goal, event and self-concept changes tend to be much larger.

And I think those are the ones you often take for granted. Right?

Exactly.

And so the value of the framework is really highlighting

the need to think systematically about each part of the process. Right?

Yes.

Which, and I think that, you know,

we sort of tend to get locked into one particular one and ignore all the possibilities.

Yeah. So what if I was a dog walker vs what if I'm

a party host that sends you down completely different pathways,

totally different events, different goals different actions, different parts.

And by starting with self-concept or event or goal,

you're much more likely to go in a broader array of directions.

Right.

And generate more divergent possibilities.

So, I think we just did that with the ziploc bag.

All of that with a ziploc bag.

Excellent. So one more example of pages breaking down a problem.

All right. We did a deep dive with the Ziploc bag which was fun.

But just to get some practice with the framework let's do another work,

do another example of using pages to systematically change our perspectives.

So I want to talk about, you know,

one problem that's a little bit richer and more

complex and one that you've probably often read about in American newspapers.

Which is how do we reduce gun related deaths in this country?

Like a brainstorming prompts.

So what could we do? What can we do about gun related deaths?

What are some solutions?

Well, so let's break it down. What are the parts?

Yeah, parts. Well, bullets.

Gun, bullets.

Can we maybe change those parts, right,

so we think of arrows instead of bullets?

That would be one way to reduce gun related deaths.

That would be. Right. Right.

Well. Yeah, I mean, well, so that kind of thinking leads to things like tasers.

Right? So, so it may incapacitate someone but not kill them.

Right? So we reduce gun related deaths by

having a different object instead of a gun and different bullets.

Right? You have rubber bullets or something like that.

Right, right.

And can we make a gun less likely to fire accidentally. Right?

So smart guns are...

Intervening on the parts does make a certain amount of sense. We need to start.

What about the next one actions?

Yeah. So what are some actions that we could

think about when we're thinking about gun related deaths?

Sure. So well, you can think about all the different processes.

So, where do you buy a gun.

Yeah. And then you can think about, you know,

you know, who gets to shoot one.

Right.

Right. Whether you can train people.

Okay. You know, and then you can also think about faster emergency.

Okay.

Survivals, right? So if the ambulance

shows up more quickly then fewer people die who get shot.

Right.

Better hospital care for people who are, who are shot.

So there are lots of different ---.

Right.

Actions that you might think that are part of that process.

Yeah, yeah got it. So the next one is...

I don't know.

What came to mind was guns.

Gun related deaths. All right.

So goals. What are the goals?

So, we could, we could reduce deaths.

Right. We could increase care

for people but you could also think about sort of reducing suicides.

Right? So one of the big areas of

gun related deaths is ---. Right. People committing suicide.

So, so th at may be a goal is to tamp down suicides.

By reducing accidents.

Which would lead to the training again.

Right. As a, as a solution.

Or, or you know reduce homicides.

Right? Which is probably,

tableau when it first came to minds. Right, right.

So, so that might be policing or community efforts.

Yeah. Things like that.

Yeah, so on to the next one, right?

Yeah.

So event, what might be the event.

Well, we just thought of a few, right? Think about ---.

So crime or ---

Crime rate, there's also domestic violence to consider.

Right? Right. So that, the event is often triggered by that.

So then though we see a different set of

potential solutions revolving around the home. Right?

Right. Right.

So what are the kinds of events we could think of next?

Shooting galleries, maybe. Right? Or hobbies.

Right.

They can go awry.

Yes, yes.

People, there are accidents that take place there.

Yeah. You know, what other kinds of events might be?

You think about the context of guns.

Well, you can think about also...

Celebrations?

Celebrations.

You know, at a wedding in Russia and, you know, guns went off...

Guns went off in the air? Wow, wow.

Congratulations.

I think.

I think, you're right exactly.

And then self-concept, right? Who are we?

Right. So are we in a city, right, am I,

am I urban, someone in an urban environment.

Am I living in a rural environment?

Am I a hunter, for example?

Right. That might be a very different mind set.

Am I concerned for my own safety versus am I out to have fun.

Right. Two very different self-concepts.

Yeah, yeah. Someone who is a hobbyist versus ---

Right.

someone who, you know,

sees themselves as under threat versus ---

Right.

a collector.

Right.

Could be another sense of self that would potentially change.

And then some formal roles like policeman.

Right. Or police woman or soldier.

Right, right. Very different ---.

Very different kinds of situations that would make you think differently.

So body armor ---.

Right. Starts to come to mind.

Father of a girl who's just started to date, you know, might be another ---.

I have no idea what you're talking about.

So, yeah.

I mean so, so, you know,

if we think about that you could think about,

you know, let's, if we jump back to say parts, for example.

Yeah. So where does that lead us and we've talked a little bit about that.

But, but, you know, you could think about, well,

are we dealing with a domestic violence situation so then that might lead to

a certain set of solutions whereas if we're thinking

about suicide that might be different.

If you're thinking about region, right,

so for up north versus down south or in the city or out of the city.

Now we have different ---. You have now ---

The parts themselves. Like, what kinds of guns are you thinking about?

Are they changed by the role and by self-concept.

Right? Yeah. By dealing with an AK-47.

My self-concept, is a member of a gang that's under threat.

Right. It's a very ---.

Yeah. These are very different way of framing

the problem and also a different set of potential solutions. Right?

And we can spiral out from there.

Right, so gun related deaths,

well, guns are manufactured.

Maybe the manufacturing is really dangerous.

You know, I don't know. Maybe it's really polluting or something. Right?

Right.

So there may be all these peripheral ways of thinking about ---. Yeah.

about, about this process.

And also even just heard me the event itself.

We're talking about death, right,

but death is actually a very narrow frame as well.

We can think about injuries.

Yes. Debilitating injuries that occur which may be,

you know, another big problem. Right?

Right, right, right.

So all of these things, kind of, feed on each other.

Yeah. But by thinking about pages, right?

We sort of broke down and generated all these different starting points ---.

Right. For thinking about things that you might be able to do.

And I think that's the benefit of the framework

is that it can be a little more systematic.

Right. And a little bit more guided as a process. Right.

So it might be your problem we can actually solve at some point.

Exactly.

Hopefully.

So we're always forming stories to account for what we're doing.

Maybe we're just, you know,

getting up and going to work or maybe it's the biggest deal of our lives at work.

Right? So, you know, whatever it may be.

You're forming some story, you know,

this is my day, this is what's happening.

Right. And in the course of forming that story you

have to think about things in a particular way. Right? Right.

This is a mug rather than a paper weight. Right? Right.

We do that because we have to make choices.

Right? Because we can't take into account

all possible sources of information, right? Our poor little brain.

So we, we make,

so in forming our story we make these choices

that end up forming a particular perspective.

Exactly.

Right.

And now we know that that perspective has, you know,

parts and actions and goals.

Right. And an event and a self-concept,

for who we are as the narrators of our story.

Right. And then once we change our perspective it then becomes

an opening through which we can now change our story moving forward or even rethink,

you know, prior assumptions.

Yeah. Yeah. So who we think we are and what we think we've done,

what we think we could do and change. Right, right.

Yeah. And so the story that history may stay the same but our interpretation,

our perspective on it may change and that may open up new pathways for us to take.

Yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly.

So, putting it all together we have concepts.

We've put them into roles,

the different functional parts of our perspective and we use that

to guide our stories and then if we change the perspective, new story.

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Creativity Toolkit I: Changing Perspectives

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