 You freed up your to-do list and you freed up your schedule. But have you freed your mind? Welcome back and congratulations on taking one more step towards becoming one of the great leaders of tomorrow. The last few weeks we've been talking about freedom and independence and we've been talking about how to free ourselves from the traps that take up our time and effort. We're going to shift gears a little bit this week and now talk about freeing ourselves up from the status quo and taking a step away from the conventional wisdom. Looking at things from a different perspective than everyone else is looking for them can lead to innovative ways of getting things done and free of valuable time and money for other projects. It can be really challenging to shift our perspective from the one that's commonly accepted in our organization. That perspective has been shaped by culture and history and can go back a long way into the past. As we've talked about before, for the most part human beings are uncomfortable with change and holding on to those perspectives is a way we find comfort in an uncertain world. It's also difficult to go against the grain and challenge key assumptions because there may be social pressures that come along if we don't toe the party line. That's right, I did air quotes. Our challenge as leaders is to find ways to get past those very natural feelings and help our team members achieve more, better, faster, more efficiently and with better service than we've ever done before. So how do we get past these very real and natural feelings that might make us reluctant to look for ways to change and innovate? Like many things we've talked about here at Evil Genius Leadership, we believe that making a conscious effort and deliberately asking some key questions up front can get us moving in the right direction. The most important question we can ask ourselves is what if? What if we didn't have to do things a certain way? What if we could do this from here instead of there? What if this was automatic instead of a person doing it? Asking what if gets us thinking about outcomes that might be better for our organization, our team or our customers than the outcomes we're getting right now. Once we think we're on to something with what if, then we need to start asking why. Why do we do it that way now? Why do we do it from here instead of there? Why isn't this automatic? Asking why is going to help us identify the challenges we're going to face as we ask others to step outside the conventional view and look for ways to innovate. If we can get through asking what if and why and have gotten some insight from this alternate perspective that some change might lead to greater success, then we can follow up with the who, where, when and how to start to put together the details that can make this innovation a reality. A thought to consider is that it can be frustrating when people bring about change just for the sake of change. Freeing our minds can be great to foster innovation and reach new heights, but change without purpose or need can sap valuable resources and distract people from accomplishing the mission. And also, there's a reason it's called conventional wisdom. Alternate perspectives are great, but let's not forget the lessons that others have learned before us and take those into account as we move our team forward. Once you've convinced yourself of the need for change, you can expect to get resistance from others on your team. You're going to hear the phrase, that's the way we've always done it, a lot. To overcome this resistance, walk others to the questions you asked yourself to get to the solution you did and see what answers they come up with. They may have a unique perspective that adds to or enhances your solution. Be patient and take lots of time to get your team comfortable with the idea of the new solution. Pretty soon your whole team will be convinced. There are many great ideas that came about by looking at things we take for granted from a different perspective. Uber is a great example of asking what if that brought exciting changes to the transportation industry. We may not all be able to change the world on a grand scale like Uber did, but we can all make life better for our team by challenging assumptions and looking at the world through a different lens. If you found this helpful, don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter and join us every Friday at 10 a.m. Pacific time for a live interactive leadership discussion on Blab. Click off on that globe to the right. That'll get you subscribed to our email list and that'll bring all of our content direct to your inbox. Thanks for watching today. I really appreciate it and remember the future is out there. Lead the way.