BACHELOR OF
INNOVATION™
Problem Solving
From Conceptual Blockbusting, 4th
Edition, by James L. Adams
Solve This Puzzle
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INNOVATION™
One morning, exactly at sunrise, a Buddhist monk began to
climb a tall mountain. A narrow path, no more than a foot or
two wide, spiraled around the mountain to a glittering temple at
the summit. The monk ascended at varying rates of speed,
stopping many times along the way to rest and eat dried fruit
he carried with him. He reached the temple shortly before
sunset. After several days of fasting and meditation he began
his journey back along the same path, starting at sunrise and
again walking at variable speeds with many pauses along the
way. His average speed descending was, of course, greater
than his average climbing speed. Prove that there is a spot
along the path that the monk will occupy on both trips at
precisely the same time of day.
Complete the Sequence Below
A
EF
BCD
G
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Perceptual Blocks
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INNOVATION™
•Detecting What You Expect – Stereotyping
•Difficulty in Isolating the Problem
•Tendency to Delimit the Problem Area Poorly
•Inability to See the Problem from Various
Viewpoints
•Saturation
•Failure to Utilize all Sensory Inputs
Context
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INNOVATION™
Remember this list:
Saw, when, panicked, Jim, ripped, haystack,
the, relaxed, when, cloth, the, but, he
Remember this sentence:
Jim panicked when the cloth ripped, but relaxed
when he saw the haystack.
Context
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INNOVATION™
The context is:
Sky diving
Remember this sentence:
Jim panicked when the cloth ripped, but relaxed
when he saw the haystack.
Difficulty in Isolating the Problem
Sometimes we just can’t see it…
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INNOVATION™
Difficulty in Isolating the Problem
Sometimes we just can’t see it…
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INNOVATION™
Difficulty in Isolating the Problem
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INNOVATION™
Think of a problem that is bothering you. State
your problem as concisely as you can. Can
you think of alternative problem statements that
might be causing the difficulties you are
experiencing? If so, write them down and
conjecture about the possible differences in
solutions that occur to you.
Delimit the Problem
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INNOVATION™
How many ways can you solve this puzzle?
Draw no more than 4 straight lines, without lifting the
pencil from the paper, that will cross through all 9
dots.
Different Viewpoints
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INNOVATION™
Think of an interpersonal problem you presently
have. Write a concise statement of the
problem as seen by each party involved. If
possible show the statements to the
corresponding parties and see if they agree
with your interpretation of their perception of
the problem.
Saturation
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INNOVATION™
Without looking at one, draw the push buttons
on an ordinary phone, placing the letters,
numbers, and symbols in the proper location.
Find Your Animal
If your last name begins with:
A–E
F–K
L–R
S–Z
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INNOVATION™
You are:
sheep
pigs
cows
turkeys
Choose a partner, someone you don’t know
well. Look your partner in the eye. When I say
go, loudly make the sound of your animal.
Emotional Blocks
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INNOVATION™
• Fear to make a mistake, to fail, to risk
• Inability to tolerate ambiguity; overriding
desires for security, order; “no appetite for
chaos”
• Preference for judging ideas, rather than
generating ideas
• Inability to relax, incubate, and “sleep on it”
• Lack of challenge versus excessive zeal
• Inability to distinguish reality from fantasy
You and Your Amygdala
•
•
•
•
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INNOVATION™
Your amygdala is always on
It’s a survival tool – a rapid response to threat
Your amygdala is not precise
Social threat and physical threat both
produce a response
• Social threats include looking bad or foolish
or stupid. Also, being dominated, diminished,
disrupted, or deceived.
Cultural Blocks
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
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INNOVATION™
Taboos
Fantasy and reflection are a waste of time, lazy, even crazy
Playfulness is for children only
Problem-solving is a serous business and humor is out of
place
Reason, logic, numbers, utility, practicality are good; feeling,
intuition, qualitative judgments, pleasure are bad
Any problem can be solved by scientific thinking and lots of
money
Everyone should be like me
Cyber is better
Tradition is preferable to change
Exercise
BACHELOR OF
INNOVATION™
Assume that a steel pipe is imbedded in the concrete floor of a bare
room as shown below. The inside diameter is .06” larger than the
diameter of a ping-pong ball (1.5”) that is resting gently at the bottom
of the pipe.
You are one of a group of six people in the room, along with the
following objects: 100’ of clothesline, a carpenter’s hammer, a chisel,
a box of Wheaties, a file, a wire coat hanger, a monkey wrench and a
light bulb.
List as many ways as
you can think of to get
the ball out of the pipe
without damaging the
ball, tube, or floor.