What do bananas and glow-in-the-dark paint have in common? They are two more examples of new ways of looking at things that you are familiar with — shared to help you stimulate your creativity about what you can do differently with what is in front of you.
Bananas in South Korea are packaged in an array of progressive ripeness. Rather than have a bunch of bananas all ready-to-eat or needing-to-be-ripened and then all ready all at once, they come as a set to be eaten over several days — the way people actually eat the fruit!
Another new application of a pre-existing product comes from Australia where they are testing the use of glow-in-the-dark paint to make the lines on highways. This photoluminescent marking should make the dividing and shoulder lines easier to see — and thus, safer to drive. Seems like a natural use of existing technology!
Novelist Marcel Proust said: “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” If someone can have new eyes about bananas and highway paint, think of what you can do in your organization. The components of innovation are already there waiting for you to see them.