Solving a problem became so much more fun. Love how Iyengar provides case studies from the past and from her students to teach the reader about Thinking Bigger to solve a problem. In 6 steps.

Mark Twain said an interesting thing:

“There is no such thing as a new idea. It is impossible. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope. We give them a turn and they make new and curious combinations. We keep on turning and making new combinations indefinitely, but there are the same old pieces of colored glass that have been in use through all the ages.”

Mark Twain
The book I talk about here started from this exact point: nothing is completely new and, if that is the case, if there is no particular genius about those who get innovative ideas, then we can all get them!

That is fantastic news! If only there was a method to it!… Oh, wait…We are in luck: this is exactly what the author of this book, Sheena Iyengar, proposes: a scientific method to get great, innovative ideas!

If you are stuck on a problem you want to solve, this book is perfect for you!

photo of Sheena Iyengar
But, first…let me tell you something about the author: Sheena Iyengar is a professor and renowned expert in the science of choice. Her accomplishments are even more awe worthy when you also know that she is also blind. This “small” detail is what has made her so creative throughout her life and I was saddened to see just how much people with this affliction actually have to endure just to do the most simple things. However, this makes it all even more impressive, because this book is astounding!

…so now let’s get to it!

Bear in mind, these are the main ideas I gathered from the book “Think Bigger”. While I tried to explain them in a few words, they don’t really do justice to the book. The author manages to illustrate them with beautiful examples and detailed case studies you really need to read. The way she can break down how one gets inspiration to innovate is indeed extraordinary.

But in the beginning, you only have ideas. Possibly many. How do you decide which to follow up on?

What Makes a Great Idea?
All ideas are not equal. Even if we are all capable of generating a great number of ideas, most of them are not really valuable.

If you’re here, you clearly have at least a problem you want to solve. That is the first and most important thing you need from an idea: to be of use to you in solving your problem.

In order to get to a solution specific to your problem, you’ll most likely have to combine in a new way different ideas that solve subproblems of your bigger issue. That means great ideas are composed of real, tried, working solutions.

Now you know what you want from ideas, let’s learn how to get them.

How to Get Great Ideas?
“Think Bigger” is a method to deconstruct the process of innovation. That means that, in order to use it, you have to become aware of each mental step that leads to innovation. These steps are:

Find a problem to solve
Break it down
Compare wants
Search in and out of the box
Use a choice map
Get a Third Eye to see your solution
Let’s go deeper and understand what each one is about:

Find the Problem to Solve
The problem must be hard enough that no one has figured it out before, but not so ambitious that the solution remains a fantasy.

“Think Bigger”, by Sheena Iyengar
This is a difficult thing in itself. Understanding what is challenging enough, but not impossible is an art. It may take a while for you to find the problem you want to tackle. Take your time — it’s important.

The best advice to help you in choosing the problem to solve is to identify problems you deal with every day, observe which one annoys you the most, and which one is the most repetitive. If you describe this problem to 20 other people, what would they think about it? Are you bored after 20 such short presentations or are you still excited?

I talked about this exercise for presenting a problem here.

If you’re still excited about solving your problem, by 20 presentations you’ll even have a better grasp on it, you’ll even be capable of reframing it, you will have thought about it so much, and you really understand it.

This is key for the next steps.

Break Down the Problem
A major problem is always composed of smaller problems. Make a list of all the subproblems your big issue is made of and try to solve all of them.

Too often problems remain vague or simply too big for us to solve. Breaking them down leads to smaller, very specific, definitely more solvable problems.

This step’s main thing is to stop breaking down problems when you reach subproblems with mostly known solutions.

Think about it this way: “If I solve all these subproblems, have I solved at least 80% of my main issue?”. If the answer is yes, you may stop.

Compare Wants
In this step, you need to think of the Big Picture. Your solution needs to work for 3 groups: you, your target, and the 3rd parties who will implement your solution.

Each one of these groups will look for something specific from a solution. Knowing these wants will help you discern among solutions, and choosing better fits.

Search In and Out of the Box
This step is all about searching for solutions. For that, the best thing to do is to search within your field and, even better, beyond. Learn from what works. Learn from experts. The examples of how to do that are many and they are so, so well described, but one, in particular, drew my attention. It’s about the Trotter Matrix.

Lloyd Trotter started as a field service engineer and ended up as GE president and CEO, in charge of factories around the world. His genius was to observe that in every factory he went to, someone was doing a new, different thing, very well. Each factory had a star department.

Trotter recognised how all factories could benefit from this kind of expertise and created a process through which every factory could benefit from the expertise of the ones that were best at one certain thing.

The Trotter Matrix helped identify what each factory was best at and paired experts there with factories that needed improvement in that area.

His process was designed so that everyone would learn from an expert and, in turn, teach someone else as an expert in a different area. The only thing it needs to produce stellar results is a bit of humility. The matrix asks of each employee to identify what they don’t know and where they need improvement.

Over the years, the Trotter Matrix was a success that skyrocketed productivity and innovation for GE and was adapted to find the best solutions for various problems.

Sheena Iyengar was inspired by the matrix to create the Choice Map, used in the next step of the Think Bigger method.

Choice Map
Your greatest ideas will come to you when you make yourself comfortable with being uncomfortable.

“Think Bigger”, by Sheena Iyengar
One of the key things in the magic of the Think Bigger method is realising that no singular element of your solution is novel. It is this thing that, paradoxically, will make you more creative. There is no pressure to innovate, yet, this is exactly what you will do by following the method.

And in this step, “Choice map”, what you will do create a matrix of subproblems and solutions. You’ll find the prototypes in the book, but it’s basically listing all your subproblems vertically. List your potential solutions or ideas for solving horizontally. Remember to stay open-minded and gather solutions in and out of the box.

Your task is then to imagine how to recombine everything in your matrix. Do this for days, even weeks. It’s part of the process that should not be rushed.

When you finish, the solution you come up with will have to be tested by a “third eye”.

Third Eye
This third eye test serves the purpose of a refined understanding of your problem and of your solution. You need to see how others understand your idea. For that, describe your solution in full to others. Ask them to retell it in their own words —give you a “playback”. This will not be a debate, not even a long discussion. Ask for the playback again in a few days, even in a few weeks.

Your only purpose is to understand what draws people’s attention and what they gather from your problem and your solution. Do they understand it?

What if you asked them to reimagine it all? Are you surprised by what they come up with? What can you learn from it?

Conclusion
This method is designed to help you come up with creative solutions for your problems. Follow the steps described here and you’ll start innovating in no time!

I hope you found this article useful. If you did, really consider reading the entire book! Its writing style, and the storytelling in it — all make it wonderful and entertaining, but, most of all, useful. I can’t think of anyone who wouldn’t benefit from reading it!

You can find it here

A wonderful and entertaining book. It is simple to read and understand. It depicts how ideas evolve into other new ideas and how we can utilise them. There are wonderful stories accompanied by pictures. You are going to love it. Wonderful book.

This book is good for its structure on how to think of, develop and present an idea. The author is teaching a course and provides a framework on how to innovate. There are several interesting and new examples on innovation and some of them are from well known companies. There is an interesting thought that innovation is not necessarily a completely new thing/solution but a combination of existing old things to solve a problem. Sometimes problem solving is connected to making a product/solution more efficient. Overall an interesting book and I liked the story of innovation behind the Statue of Liberty.