Organizations must think innovatively without falling into the innovation trap

livemint.com:

The ancient art of magic might seem a strange way to understand human behaviour, but two neuroscientists Stephen Macknik and Susana Martinez discerned that master magicians had discovered the secrets of neuroscience and human behaviour much like master painters had developed techniques to get a three-dimensional effect while painting on two-dimension surfaces centuries before modern technology. Here is a quick example to show how neural pathways can be highjacked to influence behaviour. Think of any number from 2-10 and multiply it by 9.

Now add the two digits and subtract 5. You should be left with a completely random single digit number. Next find the corresponding letter of the alphabet for that number—if the number is 1, then the letter is A; if it’s 2, the letter is B; if it is 3, then C; and so on.

Now think of a country that starts with your letter. Next, think of an animal whose name starts with the second letter of the country’s name and picture its colour. This is much more fun when I do it in a large group, where almost everyone would end up with a grey elephant in Denmark.

(For those who can’t read further until you know how this works: Any number from 2 to 10 multiplied by 9 will result in two digits that add up to 9. Subtracting 5 leaves 4, which lands most of us in Denmark). This trick, popularly called ‘Elephants in Denmark,’ demonstrates how an entire group of diverse people can follow herd behaviour while believing that they have made unique and independent decisions.