Mar 17, 2011
Mental snip
I seem to have something of a reputation for a fertile imagination; don’t know why, although regular readers will know that I cover a lot of ground between my blog and a hard place. Anyway, Diane Richards pointed this out to me following a Facebook post about social networking for sex and about the most inappropriate orifices into which people insert the most inappropriate objects, so maybe I do.
Anyway, it occurred to me that someone with a fertile imagination could be stifled by the mental equivalent of a vasectomy, a mental snip, if you like.
I asked my twitter colleagues to suggest what they thought would be the equivalent of a vasectomy and some interesting responses have started rolling in.
First, was the pragmatic suggestion of tmtn that it would be an “innovation lobotomy” or “creativity-bypass surgery”. Jean-Charles Dordain lamented the current education system and equated a mental vasectomy to being “forced to sit down in a classroom and forced to think one way and only one way.”
Dennis D McDonald took it to a higher level with the notion of “Cutting off all Federal funding for public broadcasting” while zevans23 took a contrary view that “watching too much TV” would be the equivalent. Neil Withers threatened to bring the growing meme to a close by offering: “Joining Twitter”, but luckily Damien Ryan chipped in with “a BSc in Computer Science” being the closest thing to the mental snip. Liz Scherer suggested a good old-fashioned lobotomy and Joe Garde asked whether a biomedical solution was appropriate in terms of “the inability to produce serotonin”.
Anyway, that’s all the ideas that have come in at the time of writing, so I ask again:
What would be the mental equivalent of a vasectomy for someone with a fertile imagination?
Luckily, I have a private supply of tea and biscuits, so my need to attend meetings is minimal. I also have no one to say “no” to me when I come up with ludicrous blog ideas such as asking people for a mental analogy for a vasectomty ;-)
I’ve been told many times that ‘meetings’ offer the required effect at least temporarily; the effect being enhanced by holding multiple meeting back to back. Personally, I enjoy meetings (I know, I know) but that may be the tea and biscuits!
Personally, I think an organisation that is unwilling to take risks, even small ones, can kill innovative thinking or just loose its innovators. Tell someone ‘no’ enough times and they’ll stop asking.