Something from Nothing
One of the many interesting people I’ve met in my job is Norm Levy, who is either a businessman with artistic flair or an artist with a good head for business. Either way, he’s immensely entertaining – just see for yourself.
Norm's colorful antimatter
I bring up Norm because of a conversation I had with him recently. He had unpacked a toy for his grandson and was looking at the packaging when he realized the Styrofoam “filler” was essentially visible antimatter. More than that, it was antimatter with potential. So he painted it. Long story short, it ended up in an art show at a Hilton Head gallery. And that’s a pretty typical Norm conversation.
I was reminded of two things after that conversation:
- That you should always make time to talk to interesting people, because they give you new perspectives you wouldn’t otherwise have.
- That everything has untapped potential.
Norm figured out how to make something from nothing because he saw potential. Other good examples of tapping previously unseen potential…
- Arm & Hammer did it with baking soda, which I used to use when baking cookies and now find myself sprinkling in my cat’s litterbox.
- Allergan did it with Botox, a medicine originally used to treat twitching eyelids and now used for wrinkle reduction, migraine treatments, and more.
- Closer to home for me, Message Factors did it with one of our research processes, when we realized clients were using our approach to explore employee relationships in addition to customer relationships.
Recognizing untapped potential isn’t easy. There are no rules to follow, no processes that guarantee success. After all, you’re looking for what isn’t there to begin with.
Where is your antimatter?
