Hi everybody - it’s Andrew Benedict-Nelson, your friendly neighborhood strategist, back with another way to think differently about any problem you are working on. Subscribe if you’d love to receive an exercise like this every week.
We often think of rules and regulations as limiting our freedom. But some rules actually empower people to do more, whether it’s a single group or all of society. Think about Title IX, which specifically empowered women but has also improved America in many other ways. To start this exercise, start by focusing on the larger social problem you are trying to solve. Are there groups who lack agency to solve the problem, or perhaps necessary actions to solve it that are currently difficult? Pick one such deficit that you’ll overcome with a new law in this exercise.
Now imagine the new law that specifically empowers this group, perhaps by giving them new rights. You don’t have to worry about whether passing the law is realistic, but do try to make sure you law is well-designed. How specifically might it empower the group you are focusing on? Would it help just them or might it include other groups in society?
Granting new rights isn’t the only way that new limits can empower. For example, laws that standardize weights and measures make it much more difficult to cheat a customer, empowering honest merchants to do business over great distances. Besides granting new rights, what is another way that new laws, limits, or regulations might empower people to take on your problem? Get creative in how you might achieve a solution indirectly.
Imagine you’ve scored a legislative bonanza and you are able to pass all these new laws without any kind of amendment or compromise. Now that new actions to take on your problem are possible, what effect will they have? What might happen once all of society has adjusted to the new law of the land?
Consider those new actions you imagined groups would take to solve your problem. Do you feel hopeful imagining the world they created? What aspects of that world might you be able to realize even if you can’t push your law through Congress? Are there other ways to encourage the adoption of limits that empower, even if they aren’t formal rules and laws?
That’s it! If you want to share any thoughts or feelings these questions evoked, just reply to this e-mail or comment below.
This exercise was developed using the limits dynamic. It’s one of six innovation dynamics I use with clients to help realize new insights and unlock creative thinking.