What Do You Do When You Don’t Know What To Do Next?

When the horrific September 11, 2001 disaster occurred, a global aerospace and airplane engineering company found itself especially hard hit. In October, the top seven senior leaders met at their monthly roundtable meeting. Instead of trying to come up with a plan, the CEO did something very unusual, something that most CEOs would never do. He admitted to his team, “I don’t know what to do next.” His team immediately jumped in to help. They had been trained in the Simplexity creative problem solving process and rather than “hunker down” into a defensive shell, they decided to deliberately use innovation to rebuild their business on their own terms. 

They identified four new specific challenges and engaged teams of managers to pursue each one. By implementing their own innovation plan, using Simplexity thinking, the company became even stronger as a result of the crisis. It not only recovered, but flourished.