When you think about it, we are all living in a multiverse of realities.
What we each experience is our own reality. Even when more than one of us is in the same time and space, we don’t see an objective reality that we can all agree on – we still see our own realities, they just happen to be overlapping in time and space.
Parallel realities, aligned closely with our experiences, are the norm. Not only that, but we ourselves change as we experience more – can you say that you were the same person that you were when you were in high school? Not only are you a physically different person, but you are also a mentally different person.
So, how do you leverage your reality? Since you do have your own reality, it has value vis a vis other realities. Those other realities, when they brought into play during an ideation session, will help you to build bolder, more innovative ideas.
This is one of the reasons why diversity is essential – and I’m not just talking about physical diversity, but “reality diversity.” When people bring their realities together and describe concepts from their reality to you, and you are open to listening to their reality, then you can make those connections between their reality and yours, driving those juxtapositions which lead to innovation.
That is anyone’s unique selling point: think of it this way: let’s say that you are a marketer, or an HR person, or a technologist. You might think that you know the same things that others in your field do, so you may struggle to differentiate yourself from others in your areas when you are trying to sell yourself, either for a job or as a consultant.
Instead of focusing on your skills as a [insert term for someone skilled in your space here], you should describe your own story. Tackling their problems by using your own reality is the special sauce that you bring to the table – it’s your spin. Its a mistake to not promote your version of reality since that is what people are buying.
Since we live in a world with a different reality for each individual, it makes sense why people are so polarized – everyone has always had their own reality, but it’s only recently where we’ve become closed-minded to other people’s realities.
When you spend all day in a “bubble” of social media, feeding you more evidence that your reality is the only actual reality, it only makes sense that when it buts up against someone else reality which is different from yours, that you might find that is a negative thing.
The only way to deal with the multiple reality world that we live in is to be open about listening to other realities and being understanding that if you don’t agree with the other person’s view of reality, understand that it’s not wrong – but different.
Instead of denigrating other realities as wrong, realize that everyone has their own reality, and their reality is part of the core of their being – which is why many feel threatened by any negative reaction to their reality. To solve this, simply do not be cynical when confronted with someone else’s reality (and they should not be negative when faced with yours).
Once we realize that everyone has their own reality, we can easily allow people to have their own reality, and not try so hard about bending other people’s reality to theirs.
Plus, adding these realities together can lead you to true breakthrough innovation. Additive realities in a guided innovation session are the best tool to reach disruptive new solutions.