Finding Principles with the “Borrow Tool”

My good friend Clark nudged me diligently for about a week to meet with him. You see, he’s the kind of friend that shares ideas, helps you grow, and pushes me in ways that I always appreciate. When he’s eager to meet I know I’m in for something good. 

“We’ve been running this new tool,” he reported. “It’s partially inspired by design thinking and some things from Disney. We put some high level execs running through it and have had great success.” 

I won’t give you the whole framework, but I’ll zoom in on one specific piece that I found interesting called the “Borrow Tool.” For context, this tool is used in a part of their process where people are trying to find solutions to their problem with expansive thinking. Basically, all ideas are fair game and the more the better. 

If the problem we’re trying to solve is how to acquire loyal fans at a tech startup, the “Borrow Tool” would ask “who does this well that we can borrow strategies from?” One might say that certain sports franchises have figured this out, the Star Wars empire has insight, and the Rolling Stones are champions of this. The “Borrow Tool” asks us to understand what principles can be borrowed for our problem solving. 

In this instance, we might say that strategies like creating key characters to build a following, creating shareable merchandise, and live experiences are three take away strategies gleaned by using the “Borrow Tool” that can help us solve our problem. What makes the “Borrow Tool” most powerful, in my opinion, is that it utilizes wisdom from real, tried-and-true examples in the world rather than reinventing the wheel. 

If you’ve got a problem on your hands, your first best solution might best come off the shelf of someone who does it well already. Give it a try!