Creating opportunities where others see problems

In the March 31, 2008 issue of Fortune Magazine, there is a fascinating article about Target. There is one incident, in particular, which I found intriguing. Back in 1998, Target had donated money towards the renovation of the Washington Monument. When one of the Target executives, Bob Thacker (who was then the VP of Marketing), visited the site. He found the Target logo next to some rotting scaffolding and ripped plastic. This was unthinkable for the sacred logo: it wasn't the right public image for the logo (which represents the brand) to be associated with decline and decay. It was the right public image to be supporting the project, however. Target came up with a brilliant solution: instead of pulling their funds or creating a stir, they decided to sponsor a contest for architects to see who could come up with the best and most innovative design for scaffolding (which, of course, would look appropriate next to the Target logo). Guess who won that competition? Michael Graves. Upon winning the competition, Graves met Thacker. Graves pulled out a large binder -- full of product designs -- and asked Thacker if Target would have any interest in them. It's still a partnership which is going strong. It's a partnership which may or may not have happened if Thacker -- and Target -- hadn't engaged in turning what could have been a problem into an opportunity.

I think that for us to be able to re-frame problems into solutions, we need to understand our own past, our own successes. Winston Churchill once said that "The future is unknowable, but the past should give us hope." By identifying challenges that we have already overcome, we gain confidence in facing and overcoming new challenges. A helpful exercise that I did years ago was to sit down and write about the five to ten biggest challenges that I had faced and how I had overcome them.

A key to being able to harvest courage -- and wisdom -- from our past is accepting and facing our past instead of hiding from it. What I mean by that is sometimes when we make it through a dark and challenging time, we do the equivalent of wiping the sweat from our brow, exhaling and saying "Whew! I'm glad that's done!" And then, because the challenge or the struggle was painful, we do our best to forget it. We cheat ourselves when we do that. There is learning to be gained. I like to think that the challenges I face are there to help me grow and learn and become a stronger, healthier and better person. In order for challenges to have that rich pay-off, I have to be willing to reflect on the experience: What happened? What did I learn? What did I do well? What would I change? What can I take with me for next time? This doesn't have to be a long, drawn out process. In fact, the more you do it, the easier and faster it becomes (thank goodness!). But there is courage, wisdom and future opportunities to be gained for such a small investment.