How you look at solving tax problems and solving financial problems may well determine what answer you’ll get – or whether you get one at all. This principle illustrates the importance of creativity in business and can contribute to collaborative team creativity.
Consider this. Two people are riding bicycles. When they start, they are exactly 20 miles apart and ride toward each other on a straight-line course over a flat surface. Each travels at a constant 10 miles per hour. At the exact minute they start biking, a bumblebee starts at the front tire of one bike and flies in the direction of the other bike. It flies at exactly 25 mph. When the bee reaches the front tire of the other bike, it immediately turns around and flies back in the direction of the other bike (without losing any time making the turn, let’s assume). The bee continues doing this, back and forth and back and forth, until the two bikes meet and squash the poor bumblebee between the two front tires.
The issue we’d like to address (that is, the problem we’d like to solve) is the total distance the bumblebee travels before it is squashed.
The question may seem to require some pretty sophisticated math. And, depending on how you look at the question, you might be right. For example, if you think in terms of distance, the math might be pretty heavy – at least for this poor attorney.
But that’s not the only way to look at the question. What happens if you look at the question, instead, in terms of time? If you take that approach, you don’t have to do any math. Look at the question one way and getting an answer can be hard. Look at it another way and it’s easy.
Life is often like that. For many years I was an advanced sales attorney for life insurance companies. I often was asked questions by life insurance agents, attorneys and accountants. Not infrequently the issues were better addressed by changing the questions, by looking at things differently.
- Is estate planning a question of wealth preservation, wealth creation or simply a question of taxes? Or is it a way of making it easier to get the right property to the right people at the right time?
- Is business continuation planning a question of keeping ‘outsiders’ out of the business or is it a question of making it easier for ‘outsiders’ to sell an interest in the business they receive when an owner dies?
- Is charitable giving a question of helping others or a question of creating a monument? Or perhaps it’s a question of deciding whether people would rather give money to “charities” the government chooses or to a charity of their own choosing?
I expect this principle applies to more than just tax and legal questions. So, the next time someone poses a real brain teaser, see if you can’t look at the question from another perspective. Consider this story told by Roger von Oech in his book, A Whack on the Side of the Head: How You Can Be More Creative.
Several centuries ago, a curious but deadly plague appeared in a small village in Lithuania. What was curious about this disease was its grip on its victim; as soon as a person contracted it, he would go into a very deep almost deathlike coma. Most died within a day, but occasionally a hardy soul would make it back to the full bloom of health. The problem was that since early eighteenth century medical technology wasn’t very advanced, the unafflicted had quite a difficult time telling whether a victim was dead or alive.
Then one day it was discovered that someone had been buried alive. This alarmed the townspeople, so they called a town meeting to decide what should be done to prevent such a situation from happening again. After much discussion, most people agreed on the following solution. They decided to put food and water in every casket next to the body. They would even put an air hole up from the casket to the earth’s surface. These procedures would be expensive, but they would be more than worthwhile if they would save people’s lives.
Another group came up with a second, less expensive, right answer. They proposed implanting a twelve inch long stake in every coffin lid directly above where the victim’s heart would be. Then whatever doubts there were about whether the person was dead or alive would be eliminated as soon as the coffin lid was closed. What differentiated the two solutions were the questions used to find them. Whereas the first group asked, “What should we do in the event we bury somebody alive?”, the second group wondered, “How can we make sure everyone we bury is dead?”
Ask a different question, get a different answer.
Oh, yes. The bumblebee. How far did it fly? Did you get the answer earlier? Well, as I said, if you look at the question in terms of time (”How far does the bee travel if it is moving at 25 mph and flies for exactly one hour?”), you’ll see the answer is easy and doesn’t require much math at all. The distance the bikers travel and the speed they are moving at, while valuable if you want to do the math, is really not important in answering the question if you look at things from the bumblebee’s perspective.
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