In World War 2, when the British captured senior German officers, were brought to a beautiful country mansion called Trent Park. Almost 60 generals were held in a lavish building, and were allowed to read German newspapers, listen to German radio, they had garden parties, and had someone go into town once a week to pick up whatever they wanted, such as socks or shaving cream. Each prisoner has their own private room and were treated like senior officers of the British army.
This royal treatment flattered the Germans’ egos, making them think that the British were simply treating them in the way in which they were accustomed.
What they didn’t know was that the entire place was bugged, right down to the billiards table, the lamp shades and the plant pots. The British employed dozens of ex-Germans to listen in to the conversations.
Bugging the enemy’s generals afforded a unique insight into the psyche of the enemy. It enabled the British to understand the mind-set of the enemy as well as learn the Germans’ military capabilities. Most of the intelligence about their weaponry and their development of new technology during the war came from the Trent Park program. In fact, the program was so successful that they were given an unlimited budget.
The idea was genius.
What stops most of us from having these types of ideas, though, is the inability to let our minds consider completely outlandish ideas. If we were trying to decide what to do with prisoners of war, our brains would automatically shut down ideas like “let’s treat them like royalty”, because they don’t make any sense within the context. But - if we can allow these ridiculous ideas to churn about in our brains without being judged, they can lead to all sorts of great ideas.
Let yourself and others ask those stupid questions, because quite often they can lead to disruptive ideas.
Paul is the President of IdeaConnection, one of the world’s leading Open Innovation service companies, helping solve difficult problems for some of the largest companies in the world.
Paul can be reached at 1-877-525-6671 x105 or at www.IdeaConnection.com