In today’s rapidly changing world, staying ahead means continuously adapting and innovating. It’s not enough to simply do what has always worked; businesses need fresh ideas, diverse perspectives, and innovative approaches to thrive.

Bringing an injection of new thinking into your business can spark growth, lead to new opportunities, and help you stay ahead of the competition. But what happens if you don’t? Stagnation, outdated practices, and missed opportunities could put your business at risk of falling behind.

Let’s explore why new thinking is essential, what the risks are if you don’t adapt, and how you can bring fresh perspectives into your business.

Why New Thinking Is Critical

Bringing new thinking into your business is important because it fosters innovation, adaptability, and resilience. When businesses are open to new ideas, they’re better equipped to respond to market changes, customer needs, and emerging trends. This openness to innovation creates a culture of continuous improvement, where every team member feels empowered to contribute, take risks, and challenge the status quo.

The risk of not incorporating new thinking is significant. Without fresh ideas, businesses can quickly fall into a cycle of doing things “the way they’ve always been done.” This can lead to inefficiency, an inability to meet evolving customer demands, and, eventually, being overtaken by more innovative competitors. Stagnation not only affects growth but also lowers team morale, as employees lose the excitement that comes from experimenting with new ideas and seeing real results.

Being open-minded, not just as an individual, but as a business is to be open to possibilities. Open-mindedness is an innovative leader’s secret weapon!

When I had my customer experience agency, Blu Maya, I decided to change seats for a week with the CEO of an innovation agency in Mexico called Cirklo. The objective of this “collaboration” was to bring a fresh pair of eyes and perspective to our business. As a result, we ended up adding and eliminating some practices that led us to enhance our capability and delivery.

Over 10 years ago I was invited to collaborate on Tijuana Innovadora. An event that showed the many projects happening in the region to residents but also to foreigners. It brought a lot of people and attention to the city, specifically because they brought in big names to give talks; for example, Carlos Slim, Steve Wozniak, and Biz Stone.

In one planning session, I proposed the idea of “Why not invite Steve Wozniak to give ideas on how we could improve something about our city?” People in the session looked at me like I was crazy. My point was to take advantage of the event and bring fresh thinking beyond the interviews and keynotes.

Examples of Fresh Thinking in Action

Take Netflix, for example. They pivoted from a DVD rental service to a leading streaming platform, thanks to fresh thinking and a willingness to adapt. Their ability to innovate saved their business and transformed an entire industry. Blockbuster, on the other hand, became irrelevant because they weren’t open to change until they got Netflixed!

Another example is Lego, which embraced customer co-creation by inviting fans to submit ideas for new sets. This approach injected new thinking directly from their customer base and led to some of their best-selling products.

8 Tactics to Inject New Thinking into Your Business

Here are some effective ways to bring new thinking into your organization:

1. Diverse hiring: Bring talent from different backgrounds, industries, and cultures. Diversity in your team leads to diversity of thought, which is essential for creativity and problem-solving.
2. External collaboration: Partner with startups, universities, or even competitors to co-create and exchange ideas. External perspectives often reveal blind spots you didn’t know existed.
3. Customer feedback: Listen to your customers. Regularly solicit their feedback and invite them to contribute ideas for new products, services, or improvements.
4. Cross-functional brainstorming: Encourage people from different departments to come together for brainstorming sessions. When finance, marketing, and operations collaborate, they often uncover opportunities that no single department would have seen alone.
5. Change your environment: Shake things up by changing workspaces or hosting brainstorming sessions offsite. A change in scenery can do wonders for creative thinking.
6. Encourage learning and experimentation: Invest in employee learning programs and give your team the freedom to experiment. Google’s “20% time” initiative, where employees work on side projects, has led to some of their best innovations such as Gmail.

How can you get started today?

Here are 5 actions you can take today to get started:

1. Audit your current thinking: Identify areas in your business where you’ve been doing things the same way for years. Ask yourself if there’s a better way.
2. Host a brainstorming session: Bring together a cross-functional group of team members to solve a current challenge. Focus on generating quantity—not just quality—of ideas.
3. Encourage team members to upskill: Offer training programs, workshops, or courses that allow your employees to develop new skills and bring new approaches to the workplace.
4. Talk to your customers: Set up a few interviews with your most loyal customers. Ask them what they’d like to see improved or added. Their insights might lead to your next big idea.
5. Bring in outside experts: Hire a consultant, a speaker, or an industry expert to bring a fresh perspective on your business. This can help shake up old ways of thinking and inspire new approaches.

Bottom line: Innovation is as much about attitude and perspective as it is about process. Perspective is a key component, and being open to new ideas and thinking is critical. So. injecting new thinking into your business isn’t just a nice to have; it’s necessary for growth, innovation, and survival. By embracing diverse perspectives, being open to change, and actively seeking fresh ideas, your business can remain dynamic and resilient in an ever-changing world. Don’t let the fear of change hold you back—take action today to inject new thinking and watch your business thrive.