What if?

Creativity and strategy have more in common than we often acknowledge. Both share the same question:

“What if?”

Two recent conversations reminded me of the power of these two words and what they make possible.

When talking with a creative leader, they kept returning to the question “what if…?” as an open invitation to imagine, to build, to experiment. 

To see what would happen. 

In discussion with a business strategist, the same question came up framed slightly differently: “what if this were true? What decisions would we make?” Here it was a way to test theories, assumptions and map possible futures. 

To see what could happen.

Different contexts, different disciplines. But the same fundamental question.

“What if?” opens us up to possibility. It suspends judgement long enough to test alternatives. It’s where creativity and strategy overlap. 

Both require imagination and the ability to see what would or could happen before making decisions. And both depend on people feeling safe enough to ask the question in the first place, and open themselves up to being wrong. 

Hearing the words “What if”  is a measure of an organisation's creative and strategic health. Are people asking it, or does it get drowned out by business as usual, fear of failure, or risk aversion?

The greater risk is not asking, and losing the capacity to imagine and create different or better futures.