The Creation of a New Product
On pages 104-105 of his excellent book How Leaders Learn: Master The Habits Of The World’s Most Successful People, former YUM! CEO David Novak tells the story of having to find new ideas for new flavors for Doritos.
Coming off the success of Nacho Cheese Doritos, Novak writes, “When we began our research for the next great flavor, we started by looking down the (grocery store) aisles other than the chip aisle, aisles that could point us in the direction of broader flavor trends. We found what we needed in salad dressing.”
There was a bold, new flavor taking the salad dressing industry by storm called Ranch. Novak’s team then had a thought, “Why not put it on a chip?” From there, Cool Ranch Doritos was born.
Pattern Thinking
This is an example of an ideation process called Pattern Thinking. Pattern Thinking is taking an idea, thought, process, solution, or truth from one area and applying it to a completely different environment. Example – why can’t a popular salad dressing flavor also be popular on a chip.
Two Championship Coaches
Two apex leaders who successfully applies Pattern Thinking are legendary Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola and Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla. In fact, the two have developed a friendship.
Recently, Guardiola was seen at the Dallas Mavericks – Celtics finals matchup. Mazzulla said in this The Athletic article, “Dallas’ defense; they’re one of the smartest, best defensive teams in the league. That’s kind of what Pep has helped me with: spacing. It’s very important. Transitions, how you move those guys.” Mazzulla added, “That is what the game of basketball is about, to me, and what counter-attacking in soccer is about.”
Mazzulla concluded, “I study Pep a lot. It’s had a huge influence (on me)… I think where basketball and soccer are the same is the transition is happening so fast. You can be on offense and two seconds later, you can be on defense, so the game is constantly changing. To me, regardless of the sport, it could be lacrosse, soccer, or basketball; those one-on-one situations, all fundamentals are the same.”
That is the essence of Pattern Thinking and no one models it better than Guardiola.
Chess
Recently he met with chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen where they discussed among other things, strategy and how the positioning of chess pieces is similar to positioning players on the field. Their time together is shown below.
Author of the upcoming book The Pep Revolution: Inside Guardiola’s Manchester City, Marti Perarnua said, “Pep can be seen listening with extreme interest to what Carlsen was saying about dominance in the centre of the board and you could see in his gestures that he was absorbing what the chess champion was saying to try to translate it to football. He does it with anyone who can contribute any small idea to continue progressing.”
People with the gift of Pattern Thinking understand “any small idea” can help them get smarter and advance their organization’s mission and vision. Pattern Thinking requires humility because you must be willing to learn from anyone of anything.
Regarding the game of chess, Guardiola said, “You’ve no idea how similar the two things are. There was one thing Carlsen said that I loved. He said that it doesn’t matter if he has to make some sacrifices at the start of the game because he knows that he is at his strongest in the latter stages. It really got me thinking and I must learn how I can apply it to football.”
The following are some other sports Guardiola learns from:
Rugby
“Rugby; you get the ball, you run towards the man, you draw him in and you pass.”
Handball
Barcelona fitness coach Paco Seirul-Lo said, “He would talk to the handball coach Valero Rivera about his coaching methods. When you’re going left, they’re going right. You’ve created space by moving the ball quickly from one side to the other. He definitely took that idea from handball.”
Olympic champion swimmer Katie Ledecky
In the book Pep Guardiola: The Evolution, he said, “I was reading an interview with her the other day about how she finds the motivation and energy for her training routine: she swims at 4.45 every morning. Just imagine! 4.45 am! She said, ‘When I dive into the pool, I tell myself that I’m the only person in the world capable of swimming like a mad thing every morning at that hour, and that’s the thought that keeps me going, keeps me motivated.’”
Conclusion
Top leaders like David Novak, Joe Mazzulla, Pep Guardiola, and Magnus Carlsen are all experts at Pattern Thinking. They are constantly learning from other industries and incorporating those lessons into their personal leadership.
Two questions – Are you incorporating Pattern Thinking and if so, how are you implementing its lessons?
I have recently developed a strategic partnership with an organization called Netline. They are an organization which gets content into as many hands as possible. Together, we created a FREE resource entitled “The Top 90 Leadership Quotes of 2024 – Part 1.“ You can click HERE or on the image provided to receive this complimentary resource.
Now a special request. This is a complimentary resource. Therefore, if you will make special note of the ads on the pages you will see. If any interest you, please click the images and learn more about their products.
Once again, you can get your FREE resource by clicking DOWNLOAD NOW.
These quotes will take 15 minutes to read and a lifetime to apply. Let’s get started. You’re about to get smarter and better as a leader! #CommissionsEarned