Coffees, Poetry and Extending Concepts to Get Innovative Ideas

What does it mean to go for a coffee?

Maybe you think of chatting with a friend while you drink something warm and eat something light. It does not have to be a warm cup of coffee and a biscuit or sandwich, going for a coffee can  mean to drink a cup of herbal tea or munch on a big ice-cream. You might even include if you had just finished a meal at a restaurant that you will have an alcoholic drink or a dessert.

The concept having a coffee is rather wide and generous. The meaning of the word changes with the context, in some cases you actually only refer to a cup of coffee and bringing you an ice-cream would be wrong.

How about having a coffee and writing a poem?

On the International Poetry Day you could pay for the coffee with a poem. Here the idea of having a coffee would also include the idea of writing a poem. This is an example of extending the concept of having a coffee to include a special way of paying for the coffee. If you are a poetry lover you may suddenly feel a strong desire to go for a coffee. Business might be blossoming for the cafe on that day and next time you may visit that particular place even if you cannot pay with a poem every day. A way to increase business and to create a special niche.

In a similar way, we constantly extend and change concept. Using this consciously is a way to get innovative ideas. Think of a concept that you learned as a child such as shadow. We learn what causes them and to recognize our own shadow. Yet shadows can still be surprising and strange. Think of the shadow of an airplane or lunar eclipse. if you like photography you may have caught a what looks like shadow underneath a tree in the winter. This shadow is not a real shadow but lack of show underneath the tree. So your concept of shadow can be extended to include snow-shadows.

Think about your business and the concepts that defines it. Can you extend the concept and include new ideas? Or why not simply choose a concept and play around with it.

• What is a sandwich?
• What is a suit?
• What is a. . .

Photo: Zazzle