This is a phrase that so annoys me! It assumes someone knows what my ‘box’ is, or that I know what someone else’s ‘box’ is. Sadly, it is part of the management speak that has crawled into use. I am not feeling that smug though, I am sure many clichés have become part of my vocabulary and I am no longer even aware, until someone taps me on my vocal shins.
I was running an intensive workshop for a client and when I surfaced into the light of the remaining day, I was struck by the picture you can see.
It may not be clear in the picture, but each parking space is protected by a post that can be erected or lowered. Now this is a common sight, as parking space has become such a premium, and many people believe they have an automatic right to park anywhere.
I am not saying the owner of the car in the picture was not entitled to park where it was, but if you look carefully it is parked between the bays. In this case, the parking bays are wider with yellow hatching between them, to allow disabled people more space to open car doors and exit. This has made the bays wider – it also means that it is very easy to place a car between the bays, without having to lower the protective post. Something that the people who designed and constructed the parking bays did not consider. So the car has parked ‘outside the box’, if the box is the parking bay. I admired the driver for looking beyond the restrictive post and seeing things ‘outside the box’.
So in a very simple way, how often do we look at things as they are, rather than as they could be?
And whilst I am still not keen on the title phrase, it did remind me to look from new angles at what may have become too familiar. How about you?
My best wishes,
Peter
