Daily Inspiration: “In a world of lemmings, be the unicorn!”

“In a world of lemmings, be the unicorn!” – Futurist Jim Carroll

I’ve been cracking up since I came across this video – and I must be driving my wife mad with my constant giggles.

And here’s the thing – leadership motivation need not be boring. Nor should it be formulaic, routine, dull, predictable.

Sometimes, we just need a simple visual to inspire us to think differently – to not be like everyone else but to be our own self. Hence, I give you the Snowblower Unicorn.

When everyone is doing something, do a different thing!

The video popped up late yesterday in my social media feed while I was busy pulling together my thoughts and image for today’s post – and I immediately knew I had to abandon that idea I was working on for now and run with this. I did a bit of a remix from the original with a music track licensed from Pond5 to give it a bit of levity and fun.

And there you have it – perhaps the most powerful leadership insight you might seen yet this year.

It’s a trend – a search for ‘unicorn snowblower‘ turns up quite a few news articles and videos. And why not – sometimes, it’s the most simple acts that lead to the most awesome results!

The inflatable, hoofed Sooke-sation brought the joy of a snow day to a new level.

Commuters braving the winter weather were treated to the magical sight of the Sooke snow-blowing unicorn last week, who first appeared in January 2020.A post on the Meanwhile in Sooke Facebook page delighted people as they shared and liked the photos of a man dressed in an inflatable unicorn costume.

Sooke snow-blowing unicorn returns, bringing smiles along the way
Victoria News, December 22, 2022

I often speak and write about creativity and innovation – and indeed, I’ve got an entire speaking topic dedicated to the former.

Accelerating Creativity: Discovering Opportunity With an Innovation Reboot!

We will see more change in every industry in the next 10 years than we have seen in the last 100 as transformation and disruption sweeps the world.

Every company is faced with the rapid emergence of new competitors, significant new business models, more challenging consumers, the acceleration of science, and a transition to the speed of innovation that will define their future.

How do you manage this complex new world and get ahead? By turning on your innovation engine, firing your creativity thrusters, and strapping in for a rocket ride into your faster future. You need to accelerate your ability to generate radical new ideas and transformative concepts. You need innovation creativity!

In this keynote, futurist and innovation expert Jim Carroll shares the innovation and creativity insight that he has gained through three decades of a relentless focus on what turns organizations into high-velocity innovation and creativity heroes. None other than NASA has invited Jim in – twice – to share his insight on innovation strategies. Disney – a creativity superhero – invited him in for a keynote on the opportunities that come from rethinking creativity. The World Bank engaged him for a talk that linked fast-moving future trends to the need for accelerated innovation and fast thinking.

Jim’s keynote will share with you the key elements of his imaginary but powerful “Masters in Business Imagination” curriculum – a structure of 10 key leadership strategies, actions and structures that will help you envision opportunity, think differently, and act quickly.

Launch yourself into the faster future with this unique, high energy creativity focused keynote from global futurist, trends & innovation expert Jim Carroll!

That keynote is very much based on my Masters In Business Imagination degree.

Why is the Snowblower Unicorn important? Because MBI’s see things differently – they see the Unicorn. MBI’s don’t look at things like most people.

They continuously challenge the assumptions that surround them, and use that as the formative fuel for their creativity.

They know that the foundation of everything around them is shifting and twisting, and that it is in such movement that the future is being defined.

They are willing to abandon any attitudes which might cause them to believe that everything is going to stay the same, with the result that they view the world through a different set of lenses.

These lenses help them to generate new ideas, come up with imaginative solutions, and think creatively on a continuous basis.

I wrote about this concept of being unique in a post last April (as well as many, many times before!) “When everyone else is doing the same thing, do your own thing!”

With this observation, noting how I’ve been working hard to stand out in the crowd of futurists and speakers all talking about the same thing.

Look, innovation and aligning to the future aren’t about bandwagons. It’s more important — and more difficult — than that. It’s about finding something within an obvious trend that plays to your strengths, lets you share your unique value, and removes you from the crowd. It means that you find what you need to do to need to be different, stand out, and do the important thing, not the hot thing!

I concluded:

Be different!

Be unique!

Be yourself!

Be the Snowblower Unicorn!

There you have it – the most important leadership insight you need!