Column Pieter Vos: Embrace that problem!

Packaging is more than just a shell for your product. Especially when it comes to food. There are strict requirements from legislators and retailers: in terms of food safety, labelling, shelf life, format, material used, and so on. Consumers also have wishes. They want convenience, smaller portions, crispy chips and unbroken biscuits. And yourself? You want to sell your product. You are at a loss. After all, some of those demands and expectations are at odds with each other. You are facing a problem. You think.

You could also look at it differently. After all, you have got all the ingredients for a bit of rethinking.

"Rethinking," says Berthold Gunster (the founder of the term), "always starts with a problem". Check. "A problem consists of facts and expectations, or rather the contradiction you experience between the two". Check. "By thoroughly examining the facts and expectations, you can move from 'yes-but' to 'yes-and'." 

Um... yes-how?

Take the example of the pop group Iron Maiden. Like many other pop groups, they suffer from the fact that many fans download their music illegally (i.e. for free). A structural problem. They could oppose it, as other groups do. Iron Maiden didn't. The band found out in which cities their music was most downloaded and planned their next tour there. Those gigs became their best-attended ever.

The defining characteristic of rethinking is that you don't solve the problem. You don't eliminate it either. You use it to your own advantage. The key is to stop thinking in limitations (and especially seeing obstacles on the road) and start thinking in possibilities (embrace the obstacles!). This requires creativity. To shift your focus. Take distance and space, look at what you do want, rather than what you do not want. Embrace your problem, and create new possibilities.

Pieter Vos
Director Nutrilab