How to Adopt an Explorer Mindset

Exploring the road ahead

Source: Joshua Woroniecki/Pixabay

My father started his own business in 1960, a courageous decision for a primary breadwinner with seven children and an eighth on the way. His post-secondary business school offered one- and two-year programs for people interested in becoming managers and administrative assistants.

My father read the town newspaper each evening, and I noticed that he would inevitably scan the classified section, specifically the “help wanted” advertisements. As a kid, I thought that those notices were only for people seeking a position.

One evening I asked him: “Dad, you have a job. Why do you read the ‘help wanted’ section every night?”

“Well,” he replied. “It’s important for me to know what the employers want for their jobs. What are the things they’re looking for?”

A lightbulb went off in my mind. Yes, he obviously wasn’t scouring the “help wanted” section for himself. He wanted to stay current with a hiring mindset.

Fast forward 50 years or so. As a runner, I was intrigued by a recent article about On, a company that manufactures athletic shoes and which boasted net sales of $345 million in the first six months of 2021. On receives about 70,000 applications per year. What are the qualities that the owners seek in new hires? According to Brody (2022), they pointed to two things: “An explorer mindset” and “a certain kind of crazy energy."

Take a moment to consider that quality of “explorer.” What comes to mind for you? As someone keenly interested in creative thinking, I would suggest three explorer ingredients:

1. Map it. Exploring involves decisions and paths to take to encounter achievement. I often think not about my decisions, but about what variables are influencing those decisions. What is my frame of mind when I make pivotal decisions? At the same time, I reflect on where I am when coming up with creative, future-geared thoughts. Running, for instance, generates fresh thinking for me.

Babineaux and Krumboltz (2013) offered an important reminder: Transformative notions are more likely to surface when doing new things, such as trying something different or visiting a new place. Their “Map your Luck” exercise invites people to “map” their thinking. In essence, it is an opportunity to consider spaces in one's life and evaluate how much innovative thinking takes place there. Are there ways to spice up creative thinking in those spaces of life that lack zest?

2. Be a future journalist. Sawyer (2013) outlined an exercise called “Explore the Future,” in which readers were invited to move five years into the future and picture a life in which their greatest dreams have been met. After jotting down details of the “Successful Life of 2027,” people can become their own journalists and write a story of what occurred over the previous five years to bring out the tremendous success. What key decisions were made in arriving at the destination of success?

3. Try stuff. I used to associate the word “experiment” with my high school chemistry class, but now see it in a different way pertaining to innovation. Dyer, Gregerson, and Christensen (2011) highlighted the experimenting skill as one of the five crucial skills of innovators. They pointed out that, unlike my chemistry class, business leaders used the world as their laboratory, creating prototypes and testing novel experiences to uncover new ideas.

The idea of the “world as a lab” can reap enormous explorer possibilities. Make a date with yourself to venture out and browse around a new bookstore, take a hike in a park you've never visited, or watch a middle school play. Michalko (2006) proposed a “thought walk” exercise in which people wander around their area and look for metaphor-inspiring objects, such as a bag of jelly beans or a rock, that might prompt innovative thinking.

The explorer mindset sought by On can lead to benefits outside of the “Help Wanted” sections of life. After all, as Henry (2013) stated, “In so many ways, comfort is the enemy of creativity."