Innovation in Hell

I was recently reminded of this classic parable of the difference between Heaven and Hell and naturally it made me think of innovation and business.

A man spoke with the Lord about heaven and hell.

The Lord said to the man, “Come, I will show you hell.”

They entered a room where a group of people sat around a huge pot of stew.
Everyone was famished, desperate and starving.

Each held a spoon that reached the pot, but each spoon had a handle so much longer than their own arm that it could not be used to get the stew into their own mouths.

The suffering was terrible.

“Come, now I will show you heaven,” the Lord said after a while.

They entered another room, identical to the first – the pot of stew, the group of people, the same long-handled spoons. But there everyone was happy and well-nourished.

“I don’t understand,” said the man. “Why are they happy here when they were miserable in the other room and everything was the same?”

The Lord smiled. “Ah, it is simple,” he said. “Here they have learned to feed each other.”

So, the point of the story is – that selflessness in the short term leads to the overall greater good for everyone in the long run, or that interdependence is the only true way to happiness or that greed will lead to suffering.

Whichever. The point is not my point.

My point is all it would take is ONE person in Hell to figure it out – to INNOVATE, to say “Hey guys, I have an idea – Let’s Feed EACHOTHER.” And they’d all slap their heads and say “Of course! It’s so obvious. Let’s do it!”

But it doesn’t work that way, does it? No. More often the innovator hears “We are fine the way we are, thank you very much.” and “Who let the do-gooder in?” or “Keep your Socialist agenda to yourself!”

This point was brought home, when I watched the first episode of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution. His mission is to educate children and families to make better food choices and fight obesity. He went to Huntington, West Virginia, the unhealthiest city in America and was met with scorn and resistance.

(Mind you, it did help underline my “buy-in strategy” theory. He could have gained a lot more ground by getting the lunch ladies as allies outside the school with a free cooking class, or a church picnic – before jumping in and trying to ‘innovate’ their current system.)

I’m optimistic it turns out well in the end – because, well, I’ll be too damn depressed if it doesn’t… and unhappy endings don’t make good television.

The bottom line: Next time you propose your obvious and innovative solution, be prepared to withstand a little heat.

Cheers!
-Kristin