As reported
in the L.A. Times, Walt Disney Imagineering’s Blue Sky program hired five
interns to spend the summer coming up with new ideas for attractions for the
parks. The principle behind this was explained by Stanford University engineering
professor Robert I. Sutton as bringing together “people who know too much and
people who know too little.”
It’s called reverse mentoring—the idea is for the experienced engineers to learn from the young people what’s hot these days. One surprise: the interns didn’t always favor interactivity over Disney’s traditional story-telling approach.
For a video report on the interns, go here. And you might also consider how you might inject some fresh thinking into your own projects by getting input from people who “know too little.”
(For free tips on how to be more creative and productive, sign up for my monthly Brainstorm e-bulletin. Just send an email request to [email protected] now.)
