Recently, I was asked to develop a proven yet innovative approach to accelerate revenue.

There were conversations.

Question-and-answer sessions.

Information exchanged.

Perspectives gathered.

Then I started creating the plan.

I drew from my Peripheral Resource Library™.

The accumulated experiences across industries, companies, countries, successes, failures, and ideas.

The result was great. Solid. Proven. Inventive.

I could explain why it works, the principles behind it, and my reasoning.

During a review, a gap appeared that hadn't been visible in our earlier conversations.

No information was withheld.

The right questions were asked.

We simply hadn't reached it yet.

This new insight altered my understanding of the opportunity.

More importantly, it changed what I could now bring to it.

That’s when resources from completely different shelves in my Peripheral Resource Library chimed in.

Perspectives I hadn't considered.

Principles I hadn't connected.

Possibilities that didn't belong in the original answer because I hadn't yet seen the opportunity they could serve.

Now there was room for something else to contribute.

Something that could make the solution uniquely innovative.

I don't know how the story ends.

I'm still in it.

That's exactly why I wanted to tell you about it.

For the past two months, we've explored a different way to think about the resources around us.

In July, we began Learning to Read the World Differently.

Products became principles.

Environments became classrooms.

Ordinary experiences became resources.

In August, I invited you to Read It Again.

We turned toward experiences already stored in our Peripheral Resource Libraries and discovered that the books change as the reader changes.

Not because we've simply gotten older.

Because the perspectives and skills we've developed give us new lenses through which to read them.

Now let's assume you've been doing exactly that.

You're getting good at this.

You're noticing patterns sooner.

Making unusual connections.

Recognizing principles beneath products and situations.

Reaching into your Resource Library and finding useful perspectives from places that once seemed unrelated.

Your Peripheral Thinking™ skills are becoming more natural.

And you're producing answers that work.

That's worth celebrating.

With that celebration comes another lesson.

Good answers are remarkably easy to reuse.

Why wouldn't they be?

Experience teaches us what works.

Expertise allows us to recognize familiar patterns faster.

Success gives us confidence.

Markets reward repeatability.

Peripheral Thinking adds an even richer collection of perspectives, principles, experiences, and possibilities from which to build.

The better we become at all of this, the faster we may arrive at an unusually good answer.

So what happens next?

Confidence Without Closure

I don't believe we should distrust the answer.

Or tear it apart simply because it came quickly.

And I certainly don't believe we need to escape expertise.

The goal is much simpler.

Hold what you know loosely enough to allow different insights to chime in.

That's a very different posture from uncertainty.

Uncertainty says:

I'm not sure this answer is right.

Openness says:

I'm confident in what we've built. What else might contribute?

Sometimes the answer is...

Nothing.

Great.

The additional perspective confirms what we've already built and gives us even greater confidence moving forward.

Sometimes it contributes a small adjustment.

Useful.

And sometimes an apparently unrelated perspective changes what becomes possible.

That's where things get interesting.

Keep The Door Open

This is one reason Peripheral Thinking™ skills never become obsolete—even as they become more natural.

Studying keeps adding perspectives from people, places, disciplines, and experiences beyond the obvious.

Surveying keeps the boundaries of the opportunity wider than the original request.

Investigating lets another question reveal what the first answer couldn't.

Deciphering helps us recognize which principles might travel into different situations.

Reimagining asks what could happen if we combine what already works with something we haven't considered.

Creating allows us to make that new solution real enough to explore.

The skills don't force us to abandon a good answer.

They keep the door open long enough to discover whether something else belongs in it.

Eventually the train must leave the station.

Be sure all passengers you need are on board.

What Else Might Contribute?

Imagine what that could mean for a leader.

You've assembled a strong strategy.

Before finalizing it, you talk with someone from a different organization.

You've developed a new product.

You consider a principle from an industry unrelated to yours.

You've solved a customer problem.

You stay with the conversation long enough to discover what they didn't initially know how to ask for.

You've reached a conclusion.

Then you wonder:

What other peripheral insights could contribute to making this uniquely powerful?

Notice the question.

It isn't:

How do I prove myself wrong?

It isn't:

What did I miss?

And it isn't:

How can I make this more complicated?

It's an invitation.

That distinction matters because curiosity doesn't require dissatisfaction.

You can be proud of the answer and still be curious.

You can trust your expertise and still welcome another perspective.

You can have decades of experience and still encounter something you've never considered.

You can become highly skilled at Peripheral Thinking™ and still have more to read.

More to reread.

More to connect.

More to build.

In fact, one sign that these skills are becoming part of how you naturally think is that a good answer no longer feels threatened by another perspective.

It can welcome one.

Work in Peripheral Progress

I’m still reviewing and test-revising the final revenue-generation plan from my opening story.

Perhaps the additional perspectives will fundamentally change it.

Perhaps they'll strengthen one portion.

Perhaps I'll explore them and confirm the original approach was exactly right.

All three outcomes are useful.

Peripheral Thinking™ doesn't require every trip into the periphery to produce a breakthrough.

It asks us to remain curious enough to make the trip.

We've spent much of this year expanding what we can see, think, and build.

Now that you're getting good at it, don't break the rhythm.

Let it grow.

Build the good answer.

Trust what you've learned.

Use the skills you've developed.

And before you decide you're finished...

Leave a little room for something else to chime in.

Until next time, I’ll be looking for you in the periphery…

One More Thing(s)…

🫴🏽 Pass It On.

Someone in your circle may already have a good answer. Maybe this is the perspective that helps them make it uniquely powerful. Will you pass it on?

🧠 Rent My Brain.

This isn’t your typical consulting, coaching, or workshop engagement. Rent my Peripheral Thinking™ brain for a few hours. Whatever is top of mind or that persistent issue. We’ll talk, and I’ll do the Peripheral Thinking for you.

Click the link, select “Advisory,” fill in the fields, and I’ll contact you.

🎤 Invite Me to Speak.

From executive retreats to SKOs to 10,000-attendee conferences... Get a message personalized for your audience and packed with Peripheral Thinking™ skills and tools to use that day and every day after!

Let’s discuss how I can help make your event the one people talk about for years.

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September 2026 - Leave Room for Something Else