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what color is collaborationby Jennifer Thompson, Ambassador for Deviant Thinking

When people hear me talk about Deviant Thinking, they often feel that I am not a supporter of collaboration.  This is far from the truth.

I would like to share my metaphor for how I see the difference between true collaboration and what people often mistake for collaboration; consensus.

When one looks at a rainbow every color is important.  Red, shines bright and warm.  Orange provides a citrus tang to the sky.  Yellow reminds us of the flowers that grow.  Green reflects the colors of the grass and trees.   Blue complements the sky and the water.  Indigo provides a deep contrast to the colors around it.  Violet gives us the feel of royalty and punctuation to the beautiful rainbow.  All of these colors are important and strong as individual contributors to the rainbow.  If any color was missing the rainbow would fail to be as beautiful as it could be.  Each color needs to stand strong and confidence in its contribution.  This is true collaboration, many pieces, in this case colors, coming together to make something more beautiful than each individual could do.  An additive process that  allows an individual to support his own marvelous identity and contribute its true gift to make the majestic rainbow.

IF, the rainbow decided it needed to move to consensus, what would happen?  The colors starting to merge and become part of each other.  As they compressed their beauty into one, what happens?  Well, scientifically when one combines all the colors of the rainbow the light merges to become white, or as I feel, there is a nothing there.

So while when the colors all collaborate with each other to stand tall and be part of something greater they become a rainbow.  When they all reach consensus and merge together they are nothing.

 

Which do you want?  Collaboration or Consensus?

 

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