Introducing:

Palindromic Queries

A palindromic query is a question or statement you can apply in multiple contexts...

such as to any area of your business(including strategy, structure, plans and process)

...that will alwaysresult in improvement

Palindromic queries are to innovation what breathing is to life

An example of a palindromic query is...

‘What can I remove and this still make sense?’

Consider…

…and millions of other contexts

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Zoom right in to a product roadmap, productionworkflow, departmental structure or UX design

Zoom right out until your business is a dot

Palindromic queries apply across, down and throughout business, strategy and ethos

Unveiling a design for life

Palindromic queries offer a pathway to the optimum

Serving as a hub around which you canconnect seemingly unconnected ideas

Another example…

‘The more connections something has the more powerful it is’

or connectedness = power

In a network the most connected nodes are the most powerful

The Law of the Few

“The success of any kind of social epidemic is heavily dependent on the involvement of people with a particular and rare set of social gifts” [Malcolm Gladwell]

connectedness = power

‘If one style of thought stands out as the most potent explanation of genius it is the ability to make juxtapositions that elude mere mortals. Call it a facility with metaphor, the ability to connect the unconnected to see relationships to which others are blind’ [Joshua Cooper Ramo & Debra Rosenberg]

Palindromic queries are the glue of genius

The only difference found between Einstein’s brain and that of others was the richness of connections between brain cells

Whenever we think a new thought or explore a topic in a new way (perhaps as you’re doing right now) the more connections we make between our neurons and dendrites… the more connections, the greater our brain capacity and potential for intelligent thought

The more you unpick, the more obvious and fundamental the concept seems

This is a key characteristic of a palindromic query

Palindromic queries are growth’s secret sauce

Another palindromic query example…

‘Good replicators get replicated’

Over 3 billion years ago molecules were created that could make copies of themselves

The earth’s first replicator was born

In Richard Dawkins’ The Selfish Gene [1976], he explored how genes will get copied if they can, regardless of the consequences; and so long as you have variation, selection and heredity, you must get evolution

‘Design out of chaos without the aid of mind’

[Dan Dennett]

Humans are replicators too... copying information (‘memes’) from brain to brain

We’re part of a design process…variation, selection, evolution

Starfish have a decentralized neural structure permitting regeneration

‘If you cut off a spider's head, it dies; if you cut off a starfish's leg it grows a new one, and that leg can grow into an entirely new starfish’

‘Traditional top-down organizations are like spiders, but now starfish organizations are changing the face of business and the world’ [The Starfish & the Spider, Ori Brafman & Rod A. Beckstrom]

What can you remove from your [business/product/life] and it still make sense?

How can you put connectedness at the heart of your organization?

How can you help your customers, colleagues, offices, partners, processes, websites, products, services, systems... connect more?

How can your [business model/organization structure/marketing] become a better replicator?

How can you operate in a more decentralized way?

Palindromic queries unleash creativity, innovation and clarity

Searching for palindromic queries unearths scalable 21st century business models

Building a list of palindromic queries is also a secret ingredient for revelatory workshops, strategies and proposals

How many statements or questions can you think of that apply in multiple contexts…

…that will always result in improvement?

Palindromic queries offer a pathway to the optimum