“Why didn’t I think of that? It’s obvious.” This often repeated statement reveals the essence of the scarcest business talent, the ability to comprehend the basic and invariable meaning of something before it becomes apparent to others.

Manna Groups calls this talent Unusual Mind - a name taken from a quote by Alfred North Whitehead who said, “It requires a very unusual mind to undertake the analysis of the obvious.”

For years manufacturers added motors, batteries, wheels and sticks in an effort to improve bladed grass clippers. All these folks were wiped out by a popcorn can and fishing line because the inventor of the Weed Eater was not in the least interested in making a better blade trimmer. He was interested in a better way to trim grass.

The basic and invariable purpose of grass trimmers is to cut grass, not to be an incrementally better blade trimmer. After the invention of the Weed Eater that seems obvious. But everything is obvious after the fact.

In truth the more obvious a newly uncovered basic and invariable meaning appears, the greater the opportunity for success. Just ask the inventor of the Weed Eater.

The qualities of an Unusual Mind are contemplation, inversion and concession: the courage to think before acting, to generate alternatives, and to better existing solutions. These qualities can be acquired and, with practice, mastered. It is the purpose of Manna Groups to assist those who choose to do so.

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