Think Like a Blonde? Yeah - Outside the box

Did you hear the joke about the brunette, redhead and the blonde at a contest? The question given to them was: How many 'Ds' in Indiana Jones?

The brunette said: "one".
Host says: "That's correct."

Redhead says: "one"
Host says: "That's correct."

Then turns to the blonde, who's humming and counting. All the host hears is: "da da da da da da da da, da da da da da..."

The blonde then says: "32".

Host says: "32? How did you get that?"
Blond sings out the theme from Indiana Jones: "You know, da da da da da da ..."

Funny isn't it? And we also think how dumb the blonde is, right? I thought so, too; all the times I heard this joke. But is she as dumb as she sounds? Or is she thinking outside the box?

I think the brunette and redhead were thinking inside the box, looking for the obvious. We all know there's only one D in Indiana Jones. But was that really the question? We assumed that was the question and so we provided the obvious solution. But the blonde didn't make the same assumption, so her answer was different.

As project managers and project team members, we need to remember to think outside the box when we are asked to provide answers to seemingly obvious questions or issues. This will increase the chances of finding solutions that best fit the problem at hand.