leadership dot #2116: pairing

The commercial side of Easter highlights bunnies, colored eggs, baskets and candy. What an odd combination. If you were starting out from scratch, you would not put bunnies and eggs together. You would not have a rabbit deliver chocolate versions of its likeness to be devoured by children. You would not add dyes to a natural food and hide them outside. None of it makes logical sense and sounds more like an April Fool’s joke than a widely-accepted practice.

And yet, in homes across the country today, there is a prevalence of chocolate rabbits, egg hunts and baskets of candy allegedly delivered by bunnies that walk on their hind legs.

It reminds me of a creative thinking exercise that asks participants to pair unlikely items together and see what new combination they form. Teams draw from a stack of index cards with adjectives and a stack of cards with nouns and see what ideas the pairing stimulates. What does a Happy Toaster look like? How about a Clean Chair? Or what about an Eccentric Shoe?

Try it for yourself and see if you stumble upon a winning combination like Chocolate-filled Rabbits or Multi-colored eggs!

Happy Easter!