Temple Grandin & Actor Claire Danes

I watched a wonderful HBO movie last evening, Temple Grandin.  It’s been out in the USA, the illustrious, talented, and ever-refreshing Claire Danes won an Emmy for her role. She was fabulous in the part, you made it live Claire  — but enough already — this is not that kind of review, look for more Danes plaudits elsewhere.  For me, this program was about lessons in personal and industrial innovation. Do watch this film if you get the chance, and view with an eye towards opening your own doors of perception.

Temple Grandin is real, this is a true story of a “high functioning” autistic person.  Grandin grew up with loving support and overcame her disadvantages, achieving a great deal. She’s a published author, a university professor, an advocate for the autistic, and an inventor. You would not have taken a bet on this outcome — she didn’t begin speaking until she was four years old.

The first lesson to learn about perception from Temple Grandin is that sometimes your greatest weakness can be turned to advantage. Temple Grandin saw the world through the eyes of someone who doesn’t share many of the assumptions the rest of us are carrying around. Because of this, she was able to see new possibilities. She took action on her ideas and made them happen. She designed cattle processing systems that are quite different — user friendly to the cattle — and much more humane, than what existed before. Ingenious really, and all based on the “weakness” of being, and seeing, very differently.

Isn’t it usually our tendency to iron out our differences from the rest of the crowd? Maybe that difference is a gift, and the key to a major success. It’s worth thinking about.

Another lesson to learn is that there is an explanation for everything — and neutral observation is a good start in understanding. In her first visit to a feed lot Grandin noticed (with her highly sensitive to sound ears) that some cows moo-ed louder than others. She said so and was promptly laughed at.  She ignored the scorn, and in exploring why some cows were louder, learned a great deal about animal behavior.  Fresh eyes (and ears!) are powerful things — if we listen without judgment, without filters.  This is something we all have the capacity to do, but how often do we turn off the judgment? Not so often. We filter out a lot of information because it’s a way to  manage all that volume of data coming at us. We would all do well when seeking innovation to look closely at what we don’t normally look at, and examine that which is “obvious.”

A metaphor they worked in the film had to do with opening doors. Grandin learned that doors, literally and figuratively, are things you have to walk through to make progress.  For her it meant taking on challenges like college, working with men, and walking through the automatic door at the supermarket! When faced with a new challenge, she girded up her courage and told herself she needed to walk through the door — to learn, to make changes.  She opened the doors and walked through. We all have those doors don’t we?  If we want to change and grow we need to walk through those metaphorical doors.

So, let’s make this useful, learning from Temple Grandin, here are Three Questions to Open Doors of Perception:

1. ) What’s your greatest weakness? How can you flip it to your advantage? What is the advantage inherent inside your weakness? What’s the upside? There always is one.

2.) What fundamental “obvious” assumptions are you making about your challenges? What if the opposite were true? What if it’s just wrong what you assume? What prejudices are in place? How would someone without those filters see your problem?

3.) What doors do you need to walk through to take your problem solving, creativity, career, life to the next level? What fear are you suppressing? What will it take to actually take that step through the door?

Make notes on the above questions, and of course, take action on any good ideas that pop up.

Maybe the last lesson to learn from Temple Grandin is self acceptance.  She said: ““if I could snap my fingers and become nonautistic I would not do so. Autism is part of who I am.”