Duct Tape and a Paperclip

From the time I saw MacGyver use candlesticks, an extension cord, and a rubber mat to create an improvised defibrillator to save a man’s life, I was hooked on the show. Whether it was creating a makeshift bazooka out of a muffler, gear shift knob, seat cushion stuffing, and a cigarette lighter to escape a car chase or the time he used a magnifying lens, watch crystal, and a newspaper to craft a telescope, MacGyver has long been one of my all-time heroes.

Unlike Sylvester Stallone’s aggrieved soldier in Rambo or Bruce Willis’s tough guy in Die Hard, MacGyver relied on inventiveness rather than brute strength to save the day. Who needs military explosives when you can get the job done with chewing gum, a rubber band, and a flashlight? Instead of carrying a gun, he never left home without his trusty Swiss Army knife and a folded roll of duct tape. “Any problem can be solved with a little ingenuity,” the TV character famously said. No matter how tough the bind, he always figured a way out with the limited resources at hand.

In tribute to his resourcefulness, the Oxford English Dictionary now includes the word “MacGyver” as a verb: “to ‘MacGyver’ is to make or repair something in an improvised or inventive way, making use of whatever items are at hand,” e.g., “He MacGyvered a makeshift jack with a log.” The Urban Dictionary, my personal favorite, defines a MacGyver as a noun: “someone who can jumpstart a truck with a cactus.”

MacGyvering speaks directly to the heart of being creative, scrappy, and resourceful. Everyday innovators MacGyver their challenges, threats, and opportunities. They figure out how to do more with less, wielding inventiveness as their weapon of choice. The next time we’re facing a tough situation, let’s MacGyver our way out of the jam. Let’s use our ingenuity – and perhaps a paperclip or two – to claim victory.

Read More

New Thinking for the New Era of Business

Albert Einstein famously noted, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking that we used when we created them.” In our post-COVID world of ...

When an Astronaut Needs a Pen

Ever get stuck on a problem, only to realize you're solving for the wrong thing? That's exactly what happened when the rocket scientists at NASA ...

How Shake Shack Drives Innovation

Do you prefer the crispy mozzarella, tempura watercress, and black garlic mayonnaise cheeseburger or the pumpkin mustard, bacon, cranberries, and sage hot dog? For something ...

Lady Gaga’s Secret to Creativity

Just before she won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, I watched Lady Gaga dazzle the live audience with a pitch perfect performance of ...

Creativity: Does Size Matter?

For some reason, we’ve been taught that for creativity and innovation to count they need to have a magnitude the size of the 1989 San ...

The Lexicon of Creativity

There’s more confusion around the meaning of the word innovation than the chaos at the airline ticket counter after a cancelled flight. Is there a difference between ...

The Brain Science of Becoming More Creative

When we hear stories about iconic leaders like Salesforce.com’s founder Marc Benioff, or widely celebrated virtuosos like Lin-Manuel Miranda for that matter, we immediately think ...

Correct the Overcorrect

When the misguided leaders at Enron, Tyco and Worldcom committed fraud and marred their shareholders with huge losses, the Securities and Exchange Commission rightfully swooped ...

Learning to Color

Fact: Creativity has become the most needed skill in business. It’s gone from a nice-to-have to becoming mission-critical. Fact: Creativity is a learnable skill. All humans have ...