What flaw can you turn into a feature?

“Jaws” is a classic film, despite the fact that the film-makers faced a flaw in that their mechanical shark was both not very realistic and also often didn’t work when they needed it. Faced with this “flaw”, though, they turned it into a feature. Did you realise, for example, that the shark does not appear until 1hr and 20mins into the film, so creating so much suspense?

When it did appear first, it was for a tiny flash, just enough to allow the director to catch this shot of shock on this character, who, dazed, then walked to the captain’s cabin and uttered the famous line: “You’re going to need a bigger boat”.

Looking at the ways we have been limited in life and in business through lockdown, though, again and again I have seen people open their minds, to look outside their norms, and to “turn flaws into features”.

Let me give you an example.

Each year I fly to Canada to facilitate the annual meeting of a national medical charity. About a dozen board members come, the majority of the flying from across Canada, one of the most vast countries on our planet.

This year, we chose to keep the dates set in early May and run the meeting on Zoom. Feedback from the board members was that in some ways it was even better than when we got in person.