Lessons in Creativity...From a Watermelon

Quick - Your a Japanese grocery store with extremely limited shelf space. How do you sell more fresh, higher-margin produce like a round, bulky watermelon?

You sell square ones and stack'em up.

Most people's reaction to a request for a square watermelon would be, "That's ridiculous." But for those who take ridiculous requests as an opportunity, it's a welcome challenge. Some Japanese farmers took up the challenge.

The solution to the problem of round watermelons wasn’t nearly as difficult to solve for those who didn’t assume the problem was impossible to begin with and simply asked how it could be done. It turns out that all you need to do is place them into a square box when they are growing and the watermelon will take on the shape of the box.

The marketing blog Hard Knox Life outlines the creative lessons learned from this development:

• Don't assume
• Question habits
• Be creative
• Look for a better way
• Impossibilities often aren't

What is your square watermelon challenge?