When my niece Sara was a wee thing, she charged inside the house one morning from her puddle-playing outside. She dragged her mother over to the driveway, pointed to a puddle that reflected the morning sky, and exclaimed: "Look! The clouds have fallen to earth."

Fresh perspectives come so easily to children. But they can come easily to us, too, if we are willing to unsettle our mind-sets. The best example I can give you comes from a scientist. Some of you are too young to remember the polio epidemic. But you probably remember the name of the man who discovered the vaccine that virtually eliminated the dreaded disease: Jonas Salk.

Dr. Salk was once asked by a reporter how he'd come upon the discovery. The famed researcher replied, "I learn to think the way Mother Nature thinks."

The next time you have a problem to solve or an issue to resolve, challenge yourself and your co-workers to think about the situation--as a child might, as nature might, as a police officer might, as a nun might, as a farmer might, and so on. You're bound to come up with some fresh insights.

Be guided by the words of another great scientist, Albert Einstein: "Imagination is more important than knowledge."

Dr. Marlene Caroselli, author of 53 business books (see Amazon.com) is an international keynote speaker and corporate trainer for Fortune 100 companies, government agencies, educational institutions, and professional organizations. You can reach her at mccpd@frontiernet.net.