Image: “Pop Art Beauty,” Lucky Puzzles, www.luckypuzzles.com

The biggest breakthroughs in history started with just two words:

“Imagine If?”

  • Imagine If people could carry thousands of songs in their pocket? → iPod
  • Imagine If buying anything online was as easy as one click? → Amazon
  • Imagine If AI could diagnose diseases faster than doctors? → Healthcare AI

Notice the pattern? None of these started with, “How do we do it?” They started with curiosity, imagination, and daring to ask the impossible.

Here’s the problem I see in most companies: teams get stuck in execution mode. Deadlines, KPIs, incremental improvements. Important? Yes. Innovative? Rarely.

If you want a culture that drives breakthroughs, you need to make “Imagine If” a habit—not just a question.

Here’s how I help leaders do it:

Run a quarterly “Imagine If” Challenge.
Gather your team and ask: “Imagine If we weren’t afraid to break the rules—what would we build?”

Encourage wild ideas.
No suggestion is too crazy. The goal is imagination first; feasibility comes second.

Capture and experiment.
Turn the best ideas into small, fast tests. Innovation always starts as a question. It becomes real through action.

Example:

A utility company I know held a “Imagine If” session on electricity distribution. One question changed everything:

“Imagine If we could store excess energy in electric cars and feed it back into the grid?”

That led to a pilot project for vehicle-to-grid technology—turning parked EVs into mini power plants.

One simple question. A billion-dollar idea.

Here’s the challenge for you: this week, gather your team. Ask one bold “Imagine If” question. No limits. No judgment. Capture the ideas. Vote to find and best and test it. Watch what happens.

Because innovation isn’t about doing more—it’s about daring to ask differently.

Go on—ask it. See what shows up.