Alternative Worlds

Written By Chris Cushing

Alternative Worlds sees the issue through someone else’s eyes. 


One of the most powerful questions to start thinking innovatively is:

What would __________ do?


Invite your team to select an organization from A FEW of the following list. Have a brief discussion about that organization. What is its culture? What are they known for? What stands out about it?

Consumer brands and experience-driven companies

  • Apple – Obsess over elegance, coherence, and invisible complexity

  • Nike – Motivation, identity, and narrative over product

  • Patagonia – Purpose first, commerce second

  • Ritz-Carlton – Anticipate needs before they’re spoken

  • Disney – Design emotion, not just experience

  • Trader Joe’s – Constraint as creativity

  • IKEA – Democratize good design

  • Southwest Airlines – Culture beats strategy

  • Zappos – Customer service as brand religion

  • Nordstrom Rack – Value without apology

Platform, scale, and systems thinkers

  • Amazon – Frictionless convenience at planetary scale

  • Uber – Rewire access, not ownership

  • Airbnb – Trust between strangers

  • Google – Organize the world’s information

  • Meta – Connection first, consequences later

  • Netflix – Data-driven creativity

  • Stripe – Infrastructure as leverage

  • Salesforce – Systems that remember relationships

Service, hospitality, and operational excellence

  • Domino’s Pizza – Speed and reliability over perfection

  • UPS – Precision and process discipline

  • FedEx – Promise-based operations

  • Four Seasons – Consistency everywhere

  • McDonald’s – Repeatability at massive scale

Social impact, nonprofit, and mission-first worlds

  • United Way – Collective impact

  • Goodwill – Dignity through work

  • Doctors Without Borders – Act fast, reduce suffering

  • The Sierra Club – Long-term stewardship

  • World Food Programme – Logistics as life-saving infrastructure

  • Habitat for Humanity – Sweat equity and community

Government, military, and public-sector mindsets

  • The US Navy – Mission clarity under uncertainty

  • NASA – Failure as learning

  • CDC – Population-scale prevention

  • National Park Service – Protect for future generations

  • US Postal Service – Universal service obligation

Local, analog, and human-scale perspectives

  • A local grocery store

  • A neighborhood hardware store

  • A public library

  • A family-owned restaurant

  • A farmers market collective

  • A community health clinic

  • A volunteer fire department

  • A public school PTA

Cultural, creative, and narrative worlds

  • Pixar – Story first, always

  • The New York Times – Sensemaking for society

  • TED – Ideas worth spreading

  • Burning Man – Participation over consumption

  • The Metropolitan Museum of Art – Preservation and interpretation

Fictional and symbolic organizations (surprisingly useful)

  • Acme Corporation – Infinite resources, zero learning

  • Stark Industries – Genius-driven innovation

  • Weyland-Yutani – Profit over people

  • Umbrella Corporation – Control without ethics

  • Hogwarts – Tradition, houses, identity

Then, talk about how that organization might solve your challenge. 

“How would _______ solve this?”

If we were acting like this world, what would we protect? What would success look like? What would be non-negotiable? What would we stop doing immediately? What ideas did that discussion generate? What insights did you gain? How might you apply those insights into an approach you might use to implement your idea? 

Chris Cushing
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