The “What If” Tool

The “What If” tool is a method of encouraging disruption. This powerful tool has been used by countless visionaries to create innovative ideas, including Walt Disney with Disneyland, Reed Hastings with Netflix and Travis Kalanick with Uber.

In 1940, Walt Disney released his masterpiece, Fantasia. As was Walt’s creative vision, he sought to heighten other audience senses by changing the actual viewing environment. He wanted it to mist inside the theater during the “Little April Shower” scene. And he wanted audiences to feel the heat pumped into the theater during “Night on a Bare Mountain”.

But there was a problem. Disney didn’t own any movie theaters, and he couldn’t convince the theater owners to make that level of investment for one movie.

So, Walt decided to use the “What If” tool to create a solution to his problem, a solution that went on to become one of the most creative solutions of the 20th century.

Step One: List All the Rules

To use the “What If” tool, Walt first listed the current rules for showing his movies in the movie theater:

• It’s dark
• Guests have to go at a set time
• Guests have to sit in a seat
• I — the movie creator — can’t control the environment

As you can see, Disney was fed up with theaters, and needed to find a way to break the cycle and invent a new method of immersing guests in his stories.

Using “What If” to Solve Modern Business Challenges

In 2010, while working as the Head of Innovation and Creativity for Disney Parks, my team and I employed this same “What If” tool to improve our park metrics. But instead of asking “How might we make more money at the parks?” we decided instead to ask ourselves “What if we could eliminate the rules of visiting a Disney Park?”We believed that fewer rules would lead to better guest satisfaction, ultimately driving more traffic to the parks.

So, we began listing the rules a guest has when visiting a Disney theme park:

• They have to be in a certain place at a certain time to see the parade and shows
• They have to search around to find their favorite character
• They have to wait for food at the restaurants
• They have to buy a ticket
• They have to stand in line

This last rule was the one we chose to break. What if guests didn’t have to stand in line? How would we do that? Remove the front desk at our hotels? Create a way to reserve rides in advance? Allow guests to schedule their meet-and-greets with cast members? Eliminate food and merchandise lines?

Needless to say, this was a pretty massive “What If” wish list. But after a lot of research, we realized that much of this actually was possible through the power of RFID technology.

Fast forward several years later and we have the “Disney MagicBand.” These RFID bracelets power much of the Disney experience. They serve as guests’ hotel room key, meaning there is no waiting to check in when they arrive. It’s their park ticket, so they can just swipe and go at the front gate. It holds e-fast passes for their favorite rides and meet-and-greets. And it even allows them to pay for their merchandise with one tap and order their food before they even arrive at their favorite restaurant.

Had we started our challenge by asking the question driven by quarterly results — How might we make more money? — we would have just iterated with something small, like an increase in park admission fees. But by asking “What If?” instead, and challenging the rules of attending a Disney Park, we were able to cause massive disruption and innovation.

Best of all, this disruption has created way more profit than a simple iteration would have, with increases in guest satisfaction and free time leading to record increases in food, beverage and merchandise sales.

Implementing “What If” Within Your Organization

As you can see, the “What If” Tool can create massive disruption and positive influence within your organization. And best of all, it’s simple to implement:

Step One: List all the rules governing your challenge. These should be facts, not generalizations or assumptions.

Step Two: Take one of the rules and provoke it by asking What If? The more extreme the provocation, the more dynamic the idea your team will develop.

Step Three: Imagine If…Brainstorm all the different ways in which this rule can be eliminated.

Now, I said it would be simple, but a proper “What If” will not be easy. Most organizations have decades of status quos and quarterly metric chasing embedded within, which will be incredibly difficult for you and your team to overcome…at first. But like anything else, the “What If” tool is something that gets easier with practice. So, start using it regularly. Run your teams through the exercise again and again. Do this, and it won’t be long until you find yourself consistently developing disruptive, innovative ideas to explore.

All by simply asking What If?