Outside-In vs Inside-Out: What does oil spill remediation have to do with coaching?

Outside-In

In his fascinating book Range, David Epstein writes about “outside-in” thinking, which involves “finding solutions in experiences far outside of focused training for the problem itself.” Epstein highlights InnoCentive, a platform which helps innovative organisations solve their important technology, science, business, AI and data challenges by connecting them with a global network of expert problem solvers. 

My favourite example of outside-in thinking cited by Epstein relates to the environmental and commercial fishing disaster caused by the vast Exxon Valdez oil spill. Almost twenty years after the spill, thirty-two thousand gallons of oil remained stuck along the coast of Alaska. During that time, the brightest minds in the industry had failed to find a solution. Eventually, the challenge was posted on the InnoCentive platform. 

The solution was suggested by John Davis, a chemist based in Illinois, who “visualised the problem as drinking a slushy.” That analogy in turn led Davis to remember a brief experience he had in construction, when he was asked to help a friend who was building a flight of concrete steps. 

Davis recalled that his friend’s brother used a concrete vibrator to prevent the concrete pooling at the bottom of the steps from hardening. He called a company that sold concrete vibrators to do a bit of research and then made a drawing of how the vibrators could be attached to a barge to do to the oil spill what they already did to concrete.

Scott Pegau, the Oil Spill Recovery Institute’s research program manager told David Epstein, when shown Davis’ solution, said “[s]ometimes you just slap your head and go, ‘Well why didn’t I think of that?’ If it was easily solved by people in the industry, it would have been solved by people within the industry.” 

“If it was easily solved by people in the industry, it would have been solved by people within the industry.” Scott Pegau

“If it was easily solved by people in the industry, it would have been solved by people within the industry.” Scott Pegau

Inside-Out

As I was reading Range, I couldn’t help but think of the inside-out approach practised in the world of coaching. That approach is all about, as the name suggests, helping clients become the best employee, the best leader, the best person they can be. Working on the ‘inside’ brings results on the ‘outside’.

Jamie Smart, writer of the bestselling book Clarity, talks about the inside-out approach as being key. Smart writes that once we understand ourselves and the world around us, we can develop (among other things) inner confidence, a lack of insecurity, resilience, intuition, a way of quieting that negative inner voice, and “the kind of deep connection that allows [us] to be profoundly influential”.

Inside-Out Needs Outside-In

Jamie Smart is right - the inside-out approach can bring powerful results in all aspects of our lives, from the professional to the personal. I know it has in mine.

However, it’s not always that straightforward. Often, we are our own worst enemies, and we can’t see how we’re getting in our own way - or holding ourselves back. To paraphrase Scott Pegau, if our challenges were so easily solved, we would have solved them ourselves.

This is where outside-in thinking (to the inside-out approach!) is so useful. Sometimes it’s only through working with a coach – someone who’s looking in from the outside, asking questions, encouraging clients to think deeply about what’s happening on the inside – that insights are gained, progress is made, action is taken…and results happen.

In my work, inside-out cannot happen without outside-in!

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