A good friend once told me that the Pixar formula for movies is to ask "What if X had feelings?"
Mike even listed the movies: "What if toys had feelings? Toy Story. What if vehicles had feelings? Cars. What if feelings had feelings? Inside Out."
We think that to do something new, we have to invent it from the ground up, but really a winning formula just requires a change in variable, a new X.
It's easy to see this trend in storytelling, but it happens in any field that requires creativity or problem solving.
If you have a winning framework, try to find one aspect that you can improve:
🍿 Audience: Could you take an idea that helped one audience and adapt it for others (e.g., sports performance psychology to CEOs)
⛓ Component: Is there an element you can swap out (Valve turned a small computer into a portable game console)
🔀 Purpose: Could you adapt this tool for something else (microwaves adapted from industrial use to food preparation)
Understanding why your formula works makes it possible to find the right variables to switch.
Reusing and adapting winning formulas leverages hard-won knowledge and creates new value.