Patrick Whitesell Quotes

I'm good at thinking outside the box, so much that you realise it's not a box to begin with.

Extraordinary situations require an out-of-box thinking. Conventionalists cannot find such solutions.

Start with the assumption that the best way to do something is not the way it's being done right now.

In The 3rd Alternative, Stephen Covey urges us to chart a course beyond the suboptimal solutions to all our crises - beyond left and right, and beyond the many false choices in front of us. The 3rdAlternative is a wise and welcome echo of Einstein's warning that the problems we're facing today cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them.

It's amazing what ordinary people can do if they set out without preconceived notions.

I don't like talking about 'solutions.' I prefer talking about intelligent responses.

There are two kinds of directors: There's the kind where two plus two equals four, and you have to help them figure it out. And then there's the kind that throws you in a room, locks the door, sets the house on fire and films it.

It's always good to take an orthogonal view of something. It develops ideas.

It's always the organizations that are resource constrained that come up with the good ideas to win.

I am an expert in the 'art of the possible.'

Early on, in discussions of financial oversight, people would say, 'Well, this is a very complicated problem, therefore it requires a complicated solution.' And at that step, I would say, 'Well, wait a minute. Just because it's a complicated problem doesn't mean the best course of action immediately is one that's complicated.'

Fit no stereotypes. Don't chase the latest management fads. The situation dictates which approach best accomplishes the team's mission.

I wouldn't know how to think inside the box because I don't even know where it is. I wouldn't know how to do it any other way.

Mitt Romney has spent his entire life finding ways to solve problems.

History is just littered with problems that were solved that were supposed to be impossible.

We're always looking for candidates that have new approaches to problems.

If you want things done, you need to be able to find solutions.

You have to think a little smarter, be proactive, not reactive.

Questions matter. In business, remarkable performers are brilliant at getting to the right question: the one that speeds them to the place they need to get to and offers them the missing piece they need to find.

All of our movies are lower budget, and that makes them more interesting, too: we have to come up with solutions other than throwing money at problems.

For Stripe, being inventive is just about applying the right solutions from other areas.

I think we need ideas for the future.

I don't come up with ideas in a test tube; I come up with ideas by breaking test tubes. That's how I've always been.

Whether that's in communications or marketing or strategy, you need people to come in with a fresh perspective.

I actually find it's more interesting to play in the niches and find ways to apply technology to relatively straightforward problems.