The value of Insight

A friend of mine told me this story the other day:

He said that a major technology company invited a group of teenagers to discuss the following question - "To what extent has technology changed things forever?" A good question and not an unreasonable one for a technology company to consider.

After much discussion one of the youngsters raised their hand. When invited to speak she said - "I think you have asked us the wrong question."

Puzzled, the Marketing Director who was leading the discussion asked her to explain.  She said that surely the question ought to be - "To what extent is technology forever changing?"

Needless to say the Marketing Director was bowled over by this insight.

That this organisation was prepared to engaged youngsters untarnished by corporate life (and associated ways of thinking) is commendable. That a youngster in this focus group was able to turn a question on its head and get to the real question this organisation should be addressing, underlines the importance of engaging with people who might think differently and see our problems from a different perspective. 

What do you think?