There are many aspects to thinking bigger. Step outside of your culture to see the shackles it has placed on your thinking. I am specifically referring to cultures of geography, and not the culture between like disciplines (e.g., engineers globally have a common culture etc.).
Off course reading is an important element of broadening your learning, but I was also fortunate to have an expatriate career, living for long periods in countries with very different practices.
Experiencing different cultures has real value for those who seek to deeply understand the origins and reasons of different country practices. There must be a period of really understanding new experiences before trying to impose any of your own conditioning and thinking in new cultures. And it is respectful. Then apply the best from each.
Like a “boss moment” I experienced. In the first introductory meeting of our new CEO in the USA, he said “out of the 10 things I will say, look for the 2 that could be a gamechanger and don’t focus on the 8 that are nonsense because I do not yet know your business”. This advice was about removing the shackles of our existing work environment on our thinking.
Thinking bigger is about valuing the differences. Not just saying that but internalizing it. If you are exposed to different practices and truly value the differences, you will be open to new ways and the implementation of the best practices of each of the different cultures. Think differently and you attract different people.
An example on a more personal level that links back to removing the shackles. My wife’s daughter (Nina) recently achieved her degree in Aberdeen Scotland with honours. My message to her, she was blessed to be whole, a mother’s conditioning focused on grades and my conditioning focused on an education. Nina’s mother and I were probably the only persons in her family that recognised, encouraged, and invested in her education in a foreign country, a different culture, a different thinking.
Nina has removed her shackles of culture at a young age. She has the foundation to think bigger. She is proud of her heritage and will never forget that, but she can stand apart from it and think differently. The message is NOT about forgetting one’s roots, it is about internalizing the value of diversity.
Think Bigg-r 