What Integrative Thinking has to do with Pedicures at Heartbreaker
I’m not a super girly girl. I don’t do much in the way of pampering, but I admittedly like having my toe nails done (in part because the colour lasts so much longer). I get my hair cut at Barbarella, so when they opened a nail salon I checked it out. I’ve been a diehard fan of Heartbreaker since (889 Dundas Street West Toronto, ON M6J 1V9 - (416) 869-0440). Oh and did I mention that Kathy (I think that’s spelled correctly, but don’t hate me forever if I got it wrong!) is a bright, bubbly lady who loves a good laugh. I keep going back because I really enjoy seeing her even if its only for an hour once a month because she makes me day better.
Heartbreaker has amazing polish colours. I’ve had hot pink, sparkly purple, mint green, matte gray, and even minx sugar skulls. My baby toes curl under and so the nails are hard to see. If I’m doing my own nails I don’t bother to paint them as they aren’t typically visible. I’m not entirely sure how it started, but we started painting my baby toe nails a different colour. First it was bright red with black baby toe nails. Then it was hot pink with sparkly purple.
Well, last time I went in I scanned the polish selection and grabbed two – a deep, matte red and a sparkly indigo. Problem this time is that I couldn’t decide if I wanted matte red for the ‘main’ section and indigo for my baby toes or the other way around.
To get all Rotman on your asses, having my nails done doesn’t have to be an either / or scenario. I don’t have to choose the red polish or the indigo polish. All I needed to do was to shift my mental model so that I could have two colours at once. I could have both.
To the hardcore Rotman-ites this might seem like a terrible application of such a powerful tool. I mean, pedicures as an example of integrative thinking? It seems silly and a little trite. But I don’t think that we only have to apply theories like this to wicked problems. I think that it can be applied, even in seemingly innocuous circumstances.
Integrative thinking is an every day mindset. Its not the big gun to attack the big problem. By using it every day, by showing dedication to the practice of the skill, we are already well positioned when the wicked problems present themselves. We’re ready and well versed. The practice on the little things means that we have the mental agility to see outside the box on the big things.
And that is why I currently have neon pink toe nails on my left foot (even if the picture doesn’t do justice to just how neon they are) and a turquoise-ish metallic green on my right. I couldn’t choose between them and so I choose both. And I’m happy.
What little things happen where you think ‘I don’t want to choose’? What is your pedicure vs. integrative thinking moment?
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I’ve done the same with my hair before… usually because “I don’t have enough blue hair dye… or enough purple hair dye… so let’s mix the two and see what happens!”
And it turned out pretty awesome. That time I ended up with what started out blue, and faded to purple.
I think that’s what you mean?
I think that might be more practical than ‘integrative thinking’
However, I do think that the willingness to experiment and try is very IT!
although i will admit before seeing the photo i was kind of hoping you’d do pink on one side, green on the other, but switching your baby toes to keep with the tradition that the pinky toe is a different colour