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What You Can Learn from the FedEX Logo in Just Five Seconds
It’s time to actually see what you’ve been looking at for years
During the past few years, I’ve asked more than a thousand people what they see when they look at the FedEx logo. 80% say “letters” or “colors” or “shapes” or “the word “FedEx.”
The other 20% tell me they see an arrow — a white arrow.
When I ask the baffled 80% if they see the arrow, most of them just shake their heads and shrug. Only when I point to the arrow (in between the second “E” and the “x”) do they see it — a moment that is usually followed by their favorite exclamation of surprise and a chuckle.
This phenomenon is a great metaphor for what it really takes to innovate. There’s something right in front of our eyes that we just can’t seem to see.
It’s been there for a long time, but for us it doesn’t exist.
In fact, if someone were to ask us if it existed, our answer would be an emphatic “no” — not because it doesn’t exist, but because we can’t see it.
