🔥 Upside down thinking: In Community #77

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"Those who say it can't be done are usually interrupted by others doing it." – James Baldwin

If I were to count the number of times in my life someone told me that something I envisioned wasn't possible, I'd lose count real fast.

Last week, when I wrote about discovering who and how your squad is, one key point was about them seeing your vision clearly. 

What if that vision isn't always clear to those around you though?

What happens when you’re the one who sees things differently – who has no choice but to choose the path that’s not business as usual?

👉🏽 There’s a kind of thinking that doesn’t come from whiteboards or brainstorms.

It comes from lived experiences. From seeing through a different lens designed by necessity.

From people who’ve had to reimagine what’s possible – because what already existed didn’t work for them.

It’s called upside down thinking.

The kind of thinking that asks: “What if the problem isn’t just with how we’re doing things – but what we’re doing in the first place?”

Upside down thinking challenges assumptions.

It resists default logic.

It centers truth over tradition.

And it makes space for people whose insights come not from textbooks, but from proximity.

So what happens when someone dares to think upside down?

They disrupt rooms that weren’t built for their voice.

They stir discomfort.

And sometimes, they spark transformation.

Because when done right, upside down thinking isn’t about breaking or flipping things over. It’s about designing and building something brighter and better.

Think about the innovators and change makers you know or hear about on the reg. None of them waited for permission.

They just started where they were – with what they had – and flipped the model anyway.

I’ve been in rooms where I’ve done the same. It wasn't because I saw a table that frustrated me enough to flip it over (although don't get me wrong, I've had moments where that exact thought crossed my mind).

It was because the vision I had was all that I could see. The lens through which I viewed things was the only one I had.

A quick, seemingly small example: Years ago, I was deep in development of a new app – one that required an in-depth profile that users would complete. But something was missing: the nonbinary option on how they identified. This was well before the conversations around identity reached where they have over the past half decade or so.

It was new territory for the brand. It felt to some that even the recognition of such a thing would be a risk. But I was seeing through the lens that understood our audience and who we were trying to reach with this app.

I was seeing through the lens that reflected my own experiences in a city as dynamic and diverse as New York City. A city where you walk down the street and hear nearly every other language spoken more than English, where the people treat the streets like their own personal catwalk in a fashion show, and where the subway is a stage to showcase art and, at times, the full spectrum of our humanity.

My thinking wasn’t meant to disrupt.

It was meant to reveal something missing.

As it turned out, that question reframed the entire conversation.

The launch not only became a meaningful success, but it was the flagship launch for the company that year at CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas, garnering direct revenue, ushering a new business model and multi-generational product, and millions of dollars in earned media across nearly 200 media outlets globally.

Not bad for some upside down thinking that took things in a new direction for a 130 year-old company.

👉🏽 That’s what upside down thinking can look like.

Not always loud. Not always polished.

But it lands – and it can be part of a new foundation to build upon from there onward.

So this week, I’m holding space for the moments when you saw clearly before others did.

When you challenged the room. When you told the truth and hoped someone would back you up. Because that’s how we shift what’s possible. Not with standard consensus.

But with courage.

The courage to show up with all you’ve got – and to shape what’s to come.

In Community isn’t funded by big media.

It’s powered by truth, connection, and people like you.

If this space helps you think differently or provides a boost of positive energy each week, consider becoming a supporting subscriber.

And if someone in your life is doing bold, upside down thinking – forward ♻️ this to them.

Let them know they’re not the only one flipping the script – or sometimes, even the table.

In community,

Fahad