Why Thinking Like a 10-Year-Old Could Be Your Competitive Advantage

In my career, I’ve helped entrepreneurs build three different billion-dollar businesses including IMAX and Coupons.com. But the most innovative entrepreneur I ever met was a fifth grader.

10-year old Reese started Wild and Wacky Pets by collecting used stuffed animals, cleaning them, DECAPITATING them, and swapping the heads and bodies to make entirely new creations. A shark head attached to a teddy bear body. A unicorn head with octopus tentacles. Amazingly innovative and creative. I loved them so much I have my own pig giraffe.

Kids are filled with creativity and innovation because they see the world very differently than adults. They’re not biased by what they’ve experienced before. They’re not afraid of failing. They’re not worried about what other people think. They ask more questions in a day than adults ask in a week.

As we get older, we build up barriers to our thinking that limits our ability to be innovative. Curiosity gets replaced by caution. Experimentation gives way to optimization. The pressure to appear polished and professional begins shaping decisions before ideas have a chance to develop.

Want to be more innovative and creative in your work? Start thinking like a 10-year old.

I’ve developed a framework called CANDY to help adults relearn how to think like a 10-year old so they can be more innovative and creative. The ideas are simple, but they work because they force us out of the rigid thinking that take over in adulthood.

The first is Change. Kids rarely operate on autopilot because almost everything they encounter is still new to them. Adults, on the other hand, become deeply attached to routines. We drive the same routes, run the same meetings, solve problems the same way, and eventually stop noticing alternatives. One of the easiest ways to break stale thinking is to deliberately disrupt routine. Take a different route to work. Rearrange your workspace. Change the format of a recurring meeting. Spend a day working somewhere unfamiliar. Small changes force the brain to pay attention again, and attention is often where creativity begins.

The second is Add. Children are constantly collecting new inputs because the world is still fresh to them. Adults narrow their inputs over time until they mostly consume information directly related to their own industry or role. That becomes a problem because creativity rarely comes from staying inside one lane. Some of the best business ideas emerge when concepts from one field are applied somewhere completely different. A nurse at a London hospital cut errors in her department by 50% after being inspired by how Formula One pit crews work as a team. New ideas come from new exposure. Read outside your industry. Talk to people whose work has nothing to do with yours. Visit places that make you uncomfortable or curious. Your brain cannot connect dots it has never seen.

The third is Nap, although not literally. Children are remarkably good at letting their minds wander, which is why they often stumble into unexpected ideas and connections adults miss. Adults tend to attack problems head-on, forcing solutions through focused effort and overthinking. But some of the best ideas emerge when the brain is at rest. Research on the brain shows that when your mind is wandering during activities like walking, showering, gardening, or folding laundry, your brain starts making unusual connections that structured thinking overlooks. Instead of constantly grinding for answers, create space for your unconscious mind to work. Step away from the problem for a while. Let your brain wander. Often the breakthrough comes when you stop trying so hard to force it. My brainstorms in the shower happen so frequently that I bought a waterproof pad and pencil to keep in there.

The fourth is Dare to Fail. Children fail constantly and recover quickly. Adults often do the opposite. We hesitate to test ideas because we want certainty before action. That instinct slows innovation down. Most successful businesses are built through experimentation, not perfect planning. Instead of treating every new idea like a high-stakes decision, treat more ideas like small experiments. Test a new offer with five customers instead of fifty. Pilot a workshop before fully building it. Launch the rough draft before obsessing over perfection. Small failures create useful information, and useful information almost always beats endless speculation.

The last is Yell, at least figuratively. Kids say exactly what they are thinking. Adults filter themselves constantly. We avoid sharing ideas that might be seen as naive, unrealistic, or uninformed, so potentially valuable ideas stay trapped in people’s heads. Some of the best opportunities inside organizations are hidden behind hesitation. The employee who notices an outdated process but stays quiet. The entrepreneur with an unconventional marketing idea who talks herself out of it. The founder who sees a shift in customer behavior before everyone else but worries about being wrong. Creativity depends on expression. Ideas cannot evolve if they are never shared.

In today’s ever-changing world, the businesses that continue to grow are usually led by people willing to challenge assumptions instead of protecting them. People willing to experiment before they feel fully ready. People curious enough to look at familiar problems differently.

Children naturally think that way. Adults can relearn it.

You don’t need to decapitate stuffed animals to become more innovative. But it probably would help to bring a little more 10-year-old thinking into the way you approach your business.