Opposing Values – How to Create Something Exceptional

Small and powerful. Speed and quality. Taken individually these words describe something that is merely average. Plenty of things are high quality, but there are very few high quality things that can be produced quickly.
Likewise, when something powerful is packaged in something small its usefulness increases dramatically.

A former pastor of mine, Rev. James Riccitelli, describes a similar phenomenon he calls “paired values” in marriage. In many cases a married couple will have a set of positive, but sometimes opposing qualities. For example one may be thrifty and the other generous – both wonderful qualities. There is a tension between thriftiness and generosity and making them work in sync with one another can be challenging, but when it happens it is a beautiful thing.

When opposing positive values are successfully paired a sort of nuclear fusion takes place that releases enormous amounts of value and potential.

Almost every outstanding success story is backed by a set of nearly opposing paired values.

Henry Ford’s true innovation was not the motor car itself, but the ability to produce something as complex as the motor car efficiently. He successfully joined complexity and efficiency and revolutionized almost every aspect of the economy and our daily lives.

Google changed the world by taking vast amounts of information and making it incredibly accessible. Twitter can capture powerful messages in very tiny packages. Blogs have taken the exclusivity of publishing and made it available to anyone. Amazon’s Kindle device allows you to carry the enormity of an entire library in a 10-oz. package.

Each of these companies, platforms, or products has taken at least two things that nearly oppose each other and combined them into something extraordinary. This type of innovation is scary because remarkability lies on the cusp of impossibility.

The first step towards pairing the impossible is to reject the status quo. We have to take the “Wouldn’t it be neat if _____” moments seriously. These sparks of frustration or inspiration can be the seeds of revolutionary ideas.

It can take grueling effort to intermesh the qualities that will make something remarkable. This is why the end outcome must be worth the cost. Our passions for what we are striving towards must be strong enough to motivate us through all obstacles.