Imagine you come across a dilemma. You aren’t sure how to approach it. You search and you scour for ideas but none come to you. That’s where alternatives come in.
Alternatives are not just used to solve problems, they are also used to detect and generate possibilities. Alternatives are simply a way of looking at the world with a multiplicity of lenses and seeing more than what might immediately meet the eye.
My experience
The best way to encapsulate my background is my ability to offer, manage, and deliver on alternatives. I offer unique and variegated ways of thinking about designs and implementations.
Naturally, I think in terms of alternatives and possibilities, typically in the service of helping others and organizations, or trying to make small changes to how things are done to leave a positive impact on the world. Additionally, I can assess alternatives and come to decisions to best serve systemic and organizational goals. Through my general appreciation of alternatives, I similarly recognize the unique contributions and capacity of individuals, and enjoy nurturing how individuals unlock their inner voice or better contribute to a team.
Whether designing a workshop, managing a learning environment, creating a playful immersive world, or thinking about how games offer social impact, I aim to give agency to users and creators of products and experiences. I want people to explore more, gain insight, or be able to achieve what they need to achieve in a more pleasant and desirable way.
Significance
Alternatives stem from one’s ability to imagine counterfactuals. One can cultivate this ability by building a mental repertoire of possibilities from life experiences, through observation, reflection, and play. In the context of a task, goal, or project, recognizing alternatives often requires entertaining things (ideas, processes, etc.) in one’s mind that others might find silly, not relevant, or not purposeful on the surface. With a bit of analysis and insight, one can investigate, experiment, or collaborate with others to encounter which ideas are more relevant and which can be put aside.
Alternatives are also critical tool in the face of adversity. With counterfactual thinking, people can process possible, alternate pathways to a goal, and recognize what works and doesn’t work. Thus, people can use the existence of alternatives and the process of alternative-thinking to incite imagination and remind us that there’s always another way and perspective, another side of the coin.
In summary
I encourage others to use alternatives to both build one’s internal world and connect with the world around them. Alternatives give people access to a richer swath of possibilities, from which they can pick and choose and lead their own way.
